The IIT Alumni Council has the MegaLab Mumbai initiative to help solve the challenge of testing of COVID-19 at a mass scale. Initial pilot runs are expected to start within 100 days of selecting the partners.  
The MegaLab Mumbai is the largest COVID-19 initiative of the IIT Alumni Council to date. It aims to design and launch the largest genetic testing laboratory ever built for C19 and other infectious diseases.
“IIT Alumni Council is committed to delivering on its promise of enabling the creation of MegaLab Mumbai with a best in class testing facility capable of delivering reliable, affordable and fast testing to every citizen of Mumbai, every month,” said Mr Ravi Sharma, President, IIT Alumni Council.  
A Global Competition is being launched to finalize the operating, technology and funding partners for the MegaLab Mumbai initiative. 
The initial lab design being pursued is based on the Kodoy Technology Stack with a broad business model developed by the associated Venture Funds of IIT Alumni Council. 
Currently, the pool testing algorithm as well as the Kodoy Stack are being upgraded with suitable protocols to permit the use of single powder test kits that are both cheaper to manufacture and do not require a cold chain for transport or storage. 
The testing protocol is also being modified to allow for saliva instead of throat swabs for rapid testing at public places. Over 100 buses and 2,000 Ola/Uber cab type vehicles are planned to be fitted-out for sample collection on demand using a self-extraction protocol with remote video support from the tablet type device. 
The MegaLab itself would rely on the supercomputing resources powered by four campuses of IITs. In addition, the Nano Bio Sciences Center of Mumbai University will carry-out concurrent quality control audits to ensure the quality of test kits and the accuracy of results in the MegaLab. 
“ Since we have been approached by a wide variety of players wanting to partner the MegaLab with very diverse technology and funding options – in the interests of time and transparency - we are launching a global competition,” Mr Sharma said.
 A panel of  eminent jury members will carefully select partners who believe in India and are committed to providing their solutions in an open source format so as to further strengthen the existing Kodoy stack. 
“We appreciate the unwavering support of several IIT Directors, CSIR labs & other research institutions of the GOI and of our MegaLab partner Mumbai University. The selfless contribution of thousands of our IIT Alumni worldwide towards this nation building initiative and our role as catalysts of the same makes us really proud," added Mr Sharma.
“I do look forward to a completely indigenous solution with the robots, test machines and all the test kits and consumables being 100% indigenous. The MegaLab can indeed emerge to be an outstanding example of Indian ingenuity,” commented Mr Satish Kaura who will chair the Jury for the Challenge. 

A Global Competition is being launched to finalize the operating, technology and funding partners for the MegaLab Mumbai initiative.