IIT Kanpur seeking partners to manufacture oxygen plants

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / May 5, 2021

Responding to the medical oxygen crisis amid second wave of Covid-19, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur has launched a 45-day open manufacturing challenge ‘Mission Bharat O2’ for developing ‘bedside oxygen concentrators and oxygen plants’.

The development comes at a time of emergency and will not be limited to a single manufacturer for delivering the product. The project will be anchored by the Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC), IIT Kanpur.

Oxygen concentrator is an invasive medical device with limited scope for product innovation, hence SIIC plans to decentralise the manufacturing process by engaging quality SMEs across states.

An ideal case scenario would be to work with a set of manufacturers in different regions of India with the target production capacity of 100 units per day with scale up, the Institute today said. The online application is already live at https://www.bharato2.in/.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing challenge task force is led by Prof Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, Professor In-charge, Innovation & Incubation, IIT Kanpur; Srikant Sastri, President, TiE Delhi-NCR; and Rahul Patel, Head of Strategic Initiatives, SIIC IIT Kanpur.

Prof Abhay Karandikar, IIT Kanpur director, said the Institute carried a legacy of serving the nation in times of urgent need. “When the first wave of Covid-19 hit India, SIIC incubated companies stepped up to deliver ‘Swasa’ N-95 masks, which have become the household name for protection against the pandemic, apart from Noccarc V310 ICU ventilator.”

“Both these products, developed locally, were testament to India’s capability to innovate at par with global standards. As the second wave hits India, IIT Kanpur and SIIC have decided to support more indigenous innovators, this time to address the oxygen crisis. I urge all eligible entrepreneurs to participate in Mission Bharat O2,” the director said.

At a weekly average of about 330,000 fresh Covid-19 cases across India, hospitals have run out of drugs, beds, ventilators and other life-saving drugs and equipment. To combat the overstretched healthcare systems, India plans to import 100,000 oxygen concentrators even as the country also needs to channel local resources to meet the surging demand.