Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research (WeSchool) in collaboration with Camera Culture Group, MIT Media Lab, USA, presented the 'ReDx-Redesigning Diagnostics' (ReDx) along with IIT-B and Hinduja National Hospital. The exhibition was concluded in the presence of Vinod Tawde, Minister for Education and Culture, Govt. of Maharashtra and other dignitaries in an open house at Weschool campus, Mumbai on January 31, 2015.

The open house was inaugurated by Vinod Tawde, and it was a showcase of the outcome of a week-long workshop where 100 innovators from across India, have been collaborating and sharing ideas across boundaries of disciplines, institutions and cultures, striving towards creating diagnostic devices to bring high quality and low cost medical solutions to millions of people. The innovative prototypes displayed how the confluence of talent, technology, finance and innovation can create better healthcare that is available to all.

A group of 16 students across diverse programmes like General Management, Business Design, Ebiz and Healthcare from WeSchool had participated in ReDx  under the mentorship of Prof Ramesh Raskar and his colleagues, Anshuman Das and John Werner, Camera Culture Group, MIT Media Lab, along with expert faculty from IIT-B, Hinduja Hospital and WeSchool.

The exhibition was the outcome of the intensive 7-day ReDx workshop that has brought together nearly hundred students, clinicians, entrepreneurs, and investors to address the most critical healthcare issues in India. The participating teams have created working prototypes of innovative diagnostic devices for Digital Stethoscope ,Low Cost X Ray Machine, Vein Detection using Augmented Reality & Oxymetric mapping , Anterior & Posterior Segment Ocular Imaging , Retinal Imaging Annotation, Dental Imaging, Hydration Monitoring ,MECG, Otoscope, Cardio 24, Dermatoscope for screening skin cancer and Sleep Apnea for Rest Analysis and Monitoring.

Prof Dr Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, WeSchool said, “The collaboration between MIT Media lab and WeSchool is a milestone in our journey towards creating the future. WeSchool’s efforts at creating an ecosystem for convergence of design thinking, technology and empathy has created this wonderful platform for bringing participants from diverse streams to design these much needed healthcare diagnostic devices which will have immense innovation value and social impact in the years ahead.

Further, he adds, “During ReDx, WeSchool students have helped translate potentially high impact ideas/solutions sourced from health researchers & doctors and turned these challenges not only into working prototypes but also into executable business solutions, thereby boosting their entrepreneurial spirit that will lead to new plans, new strategies, dreams and visions”

Vinod Tawde, applauded the efforts made by all the collaborators and said, “India faces major challenges in healthcare .Today an early diagnosis is a priority for every family and we need to provide facilities to enable them for self-care and to avoid hospitalisation. WeSchool and MIT have made a wonderful beginning, now the government must step in to take it forward. We will certainly facilitate such projects which will help create accessible and affordable healthcare solutions for the common people. The huge population of students in Maharashtra is our asset and it will compel global leaders to come to the state to fulfill the Make in India Vision “.

Prof Ramesh Raskar, Associate Professor, MIT Media Lab said, “ReDx, a platform focussed on Healthcare challenges, is a joint venture going on in parallel in USA and India. Apart from bringing in speed, our model of innovation enables us to collaborate with students, entrepreneurs, academician, researchers and government, and this convergence translates into scale and sustainability.”

As the fourth Installment of ReDx concluded at WeSchool, it also marked a new beginning for the young students with triggers of ideas for businesses in the medical diagnostic sector, with high potential for scale and impact.