A team of four engineering students from a college affiliated to Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Hyderabad, has developed a device and mobile app to make vision screening easy, accessible and affordable too.
iNethra, the product, comprises a handy, stick-like device with a lens on one end and connected to a smart phone camera on the other side. While this helps in clicking the retinal image of the patients, the mobile app helps in sharing and receiving information related to the eye condition. The clicked images are uploaded to the app for the doctor to access and analyse them. There is a provision in the app for the doctor to note details about the eye condition, provide tips and if required refer them to hospitals, said K. Bhavya Sri and D. Neelima, two members who received a certificate on behalf of the team for participating in 2019 national cohort of the Boeing University Innovation Leadership Development programme.
The certificate, presented to them by IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan at an event in T-Hub on Monday, said they have successfully completed the regional level workshop held earlier this month at T-Hub Foundation. M. Srija and D. Sai Sowmya are the other members. Aiding them was J-Hub, the incubator at JNTU, by way of mentoring, shaping their idea and business plan and making connections with doctors, according to Ms. Bhavya Sri. On the way forward, Ms. Neelima said with the prototype in hand, the team looked forward to getting funds to take the project forward and simultaneously improvise the device and cut down the costs. Initially, the plan is to pursue a B2B (business-to-business) model under which partner eye clinics would approach patients coming to public health centres.
Mr. Ranjan, who is also officiating as Vice-Chancellor of JNTU, told the Entrepreneurship Day celebrations at T-Hub how Hyderabad boasts of a strong start-up eco-system, including the high quality J-Hub incubator. The affiliated colleges of JNTU too have set up their own incubator and with J-Hub connected on a hub and spoke model.
Tracing the growth of the “vibrant and dynamic innovation eco-system” of Hyderabad and the emergence of T-Hub, the senior official said a lot has changed including the mindset of people towards start-up and entrepreneurship. T-Hub CEO Ravi Narayan, founder of Thickshake Factory M. Yeshwant Nag, GrabOn founder Ashok Reddy and MapMyGenome founder Anu Acharya participated in a panel discussion.
