IIM Sambalpur, Collector's office sign MoU to tackle COVID-19 crisis

Indian Institute of Management Sambalpur has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the office of the Collector-cum-District Magistrate here to tackle the pandemic in the area and assist in the overall development of Sambalpur. The MoU was signed in the presence of Prof Mahadeo Jaiswal, director of the institute, and Subham Saxena, the district collector on Friday, the B school said in a statement.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof Jaiswal said, "We believe we can offer a scientific approach in areas such as supply chain, logistics, operations, and manpower management.

"IIM Sambalpur has created task forces with our faculty and experts on efficient management of health infrastructure supply chain hospital beds, doctors, oxygen, medicine, and effective citizen engagement-social communication in the district of Sambalpur to begin with and to be rolled out nationwide based on its success." The MoU will also focus on areas such as enabling research and solution frameworks for governance such as impact evaluation, creating a new class of applications, and solutions that focus on optimizing the delivery of government services in identified areas, the statement said.

The technical areas of collaboration include areas like development of tourism in and around Sambalpur, public health, handloom and handicraft development, Mission Shakti, indigenous knowledge documentation among others.