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627700-iit-kharagpurSupporting COVID Innovation at IIT Kharagpur

Information provided by Ron Gupta ('70) and IITKGP Foundation (August 2020)

IIT KGP Foundation and an IIT Madras alumnus to support COVID-19 Innovation at IIT Kharagpur

IIT Kharagpur Foundation of USA will provide INR 45L to support Field Validation of the New Covid-19 Detection Device developed by IIT Kharagpur, under the leadership of Prof. Suman Chakraborty. Of this amount, INR 25L is being donated by Anand Rajaraman, an IIT Madras alumnus based in Silicon Valley, USA. Anand is a partner at Rocketship VC, a venture capital firm, and is also a successful serial entrepreneur who founded Junglee (acquired by Amazon) and Kosmix (acquired by Walmart).

"This donation will put IIT Kharagpur on a global map as a pioneer in developing innovative solutions to the unprecedented pandemic of Novel Corona Virus-19," said Ron Gupta, President of IIT Kharagpur Foundation of USA.

"An inexpensive, scalable, and highly accurate COVID test can be a game-changer in the fight against this virus, especially in the developing world. This research project has the promise of helping curb the global pandemic and save many, many lives," said Anand Rajaraman.

"With this outstanding support from the illustrious IIT Alumni and the Institute, the research team will make their best endeavors to bring out a technology to the market that provides a disruptive mechanism of arresting the global pandemic and provides a long-lasting solution for viral infection detection at affordable costs, catering the needs of the under-served community at large," said Prof. Suman Chakraborty, the lead researcher at IIT Kharagpur. (India Today article) (The KGP Chronicle article)