IIT Palakkad and Institute for Communicative and Cognitive Neurosciences (ICCONS), Shoranur, Kerala, have signed a research collaboration agreement on 25 September 2019 to carry out R&D programme on Assistive and Rehabilitation Technology. ICCONS is an autonomous neuro-specialty hospital & research institute established under Government of Kerala in 2000 – It is the first of its kind in Asia for comprehensive multidisciplinary management, research and rehabilitation of cognitive and communicative disorders such as Autism, Learning disability, Developmental language disorders, Mental retardation, Cerebral palsy, Hearing impairment, Stroke, Parkinson’s disease, Dementia, Aphasia, etc.
As part of the agreement, ICCONS will provide furnished building space in their campus at Shoranur to set up a Joint Assistive and Rehabilitation technology R&D Centre, clinical expertise of doctors, medical data and available instrumental facilities. IIT Palakkad will provide all the possible technical expertise for developing novel, low-cost assistive and rehabilitation technology devices as part of the programme. IIT Palakkad has also received funding from industrial partner GadgEon Smart Systems Pvt Limited, Kochi, to employ 2 full-time Research Staff in the R&D Centre for a period of 2 years. GadgEon will also provide necessary technology development support to IIT Palakkad for the R&D undertaken in the Centre at ICCONS. The coordinators of the Centre are Prof Vinod A Prasad (IIT Palakkad) and Dr. Anoop Unnikrishnan (ICCONS). The programme will commence in November 2019.