IIM-A to attract healthcare innovations

The Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), will offer a 'Piramal Prize' to encourage and support bold entrepreneurial ideas, which have a profound impact on access to higher standards of health for India's rural and marginalised urban communities.

The award consists of a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh for the winning entry, incubation support at CIIE and a possible additional venture capital funding. The 2008 Piramal Prize evaluation process involves three stages, culminating in a finalist workshop and selection weekend in May 2008.

Finalists will have a chance to work closely with a mentor, network with potential investors, and make a final presentation to the Piramal Prize Selection Committee.

The award recognises high-impact and scalable business models that propose innovative solutions, which directly or indirectly address India's healthcare crisis.

Entries may include innovations in service delivery, technology applications, health-related products, or mechanisms to address public health necessities such as potable water.

CIIE has been supporting several healthcare related innovations like Inflow meter, an infusion flow rate monitor to measure the flow of intravenous fluids into the human body; Save The Environment, which, provides arsenic filters to arsenic-poisoning prone areas of West Bengal and Bihar; and Flexinails, a cost-effective orthopaedic nail to treat unstable fractures of femur (hip-thigh joint and around) in elderly and long bones in children among others. All these innovations have received commercial support.