Ayukriyam Innovations has partnered with the Technology Development Board (TDB) under the Department of Science and Technology to develop an advanced AI-powered whole slide imaging (WSI) system for digital pathology. The collaboration aims to create an indigenous, affordable, high-resolution scanner and AI analysis platform that digitizes entire pathology slides, automates cell classification, detects abnormalities, and assists pathologists in cancer and other disease diagnosis—addressing the acute shortage of pathologists and long turnaround times in India.
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The project, supported by a significant TDB grant, will develop a complete WSI solution including a high-throughput slide scanner, cloud-edge AI engine for real-time image analysis, and pathologist-friendly reporting tools. Trained on diverse Indian histopathology datasets, the system targets early detection of cancers (breast, cervical, oral, lung), infectious diseases, and rare conditions with >95% accuracy in pilot validations. The initiative is expected to reduce diagnostic delays from days to hours, enable remote consultations, and support large-scale screening programs across public and private labs.
Ayukriyam Innovations, a Bengaluru-based deep-tech startup specializing in AI-driven digital pathology, has signed a strategic partnership with the Technology Development Board (TDB), a statutory body under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. The collaboration, formalized through a funding and development agreement, will accelerate the creation of India’s first fully indigenous AI-powered whole slide imaging (WSI) system for pathology laboratories. The announcement was made during a joint event at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, attended by senior officials from DST, TDB, ICMR, and leading pathology experts.
The project aims to build an end-to-end digital pathology platform comprising a high-resolution whole slide scanner capable of digitizing glass slides at 40x magnification with exceptional colour fidelity and detail, paired with a powerful AI engine that automatically analyzes entire tissue sections. The AI will perform cell-level classification, tissue segmentation, tumour detection and grading, biomarker quantification, and flagging of critical abnormalities such as malignant cells, mitotic figures, necrosis, and lymphovascular invasion. Early validation studies on Indian patient cohorts have demonstrated over 95% concordance with expert pathologist reads for major cancer types, including breast, cervical, oral, lung, and colorectal malignancies, as well as infectious granulomas and autoimmune conditions.
Dr. Anjali Mehta, Founder and CEO of Ayukriyam Innovations, explained that the system is designed to address India’s severe pathologist shortage—fewer than 3,000 pathologists serve a population of over 1.4 billion—while tackling long diagnostic turnaround times that delay cancer treatment and worsen outcomes. By automating routine morphology tasks and presenting pathologists with pre-annotated slides, heatmaps, and prioritized cases, the platform allows experts to focus on complex interpretation and clinical correlation rather than exhaustive manual review. The solution will support remote digital consultations, enabling specialists in metros to report for rural and district labs, and will integrate with ABDM standards for secure sharing of digital pathology reports.
The TDB funding will support hardware prototyping, AI model training on expanded Indian datasets, multi-centre clinical validation across government and private labs, and regulatory pathway acceleration under CDSCO’s Software as Medical Device classification. Ayukriyam plans to deploy pilot units in select medical colleges, cancer centres, and diagnostic chains in 2026–27, with commercial availability targeted for 2028. The project also includes capacity-building programs to train pathologists and technicians in digital pathology workflows.
This partnership reflects a growing national push to develop sovereign, affordable digital health technologies that leverage India’s clinical data richness and engineering talent to solve local healthcare challenges while contributing to global standards in AI-driven diagnostics.
“Pathology in India is overburdened and under-resourced. With this AI-powered WSI system, we aim to turn every microscope into a smart diagnostic partner bringing faster, more accurate cancer and disease detection to every corner of the country.”
By
HB Team
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