CoE IoT Official Blog

The World Health Organization has recognized diabetes as the ninth leading cause of death worldwide, with an estimated one million deaths each year. With every seventh person being diabetic, India ranks as the world’s second-largest country in the global diabetes epidemic.

This chronic health condition gives rise to many fatal diseases that can damage the kidneys, nerves, blood vessels and heart. Many diabetic patients suffer from Peripheral neuropathy- a condition which arises from the damage of nerves in the hands and feet, causing numbness, pain, and loss of sensation.  This condition can turn terminal if not diagnosed and treated on time. If left ignored, poor blood circulation and weak immunity might increase the risk of an ulcer which can also result in amputation. Hence, diabetic patients must get their neuropathy screening, and treatment is done on time.

Founded in 2019, Ayati Devices is diligently bouncing ideas to make the screening of diabetic neuropathic patients effortless, accurate, affordable and accessible. The startup is the brainchild of Nishant Kathpal, who is passionate about learning new technology, and innovation and explores constructive approaches to help solve real-life challenges. With a team of experts from diverse professional backgrounds, he is giving shape to his idea of developing an innovative diabetic foot screener which helps clinicians to save time while maintaining accuracy. This diabetic foot screener is designed to support the patients to monitor the problem which further aids their treatment.

Ayati flagship offerings:

• VIBRASENSE: A portable point-of-care device to screen and monitor diabetic patients for foot neuropathy at an early stage to prevent foot. The device is useful for OPDs, paying home visits, and screening camps.
• NEUMU: An automatic device that is capable of doing the comprehensive analysis of the foot including quantification of Pressure, Vibration & Temperature Perception Threshold and accurately diagnosing diabetic patients for peripheral neuropathy.
• STIMU: This advanced technology is Portable, Automatic and Non-Subjective and has the potential of screening and diagnosing foot ulcer at early stage. It examines the tissues of the patient’s foot sole to only codify them into risk & no-risk zones.

The company is virtually incubated at the Center of Excellence – IoT & AI, Gurugram, which is a Joint initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY), Govt. of Haryana, and NASSCOM.

This healthcare startup’s remarkable invention NEUMU takes less than five minutes to diagnose a diabetic patient for neuropathy at an early stage to prevent foot amputations. It quantifies three major parameters. Ayati’s unique solution VIBRASENSE is a battery-powered portable quick screening device that helps in screening and detecting peripheral neuropathy. The algorithm of this technology is designed to analyse patients and classify them into three risk categories that are low, medium and high. The controlled stimulus of this wireless device can be used to find out the loss of sensation on the foot. It can be easily connected with applications for report generation and monitoring purposes. VIBRASENSE has surmounted all scrutinies and has been certified with IEC standards and it stands to be one of the most trusted and preferred Indian CE-marked & CDSCO approved biothesiometer. To date, with the help of this unique solution, Ayati has been able to conduct the screening of more than 100K patients.

Ayati’s brilliant inventiveness had lighted up their way to significant recognition and success. The team was bestowed with opportunities to showcase their innovation on global platforms, including the International Tech Hub by the UK government and the Dubai Expo. They were among the top finalists in the LKYG Business Plan in Singapore and won prestigious titles BIRAC BIG, BIPP, “Best start-up award” in Spain, and the “Best IoT medical device award” at Indian IoT Congress. The team raised a good amount of grants and awards which counts to about 1.5Cr.

To date, Ayati’s devices have been involved in three major screening camps namely the Maharashtra (Shegaon and Chandrapur) Camp, where they have conducted low-cost screening of more than 500 patients, helping them with early diagnosis and timely treatment of any kind of foot malady. The team showed commendable participation in supporting the purpose of the Niramaya Gujarat Program and screened 37 Diabetic patients, out of which 29 tested positive for the diabetic foot.

For the future, Ayati Devices has set their sight on becoming the leading provider of first level of innovation and affordable healthcare monitoring solutions across the globe. Abiding by their motto, the team is working like a Trojan to enable effective screening accessible and affordable for every diabetic patient, especially for those suffering with neuropathy and they plan to do this with the support of VIBRASENSE.  In the time to come, Ayati envisages to grow both nationally and worldwide with targets set to launch itself in the diverse market of Middle East Asia and Africa.

“With NASSCOM CoE, Ayati is exploring multiple opportunities with the partners associated with them. These opportunities will help Ayati in scaling up, growth, and attaining much needed momentum,”- Nishant Kathpal, Founder, Ayati Devices.

As COVID-19 continues to impact business dynamics, supply chains are still facing disruption. Organizations using old legacy systems and processes are finding it hard to adapt to the new realities. And longer-term supply chain strategies, such as network optimization, need to be reassessed to increase agility.

Although supply chain network optimization covers the end-to-end function, I’m going to focus on the logistics network as a starter as it’s one of the critical streams of SC optimization and brings in clear use cases to optimize costs.

Supply chain network optimization is typically carried out only occasionally and usually as a precursor to a major change of network entities e.g. bringing in a new supplier base, changing manufacturing locations, or changing the distribution footprint. Often, these changes are led by an outside consultant, and strategy recommendations are left to the organization to implement.

Transportation network optimization is either outsourced to a third-party or done as part of a transport management system (TMS) set-up configuration as a one-off activity.

Carrier analytics, another major pillar in framework optimization, is a core activity and is carried out in most organizations, evaluating historical performance using key parameters to guide future strategy. However, this is still a manual exercise in MS Excel for most the firms.

You’ll also find business impact and visualization for activities spread across multiple reports with backward-looking descriptive analytics; making it difficult to take proactive actions.

Timely diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases remain to be a major concern for the healthcare sector. For decades, lung diseases like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) have been one of the most common causes of death in the world. The healthcare system is continuously embracing contemporary measures and innovations to prevent, control and manage both infectious and non-communicable lung diseases. New-fangled digital technologies have transformed the healthcare system and empowered physicians to hit on innovative methods to enhance patient outcomes and deliver quality care to patients.

A Pune-based startup, Briota Technologies, has come forward to unleash potential technologies to develop effective solutions and bridge the gaps in healthcare services, giving prominence to enhancing the screening, diagnostic, care, and management of chronic respiratory conditions.

Briota was set up by Gajanan Sakhare and Shardul Joshi, both of whom were passionate about using AI to help improve Health Equity. The startup is focused on devising AI-first technology solutions in an affordable and accessible manner. The team of Briota Technologies has developed cost-effective innovative products and services to simplify the screening, diagnosis, and treatment process for Asthma, COPD, Long Covid, and Post TB Lung complications. They aim to make quality care affordable and accessible for all through their flagship offering SAVE (Screening, diagnosis, management Assisted Virtually and Early). SAVE project has helped more than 40 thousand patients manage their lung health during the pandemic.

Briota Technologies is among the 12 startups that were part of the sixth edition of Qualcomm Design in India Challenge (QDIC) – an initiative to encourage design houses and product companies to invent useful and innovative hardware product designs incorporating Qualcomm SoC platforms and technologies. Through QDIC, Briota had the opportunity to convert its design submissions into workable prototypes under the mentorship of industry experts, utilizing the Qualcomm® Innovation Lab infrastructure.

“Qualcomm cohort was like a fast track MIT course in hardware design thinking for us!! We are glad that we could be part of such cohort covering practical issues and challenges for a hardware startup. We got lot of insights from Qualcomm team and also got lot of shared learning from other participants. We could get access to the right people and right resources in one place. Specifically, I would like to highlight Qualcomm team’s support around patent filing process,” says, Gajanan Sakhare, Founder, Briota Technologies.

This MedTech firm has crafted solutions like:

• SiA™ (Systematic Intervention Agent): AI First platform which is fully implemented for Asthma, COPD and Long Covid and can be extended to any other chronic condition to be managed at home. This platform is available in SaaS (Software As A Solution) and Custom Development model for other startups and established companies.
• SpiroPRO™: The ease-to-use device is designed to streamline screening, diagnosis, monitor treatment, enable real-time data of the lung health and in a few seconds connect and share reports with the physicians. These tests are CDSCO approved and are accurate to laboratory standards. It has helped doctors take better medical decisions and expedite medication.
• NEHA™: This light and handy smart app supports patients, doctors and caregivers at every step. Its works as an all-inclusive store that allows the user to book an appointment to consult a physician, maintain the medicine time-table and keep a tab on the lung health.
• Inhaler PRO^TM : A one-off smart inhaler, Inhaler Pro^TM works in sync with app NEHA to document the health statistics, frequency, and medication guideline of the patient. These particulars help in monitoring Asthma patients, and help make smart choices about the medicines that promotes health. It detects temperature, puff counts and SpO2.
• BreathPRO^TM: This mechanical exerciser is a unique innovation that helps enhance lung capacity by reducing mucous in airway. It helps in improving respiratory ailments such as Asthma, COPD and others.

These technology solutions have played a notable role in addressing the unmet challenges in this pandemic time, focussing on the early detection of asthma and COPD in children and elderly patients. The products are ISO 9001:2015 & ISO 13485:2016 certified and are approved by Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).

One of its top-notch initiatives powered by their AI-powered Platform SiA™ is a 12 months customized lung care program which takes a holistic approach of managing lung health at home. It includes simple mobile application for improving adherence and support from coaches and medical staff through remote video calls.

“Besides innovating devices that help reduce the burden of chronic respiratory diseases, we wanted to build a platform that will proffer patients personalized programs to Asthma and Covid19 patients. We have got the best-in-class coaches who are qualified Respiratory Therapists, Yoga Experts, Emotional Wellness Experts, Physiotherapists, and Nutritionists. They closely work with the patient to understand their requirement and curate the suitable lung program for them,” commented Shardul Joshi, Co-Founder, Founder of Briota Technologies.

Briota Technologies added many feathers to its cap! Excellence in Innovation Healthcare Start-up of the Year 2021 Award was conferred to the startup by the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI). They won this award for improving health equity through their affordable SpiroPRO™ device and SAVE programs. The start-up received a year-long mentorship from Bayer Pharmaceuticals. It has also bagged “SKOCH Order of Merit Semi-Finals Award 2020” for Project SAVE at the 67th SKOCH Summit on the state of governance. Briota and it’s founder Gajanan is now invited Denmark Government under their Startup promotion program to setup Briota operations in Denmark.  Now Briota is working from both locations – Pune, India and Copenhagen, Denmark.

A bootstrapped firm, Briota has raised initial research capital through soft money and is now initiated fundraising activities. The team plans to go for MedTech focused IPO in Denmark in next two years. The company has signed up collaboration agreements with two leading pharmaceutical companies and is working closely with multiple hospitals in India and Europe. Apart from their proprietary hardware system, they are also partnering with various other hardware providers to expand coverage of our SaaS platform. With the clinical validation in Denmark and CE marking to be completed by December 2023, Briota is working on a plan to expand in Europe, Japan and the USA.

To date, the startup has crowned other significant projects such as the “VIEW “Pilot Study on COVID Diagnosed Mild & Asymptomatic Patients in Dec 2020, which was done in collaboration with Symbiosis Center of Health Care has completed  In 2020, Briota technologies completed another important project called “SURAKSHA 2020” in partnership with Xynteo New Growth Lab Foundation for Corporates.

For any further information\query you can write to us at Co-innovate@nasscom.in.

The prime concern of every healthcare provider is to deliver optimal patient care. Howbeit, this ultimate goal is disrupted by the complexities in the health system and the gaps in primary care coordination.

Very often we get to see that the treatment recommended for curing a disease fails due to the non-compliant behavior of the patients. This happens when the patients do not complete their screening and diagnostic processes or take drugs to treat an illness without consulting the doctor. These care gaps are the core reasons that lead to poor patient outcomes, delayed as well as expensive diagnoses & prolonged medications, and medical errors. On the other hand, the quandary over deciphering issues and taking measures to meet patient-specific needs continues to widen the gap.

How do we close the gaps to enhance care coordination and deliver effective care to patients? The first and foremost solution is to implement independent practices. Establishing a robust and long-term patient-physician relationship is essential for quality primary care. Maintaining a log-book with patients to track their medical records of patients enables clinicians to extend better treatment by giving a glance at their medical history.

To help physicians further bridge this gap and streamline patient care, HELYXON is availing cutting-edge technologies to help physicians rationalize their healthcare management strategies and enable quality health affordable, accessible and reliable. This Med Tech startup is founded by technophile Vijai Shankar Raja, who holds an extensive experience of over 30 years in the healthcare industry. He has been venturing into the medical domain as the prime mover of a medical equipment company, CURA Healthcare. His pronounced cognizance of the challenges, opportunities, and needs of the ecosystem helped him to prepare the way for an establishment that solves some of the major issues faced by the health system.

The company is virtually incubated at the Center of Excellence – IoT & AI, Gurugram, which is a Joint initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY), Govt. of Haryana, and NASSCOM.

With a robust and innovative team, HELYXON has crafted a futuristic platform that supports hospitals to augment their brand value and enrich their custom-tailored solutions to enable the physicians maintain a head-on dialogue with the patients. This has effectively worked on enhancing doctor-patient relationship. Their far-reaching products and solutions empower Virtual Hospitals, Smart Clinics, Community Health, Tele-Consultation, Remote Monitoring and Disruptive OPD.

This PhyGital system extends assistance to specialists like Paediatricians, Neonatologist, Gynaecologist, Surgeons, Physiotherapists and others.

HELYXON has paid deliberate attention to enhance patient care through its one-of-a-kind platform, EPICare. It is an exclusive system that supports Patient Engagement, Personal Health Record on patient mobile, enables Internet of Things based remote monitoring medical grade devices, and assists with Commerce & Communication capabilities. The solution is devised with the objective of addressing the patient management using technology only. Using these tech-enabled tools and complying with the proprieties, mild and moderately ill patients at the community can keep a tab on the health parameters and keeping constant touch with the doctors which ultimately leads to better patient outcome.  There are more than 35 apps & interfaces and 100+ functionalities that is facilitating doctors and patients be in sync and bring about effective care.

Smart manufacturing is shaping the future. Catch the wave now

You may have heard people refer to the digital factory or the brilliant factory. Some just call it smart manufacturing. Whatever its name, however, the term describes an evolving era in which manufacturing processes and operations are as much digital as they are physical. New technological advancements – all part of an ongoing Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) – have raised our awareness of this trend.

Yet converting from customary manufacturing to smart manufacturing takes a lot more work than typical IT transformation projects do. The reason: Deploying the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in a factory is much more complex. Smart manufacturing solutions generally must pervade both operating technology (OT) and information technology (IT) – traditionally siloed domains.

What’s more, making the shift calls for a strong governance model! The IIoT brings with it a number of process and operational changes that dig deep into human functions, and the ripple effect can impact the whole organization.

Finally, the switchover creates the need for major physical changes – retrofitting sensors, installing data acquisition modules, and creating infrastructure to stream data, to name some.

Given these challenges, you might wonder why companies bother with IIoT-enabled smart manufacturing in the first place. Isn’t the status quo good enough? Not really, because smart manufacturing promises many benefits. These include:

• More visibility into KPIsto improve and measure performance, to speed up decision-making and to introduce new products for manufacture faster.
• Improved overall equipment efficiencyfor better machine use and higher outputs.
• Consistent output and improved on-time delivery.
• Improved quality, reduced waste, and less corrective work.
• More efficient use of labor, utilities, raw materials, and capacity.
• Reduced unplanned downtimeby ensuring machines are safe and in good condition so planned disruptions are as short as possible.
• Improved health and safety conditions.
• Improved supply chain integration.
• Improved after-market services.

Of course, this list isn’t exhaustive. As well, outcomes vary depending on the industry, the domain, the maturity level, geography, and other conditions.

As the first step along the journey to converting your manufacturing facility into a digital one, you’ll need a holistic view of the factory floor. That includes taking a look at key KPIs as they relate to both connected and non-connected devices.

Smart manufacturing offers so many possibilities – condition-based monitoring, predictive maintenance, spare part optimization, track-and-trace visibility, and so on – that deciding where to start can be daunting. That’s especially so because there are unique advantages to each solution. But with a full picture of operations, you can narrow your focus and prioritize the operations and phases that will deliver the quickest benefits.

Once you’ve determined what comes first, the next step should involve establishing strong links between your operational technology and your information technology. Doing so will give you the data you need for advanced analytics.

Then, with clear priorities and the valuable insights you derive from analytics, you can take the final step – setting up best-in-class benchmarks.

The brilliant factory – the future of manufacturing – is already changing the competitive landscape. If you want to keep your edge, the status quo won’t do. Now is the time to get going.

About the Author:

Ganeshmurthy Bhat is Global Lead – Augmented Intelligence – IoT/Aftermarket Services & Solutions at Genpact, Ex-Supply Chain leader at GE, Ex-Design & Development at DRDO, Molex. With over 18+ years of experience in diverse domain areas such as IOT/IIOT, Industry 4.0, Supply chain aftermarket Service Transformation, he is a trusted analytics advisor for consulting, solution implementation & managed services. He’s a part of NASSCOM FutureSkills initiative to establish IoT Qualification Packs and National Occupational Standards as approved by National Skills Development Authority & Secretary and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MoSDE) for IoT.

Theoretical physicist and Cosmologist Stephen Hawking is the biggest inspiration for people living with disabilities. Despite being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in his early twenties, Stephen did not allow his disablement to stop him from achieving his dream. He turned to technology to countervail his speech and mobility difficulties. He had changed our perspective on disability and encouraged the community to leverage technology to raise the living standard of billions who live with a disability.

Advances in technology are extensively enhancing the prototyping of prosthetics. Many pioneers have ventured into this space and are designing efficient and comfortable artificial limbs.

Inspired by a real-life encounter, an IIT alumni Llewellyn Dsa decided to weigh up cutting-edge technologies and leverage them to help the disabled change the way they lived. The light bulb moment on his entrepreneurial journey happened when he came across a physically challenged batch mate who was struggling to get the right prosthetic limb that fitted him well and brought him the ease and support he needed to carry out his daily chores. Llewellyn’s avidity incited him to take a deeper look into the gaps that existed in the technologies, functionality, and affordability of these artificial arms. The aspiration of bridging these gaps and enabling people with physical disabilities lead a life that is self-standing, Medtech enthusiasts Llewellyn along with Anil Nair, and Priyanka Dsa laid the cornerstone of Robo Bionics.

Robo Bionics launched an artificial robotic hand called Grippy- a NABL Lab Safety Tested and Certified, 3D printed Prosthetic hand with a sense of touch and multi-grip control. The altruistic innovation of this Mumbai-based startup has gained paramount recognition across the domain. Their invention is acknowledged by the Startup India Initiative by the DPIIT, Government of India, and bagged them the National Startup Award 2021 in Medical Devices on the eve of National Startup Day!

The company is virtually incubated at the Center of Excellence – IoT & AI, Gurugram, which is a Joint initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY), Govt. of Haryana, and NASSCOM. They are TechWizards Affiliated.

Llewellyn D’sa Co-Founder of Robo Bionics said, “We have developed our sensors named MMG sensors that work on the pressure displacement rather than nerve activity because of which the product learning time by the user gets reduced to half as it’s as easy as operating a doorbell and it doesn’t depend on conditions like sweat, humidity, and fatigue like traditional EMG sensors. We have also added a feedback loop like our proprietary sense of touch technology that enables us to reduce the learning time and incorporate a Bio-Feedback onto the product.”

How does Grippy assist amputees?

This user-friendly prosthetic hand empowers amputees to perform physical chores like opening or closing a bottle cap, eating, dressing, driving a car, holding a newspaper, holding a handle, and so forth, without difficulty or dependency. The electronic sensors in the devices mimic the sense of touch that makes the user feel secure and comfortable. The fact that Grippy is non-invasive and weighs between  500 to 700 grams which are way lesser than a traditional prosthesis, it is comprehensible and ensures easy interfacing without counting much on one’s vision or intuition makes it one of the most suitable and desirable prosthetic hands.

Robo Bionics started its journey in 2016, and in four years the company has successfully built, tested, and fitted prosthetic hands for people with congenital hand deformities (deformations by birth). The battery-powered prosthesis is designed for people above the age of 15 years and with below elbow amputation. One can use this tech-enabled wearable device without any implantation, or surgery and with minimal training. Other than these, this innovative panacea has also offered a helping hand to about 25 traumatic amputees to lead an active life.

Figure 1Mr Russel using Grippy- The prosthetic hand to open and pour water from a bottle

“We have done a lot of brainstorming while designing Grippy. To help users set their hands on its functioning in just 15 to 20 minutes, our team has worked diligently on making the wearable self-reliant, lightweight, and most importantly reduce the learning curve with improved ergonomics. We have used silicon fingertips cotton gloves that are removable and washable. We have priced our products giving thought to making them affordable and accessible by all. It costs Rs.1.5 to Rs.2 Lakhs and it’s comparatively lesser than the other prosthetic hands available in the market,” he adds.

Robo Bionics has been working and providing service to the Armed Forces Medical College, hospitals, and NGOs across the nation. They are in partnership with eCommerce platforms like Medikabazaar which are assisting them in the online distribution of the products.

The objective of this high-tech prosthetic arm development company is encouraged and supported by industry leaders like Startup India, BIRAC, SINE, The GAIN, IC IIT Patna, StartupXseed, IIM Calcutta, and many others. The company has raised a good amount of funding up to 1.2 crores from influential organizations like SINE, BIRAC, IC IITP, and others. Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) has extended great support to the company through the IIPME grant and the many workshops organized by them. It has helped the startup structure its growth and development goals, setting the road to success.

Robo Bionics has recently been felicitated as the Top 5 Social Impact Start-ups by the Adani Group GreenTalks 2021 and is awarded as the Emerging Social Enterprise 2021 at TiE Sustainability Summit 2021.

After years of diligent research and brainstorming, Robo Bionics released about 50 units of its product in February 2021. With the grail to extend a helping hand to build human spirit and self-confidence, the startup resolves to continue devising robotics and bionics solutions. In the days to come, it plans to manufacture up to 150 to 200 units and navigate into the international market.

“NASSCOM CoE is our key partner for spreading awareness to scaling our business in India. The team is very helpful and open to new ideas. While the team is helping us develop the market and different channels, we believe their corporate connections could also help in creating a unique channel using CSR” Llewellyn Dsa, Founder & CEO, Robo Bionics.

For any further information\query you can write to us at Co-innovate@nasscom.in