Royal Philips India has launched Healthcare Innovation Center (HIC) in Pune. The new center is in line with Prime Minister’s Make in India initiative and aims at providing best and most advanced, innovative diagnostic facilities for the people.  “At HIC we are delivering the full spectrum of capabilities ranging from innovation, design, R&D and services to manufacturing of healthcare products. With our capabilities in mobile surgery, we are well positioned to address global markets with products, solutions and services for image-guided therapy,” said Rekha Ranganathan, global general manager, mobile surgery & head, and Philips Healthcare Innovation Center.

With a strong R&D and innovation team in Pimpri and Chakan, HIC will play a critical role in supporting Philips’ local and global strategy in image-guided therapy. With the global leadership team for mobile surgery being based in Pune, HIC will take the lead in delivering innovations for both the Indian and global markets. The center also manufactures ‘fixed’ imaging equipment for minimally invasive treatment of life threatening ailments like cardiovascular diseases. Currently, the center has more than 400 employees and has shipped hundreds of systems to 90 countries in 2014.

The new HIC houses state of the art systems such as MobileDiagnost Opta and mobile surgery system BV Vectra amongst a range of healthcare innovations. The healthcare innovations, including products like Allura Centron, and PrimaryDiagnost, have been innovated in India and are manufactured at HIC’s Chakan facility. As part of its global strategy, HIC will function as a healthcare innovation and manufacturing hub for India and international markets.

Designed and developed by a team of 25 engineers at HIC, MobileDiagnost Opta is an innovative digital x-ray system that helps radiologists with consistent diagnostic image quality with mobility and ease of use in restricted places like Intensive Care Units (ICU) and Operation Theatres (OT). The BV Vectra mobile C-arm system is intuitive to operate and is dedicated to orthopedic surgical procedures, including trauma, spine and pain management. The system, developed by a team of 45 engineers is perfect for visualizing difficult spinal or comminuted fractures. Both the systems, MobileDiagnost Opta as well BV Vectra have been developed for India and other global geographies.

Located in Maharashtra, with facilities in Chakan and Pimpri, HIC is Philips’ only such center in emerging markets and is focused on providing smart and reliable imaging products and services with low dose radiation for enhanced patient safety.  By integrating research & development, sourcing, assembly, manufacturing, testing and marketing, HIC plays an essential role in Philips’ commitment to develop and produce meaningful products and solutions that help improve healthcare for people all over the world. The center manufactures both interventional and diagnostic x-ray systems. In the last 2 years the facility has successfully doubled unit growth, launched 5 global products, filed multiple patents and received significant investments. In 2014, Philips invested approximately 8 per cent of sales in research and development globally.