VARANASI: Artificial intelligence could help make healthcare more accessible, affordable and effective, from disease screening and medical diagnostics to remote intensive care monitoring and AI-assisted surgical planning. These applications took centre stage at a technology conclave organised by Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at IIT BHU, Varanasi.
The conclave, titled AI for Health & Assistive Technologies, brought together government representatives, academics, healthcare professionals and startups to explore how AI can support healthcare delivery, accessibility, inclusion and citizen well-being through practical, scalable solutions.
The programme featured a keynote address by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) secretary S. Krishnan, alongside special addresses by STPI director general Arvind Kumar, IIT BHU director Amit Patra, Uttar Pradesh Startup Mission chief executive Sumit Mahajan and Banaras Hindu University oncology professor Mallika Tiwari.
Krishnan highlighted AI’s potential to strengthen clinical decision-making and improve healthcare services, particularly for communities with limited access to medical facilities. He called for AI education across disciplines and closer integration of technology, medical sciences and research to develop solutions suited to real-world needs.
He also urged IIT BHU, STPI, industry and startups to collaborate on healthcare and assistive technologies. Support through the IndiaAI Mission and other MeitY initiatives, he said, could help advance innovation, while STPI could connect startups with investors, venture capital networks and market opportunities.
Kumar highlighted STPI’s role in supporting India’s information technology and IT-enabled services industry since 1991, saying a similar opportunity exists to foster indigenous AI innovation and entrepreneurship.
He pointed to STPI’s industry connections and 27 Centres of Entrepreneurship as resources for strengthening translational research, intellectual property creation and market access. He also called for expanding startup ecosystems beyond established technology hubs, with closer collaboration among academic institutions, industry and government.
Patra outlined IIT BHU’s efforts to strengthen its entrepreneurship ecosystem through CIIE. He emphasised the need for an institutional framework that encourages students, faculty members and aspiring innovators to turn ideas into viable startups. Access to multiple funding sources and a sustainable pipeline of new ventures would be important to this effort, he said.
The conclave featured two panel discussions covering AI’s potential to improve public well-being and the challenge of translating research into scalable solutions.
The first, Empowering Citizens Through AI: Health, Inclusion & Well-being, brought together experts from computer science, physics, biomedical engineering and pharmaceutical engineering, alongside representatives from STPI and AI startup Arkision AI.
Participants included CIIE-IIT BHU coordinator Manoj Kumar Meshram; IIT BHU faculty members Sanjay Kumar Singh, Avanish Singh Parmar, Shiru Sharma and Ruchi Chawla; Arkision AI founder Shahbaz Ahmad; and STPI additional director Amit Kumar Verma.
The discussion examined how combining technical expertise, healthcare-related research and entrepreneurial thinking could help develop AI applications that make healthcare more inclusive and responsive to citizens’ needs.
The second panel, From Innovation to Impact: Translating AI Research into Scalable Healthcare & Assistive Solutions, focused on moving promising ideas from research settings towards practical implementation.
The speakers were MeitY director Rajeshwar Singh Jenwar; Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU assistant professor Akash Mishra; BioNest BHU scientific officer Durgesh Narayan Singh; LeminAi founder Tripti Verma; and STPI MedTech Centre of Entrepreneurship at SGPGIMS, Lucknow, chief operating officer Shyam Kumar.
The session highlighted the role of collaboration among scientific institutions, government bodies and startups in helping healthcare and assistive technology innovations reach real-world users.
STPI Lucknow additional director and officer-in-charge Praveen Kumar Dwivedi delivered the vote of thanks.
The conclave underscored the importance of connecting research, entrepreneurship and industry to develop responsible AI solutions for healthcare and accessibility. For STPI and CIIE at IIT BHU, the challenge now is to help promising ideas progress beyond the research stage into practical technologies that can be deployed at scale.
