IBSC is also providing Technician Training Program, Entrepreneurship Development Program and Faculty Development Program for helping young biomedical engineers to groom themselves more effectively under the Skill Vigyan Scheme. The Department of Biotechnology (GOI) has established Skill Vigyan Centre at AMTZ Campus. The objective of Skill Development Program is to train young Biomedical Engineers into professionals to take-up jobs in Medical Device Industries, Hospitals, R & D Laboratories, Diagnostic Laboratories and Biomedical Companies. The department also conducts other training programs like Industry Training Program, MedTech Logistic Training Program and Oxygen Concentrator Training Program. IBSC wants to build more efficient and effective biomedical engineers for our country.

AIC-AMTZ Medi Valley Incubation Council (MVIC): Concept Note MVIC is the Innovation and Incubation arm of AMTZ, jointly funded by Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog. MVIC’s mandate is to promote innovation in medical devices space to enable early researchers, innovators, MSMEs and start-ups in making workable products in the Healthtech space, a sector with approximate 79% import dependence and has severe lack in innovation domain. MVIC liaises with institutions, incubators and individual innovators in handholding them for maturing their innovations from bench-to-bedside. Currently MVIC supports 35 start-ups actively at its incubator and seven others from various parts of the country. The vision is to create a one-stop-solution for medical technology innovations whereby the entity can scale up further if they decide to delve into manufacturing and/or technology transfer to a third party.

The hallmark of MVIC are the following:

- pioneering incubation centre dedicated to MedTech
- only incubation facility within a manufacturing zone
- mentored by real world manufacturers and industry leaders
- state-of-the-art global standard instrumentation facility

The Incubation space in India is barely a decade old. Primarily these incubators are government funded keeping in mind the huge expense in creating a facility. Private incubators are very sector specific acting as extended R&D pool for the existing industry who owns and operates the incubator. Incubators in India are primarily of institutional in nature (IITs, engineering colleges, STEM etc) which can provide support on instrumentation but focus area being primarily publication and not manufacturing. The other set of incubators are of Techno- Business Incubator, focussing primarily on co-working space and business incubation. MVIC is unique in its way as it represents the third type of incubation whereby physical workspace with state-of-the-art testing and validation facility exists, along with mentorship by academia and industry. MVIC is the only world class incubation facility focussed solely at MedTech within industrial setting in India.

BIO-VALLEY INCUBATION COUNCIL

Bio valley incubation council (BVIC) is a unique ecosystem that assists start-ups by providing technologies and market access assistance. It is India’s first integrated medical devoice manufacturing ecosystem which is located in Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ), Visakhapatnam and is funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) . It is equipped with a dedicated 26,000 square feet cutting edge laboratories with its key strength being the only incubation hub of India in the area of Biotech and Medtech. Biovalley incubation program ensures bringing the right blend of expert mentor-ship, access to venture funding, R&D facilitation, testing infrastructure, industryacademia collaboration, etc., for its incubates and offers them the right platform to launch their products, thus bettering their chances for product realization and commercial success.

Being BVICed enables one access to an ecosystem that proactively drives idea to prototype to piloting to certification, testing, regulatory clearances to financial assistance access to commercialization throughout licensing or launching it oneself. Biovalley Incubation Council is a comprehensive entrepreneur incubation hub catering to convergence technologies in the field of Medtech and Biotech.

It aims in promoting and supporting medical technology through R&D, testing, financial assistance, etc. It has created a platform to incubate emerging ideas in the field of wearable technologies, Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), nutra-tech, biotech and artificial intelligence.

Bio valley comes forward to support various innovation calls, related to women’s health care start-ups and elderly care. It has access to cell for technology transfer, cell for product realization, cell for health technology assessment, and cell for market intelligence and trade which play a vital role in the development of medical industry and greatly reduce the import dependency in the health care sector.

Cell for technology (CTT) and transfer establish a good connection with technology stakeholders. It also collates with start-ups and innovators, research institute, industry, and DBT/BIRAC. The CTT team provides Meditech transfer which is named e-auction. It facilitates the rapid industrial promotion, information exchange, implementation of joint projects, and coordination of activities.

Cell for Product Realization (CPR) provides knowledge to institutions for Research and Development and also in developing medical device technology. Cell for Health Technology and Assessment (CHTA) works towards national research funding specific to Indian needs.

Cell for Market Intelligence and Trade (CMIT) acts on the export and import data of medical devices. Added to that it also tracks foreign direct investments through different routes in the Indian medical device ecosystem.

From policy to patients and everything in-between, the healthcare industry is constantly evolving. Aging populations, technological advancements, and illness trends all have an impact on where healthcare is headed. With Innovation being the key to achieve a breakthrough in healthcare industry, creation of incubation avenues such as Biovalley incubation council will pave way for a brighter future.