• Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre, IIT Kanpur (https://siicincubator.com/) has once again successfully achieved accelerated product development. This time it was for indigenous Oxygen Plants of 500 & 600 LPM capacitieswherein SIIC supported it’s incubated startup, Acquafront Infrastructure

• SIIC brought together a global team of experts in PSA(Pressure swing adsorption ) technology, healthcare products, manufacturing, supply chain and procurement to accelerate the efforts of the AIPL team

• The initiative has been supported by ICICI Securities, ANSYS, PRIME’83 group of IIT Kanpur alumni, and NTTDATA through CSR and donation funds.

Kanpur, U.P.- Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre, IIT Kanpur launched the Mission Bharat O2(https://www.bharato2.in/) in May 2021 to strengthen the Indian healthcare infrastructure, with an overarching objective of promoting indigenous manufacturing at par with global standards. In the initiative, led by Prof. Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, Professor In-charge, Innovation & Incubation, IIT Kanpur, Srikant Sastri, Director, FIRST-IITK and Chairman, I3G Advisory Network, and Rahul Patel, Head of Strategic Initiatives, startup Acquafront Infrastructure (https://www.acquainfra.com/) has successfully installed10 oxygen plants of 500 and 600 LPM capacities in UP, MP, Karnataka, Haryana and Bihar.

Mission Bharat O2 is one more step towards the larger vision of SIIC to develop a self-sustainable healthcare ecosystem in India. The SIIC team has acted swiftly in the past, during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic, to deliver an invasive ICU ventilator in just 90 days with Noccarc and the most popular Made-in-India N-95 grade Swasa mask with E-Spin Nanotech and Indeema Fibre. In the 2nd wave of COVID-19 pandemic, AIPL, designed and manufactured the PSA technology-basedoxygen plants. It was ably supported by 2 SMEs, based in Kolkata and Hallol, as manufacturing partners of the Mission Bharat O2.

To make this national initiative successful, SIIC brought the experts from various domains from all across the world. Mentors for the MBO2 included – Dr. Arvind Rajendran (Canada), Devendra Choudhary (Switzerland), Monojit Choudhury, Nirmal Saraf, Sanjiv Verma, Sanjay Banerjee, Rajesh Raizada, Nagesh Pai (Canada), Sanjiv Maddila (USA) and others.

Mission Bharat O2 is the result of consistent support from generous stakeholders across government and private sector. The SIIC team and selected manufacturing partners received support from government organizations including the Office of PSA, INVEST India, Embassy of India in Japan and private and non-profit organizations including ICICI Securities, ANSYS, PRIME'83 of IITK, NTTDATA, Samhita Social Ventures, and American Indian Foundation. Moglix, ANSYS, and Cunomial supported the initiative throughout execution.

Prof Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, Professor-In-Charge, SIIC, said, “When the world was struggling to understand COVID-19 in 2020, the SIIC team delivered critical medical equipment, amidst stringent deadlines, within 90 days! Seeing the nation in crisis, we had to step up again - Mission Bharat O2 is the result of the enthusiasm of the team to serve the nation with technology at par with global standards, yet again.”

About Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC), IIT Kanpur

With path breaking innovation brewing at incubator start-ups, SIIC IIT Kanpur aims to create impact at the bottom of the pyramid. Established in the year 2000, Start-up Incubation and Innovation Centre (SIIC), IIT Kanpur, is one of the oldest technology business incubators with many successes under its belt. The multifaceted, vibrant incubation ecosystem nurtured over two decades aims to fill all the gaps on the road to convert an idea into a business. SIIC has developed the experience base and ecosystem that become critical ingredients in developing early-stage, technology-focused start-ups disrupting paradigms across the domains such as agriculture, healthcare, aerospace, energy, water, and education.

Website: SIIC IIT Kanpur: https://siicincubator.com/