TIH Foundation for IoT & IoE (TIH-IoT) has been set up as a Section-8 company (not-for-profit) by IIT Bombay under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS), being implemented by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. Technology Innovation Hub for IoT & IoE (TIH-IoT) at IIT Bombay is focusing on creating a self-sustaining innovation continuum by fostering translational research for technology & product development, building highly knowledgeable human resources, and a vibrant start-up ecosystem, in the technology vertical of the Internet of Things (IoT). The goal is to help India become a pioneer in technology-led economic growth and prepare the country to be the world leader in the technology arena.
To foster R&D and address challenging problems along with identified gaps in the domain of IoT and IoE, the technology development of TIH-IoT seeks proposals on application-oriented technologies. These technology developments are driven by requirements from the government and industry from Education, and IoT enabled Smart-Healthcare application verticals.
Proposals are invited from individuals or in collaboration with researchers (faculty, scientist, researcher of academic institute/research lab, industry, start-up, etc.) for the execution of projects defined in application-oriented technologies mentioned below. Startups are encouraged to take up the projects. Multiple projects on each stated problem may be awarded based on the variety in solution approach and/or use case.
1. Smart Education
Digital technologies have a profound impact on economies and societies and are changing the way we work, communicate, engage in social activities and enjoy ourselves. The role of education and skills in promoting innovation is critical. In recent years governments have invested heavily in information and communications technology (ICT) in schools. The quality of schools’ educational resources, including ICT and connectivity, has increased greatly in recent years. However, it has been found that digital technologies have not yet been fully integrated in teaching and learning. Digital technologies do have huge potential to transform teaching and learning practices in schools and open up new horizons. The challenge of achieving this transformation is more about integrating new types of instruction than overcoming technological barriers.
Benefits of Smart Education
Under the main project of Smart Education following 3 Sub-projects have been formulated:
| Sr. No | Sub Project | Objective |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Low-cost Device for Installing Learning Material | Develop a low-cost device to reach out to places with low network bandwidth. |
| 2. | Light-weight Course Delivery Modules | The lightweight course contents have low bandwidth requirements that can either be pre-loaded in the low-cost device or can be downloaded quickly and stay connected with low bandwidth requirements. |
| 3. | Video bots for Educational Course Content Delivery | Develop a course delivery instructor independent module using Video Bots having the great design of the bot to enhance student engagement, strengthen communication and improve the thinking and creativity of the students. The language for the course delivery using the video bot will be English. |
2. IoT- enabled Smart Healthcare
Today’s world has been involved with many challenges related to public health issues. The rise in health problems along with high healthcare costs encourages everyone, especially rural and semi-urban settings to use remote health management. Technology can move the routines of medical checks from a hospital (hospital-centric) to the patient’s home (home-centric). The right diagnosis will also lessen the need for hospitalization. A new paradigm, referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT), has applicability in numerous areas, including healthcare. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a developing ecosystem that integrates software, hardware, physical objects, and computing devices to communicate, collect, and exchange data. Lack of access to medical resources, growth of the elderly population with chronic diseases and their needs for remote monitoring, a rise in medical costs, and therefore the desire for telemedicine in developing countries, make the IoT a promising technology for healthcare systems. New IoT solutions for healthcare are smarter and, more importantly, tailored to the requirements and requirements of healthcare organizations.
The Indian healthcare landscape is suffering from a mixed bag of problems ranging from a huge gap between the number of medical practitioners/facilities and the patients, skewed distribution of doctors towards large metros, poor quality of healthcare services, and poor accessibility in rural and remote areas, inadequate healthcare infrastructure and overburdened healthcare staff. The healthcare system becomes more vulnerable in disease outbreaks, as in the present case of the COVID-19 pandemic. These call for a dedicated action plan to improve the healthcare scenario in the country, and it is realized that innovating thinking and adopting smart technologies is the only way to significantly improve the healthcare infrastructure and its quality. In this context, the Internet of Things (IoT) enabled healthcare infrastructure has a high potential to create an efficient, low-cost, accessible, integrated, and patient caring system. The right solutions will also be able to maximize the usage of existing resources/infrastructure and significantly impact the way healthcare services are provided.
Under the main project of IoT enabled Smart-healthcare following 5 Sub-projects have been formulated:
| Sr. No | Sub Project | Objective |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Customized Telemedicine Solutions for Rural and Semi-urban Areas | The major objective is to develop an IoT-based telemedicine platform to deliver and assist in the delivery of healthcare services in remote locations that can lessen or eliminate obstacles and constraints patients face, such as travel-related transportation concerns for specialist care. Furthermore, the objective is that the developed platform can assist healthcare systems, organizations, and providers in increasing rural healthcare access and quality. Telemedicine delivers health care by virtue of the exchange of data, information, and use of telecommunication technology. Data and information may be in the form of images, voices, and medical records. Thus, telemedicine is prudent for effective remote communication of information to facilitate clinical care. |
| 2. | Solutions for Bringing Legacy Medical Equipment on IoT Platform | Develop an edge computing IoT-based system for a complete remote monitoring solution that enables real-time online monitoring and efficient asset management of legacy medical equipment like MRI, CT, ultrasound, X-ray, and other scanning machines across the facility and enabling 360-degree views at their current statuses. The edge computing IoT sensors can detect even slight fluctuations in device performance or surrounding conditions. The collected data then gets fed to the machine learning algorithms, enabling them to predict possible failures or malfunctions. |
| 3. | Tracking of Pharmaceuticals, Clinical Trial Supplies, Consumption and Storage | Applying IoT technology in supply chain services enables process automation through digitization and real-time monitoring. However, the technology involves complex information management, device management such as device lifetime tracking, and device security. Blockchain technology offers an ideal solution to overcome the challenge in sustainable supply chain management. Its use in combination with internet-of-things (IoT) and big data analytics and visualization can help organizations achieve operational excellence in conducting Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for improving supply chain sustainability. |
| 4. | AI-driven Healthcare for Low Resource Settings | In healthcare, AI enabled IoT system could be beneficial in mining medical records; designing treatment plans; forecasting health events; assisting repetitive jobs; doing online consultations; assisting in clinical decision making; medication management; drug creation; making healthier choices and decisions, and solving public health problems etc. AI could be very helpful in areas where there is scarcity of human resources, such as rural and remote areas. In addition, there may be broader applicability of AI/ML-guided care in low-resource settings, such as low- and middle-income countries. |
| 5. | Telemedicine Associated Wearable Devices | Developing wearable gadgets such as smart watches, or wristbands, represent a user-friendly and cost-effective platform for the tracking of physiological parameters. Furthermore, the development of skin-conformable sensors that provide continuous and accurate data for telemedicine. Wearable devices can capture measures of physical activity, promoting continuous monitoring of heart rate, blood pressure, glucose, and EKG. Wearable devices and telemedicine together turn out to be the most affordable and efficient solution for cost effective diagnosis and care. |
Project grant up-to Rs 50 Lakhs for a duration of 6-36 months. Preference will be given to proposals for achieving the stated objectives/deliverables in a shorter duration.
February 6th, 2023, 6:00 pm IST.
For any queries related to the application process please write to us at techdevelopment@tihiitb.org Or call 022-21593536.
Only shortlisted applicants will be notified/informed through email.
The decision of TIH-IoT in awarding the project will be final and binding and no correspondence shall be entertained in this regard.