Acceleration Initiative for Diagnostics

The Acceleration Initiative for Diagnostics (AID) program of the Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH) offers a valuable platform to startups and entrepreneurs in the ever-growing diagnostics sector. The program aims to identify and nurture the best startups in the diagnostics space for nationwide as well as global impact.

The diagnostics industry has tremendous opportunities in India, and across the world. In India, the industry has built up a lot of momentum, especially in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Companies have seen surging demands for technologies ranging from telemedicine to rapid testing kits and precision medicines for life-threatening diseases. Even in the buoyant market, however, healthcare startups are slowed down by a common set of challenges - lack of resources, testing infrastructure, investors, and mentorship.

Why apply

With rewards such as the opportunity to undergo incubation at premier research institutes, with access to high quality laboratory facilities and equipment; mentorship from the top technical and business experts in the industry; access to hospital test beds for samples, testing, and validation; potential investors and industry connects; and seed grants,the AID program will help the most promising homegrown startups overcome all hurdles in the race to create innovate, high-quality, and affordable diagnostic devices and elevate them to national and global relevance!

Eligibility criteria:

  • Startups with a completed proof of concept
  • Startups working in the following areas of In-vitro Diagnostics
  • Wearables
  • Non-invasive/accessory in diagnosis
  • Self-monitoring/Point-of-care/Testing software
  • VR/AR & AI/ML
  • Instruments, Analyzers and Reagents

RICH AID Program Mentors
Get mentored by: Venture Capitalists | Doctors and Healthcare Professionals | Leaders in Business, Technology, Operations, Manufacturing, Sales and Communications | Regulatory Experts

* in Alphabetical order

Mr. Abhijit Mukherjee

A seasoned veteran of the pharma industry, Abhijit has held a number of leadership roles at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd, retiring as the Chief Operating Officer of the company’s businesses globally. He is also the Operating partner at Advent PE, Independent Director in RA Chem Pharma, Bharat Serums and ICE and a Senior Advisor at Slayback Pharma.

Dr. Anthony Vipin Das

Dr. Anthony Vipin Das is an innovator and an Ophthalmologist, serving as the Team Principal and Chief Architect of eyeSmart EMR, a revolutionary award winning Electronic Medical Record and Hospital Management System developed in-house at LVPrasad Eye Institute. He is a Chevening Scholar from Oxford University and has also been named amongst the Top 35 Innovators under 35 years of age in the world (TR35 2012) by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.

Dr. Ashwin Naik

Dr. Ashwin Naik is a Healthcare Entrepreneur, Investor, and Author. Heserves as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, a TED fellow and Ashoka fellow. He has co-founded and built India’s first semi-urban hospital network, Vaatsalya Hospital. He also serves as a SeniorAdvisor at Xynteo.

Ms. Harini Calamur

Ms. Harini Calamur has over 20 years of experience in devising content solutions and digital strategy in various formats across entertainment, education, and news. She is also a visiting faculty for degree, master’s, and professional programs in media, communication, and digital media programs at leading institutes of higher education in India, including SP Jain, Welingkar, MICA, KC College, and Sophia College.

Mr. Jay Krishnan

Mr. Jay Krishnan a serial entrepreneur and currently serves as the General Partner at Mantra Capital. He has also been the Founding Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner at T-Hub, India’s largest start-up incubator. He is the recipient of numerous international awards, including from CleanTech Open, ICSPAT, TechConnect, Make a Difference, StartMeUp, and Red Herring.

Mr. Mahesh Iyer

Mr. Mahesh Iyeris the resident mentor of the BIRAC funded med-tech accelerator located at the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, IIIT Hyderabad. Previously, he was the Head of Biostatistics - GDD India at Novartis. He is a consultant on innovation and entrepreneurship and currently the Head, Stats and Programming at PAREXEL India.

Dr. Mahesh Joshi

Dr. Mahesh Joshi is the CEO of Apollo Home Care. An alumnus of the Indian School of Business, and has extensive experience in helping startups in med-tech and life-sciences. He is also the proud recipient of the Life time achievement award by the SEMI (Society for Emergency Medicine India) for excellence and dedication to specialty of Emergency Medicine India and the Kalakriti award for Excellence and Achievement 2014.

Mr. Mukesh Sharma

Mr. Mukesh Sharma is the Co-founder and Managing Director of Menterra, a venture capital fund platform that addressesissues facing agriculture, healthcare, and education in India through private investments.Formerly the Chief Investment Officer at Villgro, India’s oldest and foremost social enterprise incubator, he has also been a non-executive director on the board of Biosense Technologies, Omix Labs, Adiuvo Diagnostics and Concept Learning.

Mr. Ram Narayan Konakanchi

Mr. Ram Narayan Konakanchi, a leading healthcare professional, is the Director of Olympus Medical Systems India Private Ltd. He is also Co-Founder at Healthware Pvt Ltd, company in minimal invasive surgery space

Dr. Ramesh Byrapaneni

Dr. Ramesh Byrapaneni is the Managing Director of one of India’s premier Venture Capital Fund, Endiya Partners. He has in the past served as the President of TiE Hyderabad and was the Founding Director of Hyderabad Angels. A cardiologist-turned-venture capitalist, he invests mainly in digital health and medical devices.

Mr. Ramesh Loganathan

Mr. Ramesh Loganathan is a Professor, Co-Innovation and Head Research/Innovation Outreach at IIIT Hyderabad. He has served as a Chief Innovation Officer (interim) of TS State Innovation Cell, as well in leadership positions in a large number of software companies.

Dr. Ramjee Pallela

Dr. Ramjee Pallela is the Chief Operating Officer at the Atal Incubation Centre – Centre of Cellular and Molecular Biology. He was the Chief Manager, Grants Management Division at IKP Knowledge Park, Hyderabad. A seasoned mentor and enabler in the life sciences innovation ecosystem, he has extensive experience of working with Biotechnology Ignition Grants (BIG) of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC)

Mr. Ravi Narayan

Mr. Ravi Narayan is the CEO of T-hub, India’s largest start-up incubator. He is also the co-founder of Mentor Partners, a venture capital fund specializing in mentoring of portfolio startups. He has served as the Global Director of Microsoft for Startups and worked with the portfolio of Temasek funds in Singapore to help them with digital transformation by collaborating with global startups.

Ms. Ritu Verma

Ms. Ritu Verma is the Co-founder and Managing Partner at Ankur Capital – an impactinvestment fund that invests in innovations for the next billion. She sits on theboard/board observer positions of multiple startups like Cropin, Agricx, Niramaiand Healthsutra. She is also a member of the IMC Agri and Food Processing Committee and is part of the advocacy council for Impact Investors Council in India.

Prof. Sarang Deo

Prof. Sarang Deo is the Executive Director of the Max Institute of Healthcare Management at the Indian School of Business. He also collaborates with international agencies such as the Clinton Health Access Initiative and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on a number of life-sciences projects. He has extensive experience in areas like vaccine supply-chain and TB diagnostic pathways.

Mr. Siddharth Jain

Mr. Siddharth Jain is CEO and Chief Regulatory Advisor of Symbiorph Clinical Trialogy and has extensive experience in Medical Device Clinical Evaluation Report Preparation, Post Market Clinical Follow-up (PMCF), Risk Management, CE Certification and Global Product Registration in Latin America, GCC, MENA, South East Asia and US FDA.

Mr. Vijay Simha

Mr. Vijaya Simha is the CEO at Audicor Cardiometrics Pvt Ltd.He is a serial entrepreneur and has over 30 years of experience in bringing green field projects to market. He has previously served as the CEO of OneBreath, Inc., a Stanford University based medical ventilator company and headed BPL’s medical device division.

Application:

Applications Closed

Selection:

All the selected startups will be contacted by the RICH team and will receive instructions about the next steps

Important Dates:

The deadline for applications is 28th February 2021.

Guidelines, Terms, and Conditions:

  • The contest is open to all global citizens and startups
  • Shortlisted startups will need to subscribe to the incubation processes and guidelines which will be communicated to them once shortlisted.
  • The decision of Evaluation Committee will be final and binding with regard to selection on all stages.
  • The grant money will need to be spent only towards incubation, testing and validation as recommended by the selection committee and failing to do so may disqualify the applicant from further rounds.
  • By making a submission in the contest, all participants warrant and represent that to the best of their knowledge, their submission is original and does not violate or misappropriate any third-party trade secret, “know-how,” copyright, patent or other intellectual property right. Participants also warrant and represent that there are no obligations of any nature, legal or otherwise, which would prohibit, restrict, or interfere with their participation in the Contest or submission of their design report, and agree to obtain any necessary clearances, authorizations and/or approvals prior to participation.
  • The participants agree that RICH can share information submitted by the participants to the panel of experts, reviewers etc. (any information that you may not want to share publicly should not be submitted).
  • RICH does not claim ownership over Intellectual Property Right (IPR) for the Innovation that is sent to us by submitting an application. The IPR shall remain with the applicant at all times.
  • RICH reserves the right to publish the grantees information with regard to 1. Title of the project 2. Brief summary, 3. Deliverables 4. Principle Investigator 5. Team etc.
  • By entering the Contest, each participant agrees to release RICH, and it’s partners from and against any losses, damages, rights, claims and actions of any kind arising from (i) an exclusion or disqualification of such participant pursuant to these rules; (ii) late or unsuccessful efforts to notify winners of any prize; (iii) forfeiture of the seed grant and the selection of an alternate grantee; (iv) late, lost, delayed, damaged, misdirected, incomplete, illegible or unintelligible entries; (v) telephone, electronic, hardware or software program, network, Internet, or computer malfunctions, failures or difficulties of any kind; (vi) failed, incomplete, garbled or delayed computer transmissions; (vii) any condition caused by events beyond RICH’s control that may cause the Contest to be disrupted or corrupted; and (viii) any injuries, losses or damages of any kind relating to participation in this Contest.

Correspondence:

For any further queries, please send an email to head-bdls-rich@telangana.gov.in

Disclaimer:

RICH reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to cancel, terminate, suspend this programme and modify the rules, awards& funding related to the contest without prior notice. In no event shall RICH or any other organizers be liable for any claims, losses, expenses or damages, arising out of or in connection with the foregoing.

RICH-AID Program FAQs:

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