Bridging Innovation and Industry: IIT Madras and Spark Minda Foundation join forces to scale indigenous assistive technology for people with limb loss.
NEW DELHI/CHENNAI (India CSR): In a significant step towards advancing accessible and indigenous assistive technology, the IIT Madras Technology Transfer Office (TTO) and Spark Minda Foundation (SMF), the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of the leading automotive components manufacturer, Spark Minda have signed a Non-Exclusive Technology License Agreement for the technology transfer of ‘Kadam’, an innovative prosthetic knee designed to support mobility across uneven terrain.
The agreement brings together IIT Madras’ research and engineering expertise in assistive and rehabilitation technologies with Spark Minda Foundation’s capabilities in product development, manufacturing and scale-up. The partnership aims to take the ‘Kadam’ prosthetic knee from research and development to wider access, enabling more people with limb loss to benefit from an indigenous mobility solution.
The partnership is aligned with Spark Minda Foundation’s broader vision of developing advanced, indigenous prosthetic solutions and achieving 50,000 prosthetic limb fitments by 2030. The initiative reflects the Foundation’s focus on combining technology, accessibility and scale to create meaningful impact for persons with disabilities.
Opening the event, Dr. Suresh D., Group CTO, Spark Minda Group and CEO, Spark Minda Technical Centre (SMIT), highlighted Spark Minda’s commitment to leveraging technology and innovation to create solutions that contribute to social development.
Speaking on the occasion, Sarika Minda, Chairperson, Spark Minda Foundation, said, “The technology licensing agreement marks not just a technology-transfer milestone, but a critical step towards building a stronger ecosystem where academic innovation, industry capability and social responsibility converge to create solutions for a more inclusive society.”
Prof. Sujatha Srinivasan, Head of the National Centre for Assistive Health Technologies (NCAHT) and TTK Center for Rehabilitation Research and Device Development (R2D2), IIT Madras, who led the development of the ‘Kadam’ knee, said, “We are happy to collaborate with like-minded partners who believe persons with disability should have access to the right technologies that enable their independence.”
The collaboration represents a meaningful industry-academia partnership focused on translating research and engineering excellence into scalable assistive solutions. By combining IIT Madras’ technology and research capabilities with Spark Minda Foundation’s manufacturing and outreach ecosystem, the partnership aims to strengthen India’s capacity to develop and deliver accessible prosthetic technologies at scale.
(India CSR)
