Bengaluru-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms’ (C-Camp) Covid-19 Innovation Deployment Accelerator or C-CIDA has shortlisted six near-deployment technologies that are to play a crucial role in eliminating or containing the spread of the virus.
The six start-ups are Eyestem ― which has come up with a novel screening platform for anti-Covid-19 drugs, Kerasiev ― which has a technology to control viral contaminants in waste water, Innaumation ― for therapeutical approaches, Pluss Technologies ― cold chain support for viral swabs, RR Animal Healthcare ― for surface sanitisation, and DNAXperts ― for an indigenously developed rapid diagnostics kit.
“While some of these companies are ready to deploy immediately, some will be in line with platform technologies in areas that hold immense potential for impact in India and globally,” said Dr Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO & Director, C-CAMP.
“In fact, C-CIDA Week-4 line up of innovations reflects the diversity of solutions being put forth by the Indian start-up community. These are not mainstream but bold, holistic approaches. Even if not investor-friendly, technologies such as these are a huge bet for us as a society right now. The scale is not just India but the world,” he added.
C-CIDA aims at identifying, fast-tracking and providing handholding support to innovations that are near-ready for deployment. The platform is a multi-partner coalition of several Indian and global industry and investor bodies including United Nations Health Innovation Exchange (UNHIE), Social Alpha, ACT, PATH, AIC-CCMB, CCMB-CSIR, 91Springboard, India Health Fund, India 2022 Xynteo and MedTechConnect.
C-CIDA, in its four-week evaluation, has selected 31 innovations. C-CAMP launched C-CIDA in late March and since then it has attracted nation-wide response with more than 1,000 submitted innovations from all over India, and interestingly, some from overseas.
Now C-CAMP, along with its other C-CIDA partners, Action Covid-19 Team or ACT and Social Alpha, are set to hand-pick a select few of these innovations for grant funding and investment opportunities easing their path to eventual adoption by the public healthcare system.