KOCHI: In a novel initiative, Kerala Medical Technology Consortium (KMTC) is planning to set up medical-device clusters in major cities in the state that will link universities, industries, startups, and hospitals and encourage them to come up with advanced technologies and devices.
“We need to encourage collaboration between universities, research institutions, hospitals, and startups. We have facilities in Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, Palakkad, and Kozhikode. These are all potential locations. However, there is no collaboration. KMTC has been interacting with each of these groups — industries and universities and hospitals — to set up medical technology and medical-device clusters in the state,” C Padmakumar, special officer, KMTC, told TNIE on the sidelines of the Invest Kerala Global Summit (IKGS) 2025.
The consortium has been organising events to make the collaboration possible. “We have already organised 12 meets in the state where we brought all of them together. As a result of these interactions, we got industries to sponsor research. The connection between the two is important,” he said, citing examples of Silicon Valley, Minnesota, and Boston, where clusters were formed around research institutions and universities.
The academy-industry collaboration can help boost the medical technology sector. “Such linkages and participation of youngsters in the sector can transform the sector in the state. The ecosystem will develop,” said Sanjay Behari, director of Sree Chitra Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, adding that the energy will come from youngsters and most of the time the end users will also be them.
KMTC signed an expression of interest to invest Rs 500 crore in the state.
“Kerala has an industry-academy partnership. The state is famous for many academic institutions. Collaborating with these institutions can help take the medical device industry to the next level,” said Thomas John, managing director of Agappe Diagnostics.
According to Behari, the Institute of Virology, Digital University Kerala and Institute of Genomics can help the sector grow in the state.
“The infrastructure is good in Kerala, and it can help the medical technology sector and industries,” he said. Padmakumar added that there is increased interest among people to set up medical-device startups.