The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has tied up with prestigious Stanford University of USA to create medical technology innovation in India by developing leaders in biomedical technology.

The new initiative, `Stanford-India Biodesign Programme', is yet another collaboration between India and the famed university which admits at least 500 Indian students every year and has over 40 faculty of Indian origin.

Besides, the University has recently signed up with a Hyderabad-based non-profit group Emergency Management Research Institute (EMRI) to improve the emergency response system by training new corps of paramedics and thus saving more lives through better pre-hospital care.

The new Biodesign programme, recently launched by the DBT, seeks to provide training to young engineers from IITs, leading engineering institutions with partner medical institution to identify major health needs in India and develop solutions that are cost-effective and widely deployable across a broad socio-economic spectrum, official sources said.

It would introduce the Stanford model of biodesign into educational system of these institutions and establish Centre of Excellence at each IIT in partnership with a medical institution. It would also identify opportunities through observation of patients by a multidisciplinary team comprised of biologist, engineer, chemistry and medical persons, then to select at least one new technology for the group to be designed and develop it into a prototype.

The focus of the programme will be on the development of implants, medical devices and bioinstrumentation. The initial development phase will include an intensive design and planning process based on the national needs. The faculty and fellows would be trained in the design innovation process by providing hands-on training at Stanford University, USA.

After the training, the team will come back to India and start designing process and identifying clinical needs/challenges in India based on their experience at Stanford University, USA.

In another collaborative venture as part of its mission to build up more ties with India, the University has teamed up with EMRI to bring a sweeping 911-type emergency response system to life. The programme, which was launched in 2005 in Andhra Pradesh and saved lots of lives, would now be extended to other parts to cover the entire population of the country by 2009.

In a little more than a year, EMRI has claimed to have responded to roughly 250,000 emergencies and saved more than 9,500 lives in Andhra Pradesh. EMRI, which has gained the backing of the state government, has purchased and equipped more than 500 ambulances, and developed a sophisticated, state-of-the-art call centre that handles more than 15,000 calls each day.

In addition to training paramedics, the Stanford group will teach paramedic educators in India who can carry on the work of instructing the next generation of advanced emergency medical technicians.