Hanze and MAHE (India) strengthen collaboration

15 June

News

Published 15 June 2026

The Centre of Expertise Entrepreneurship at Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Hanze) warmly congratulates the students of the Manipal Institute of Technology (MAHE, India) on obtaining their Certificate of Participation. Over the past six months, they worked on innovation challenges from small and medium-sized enterprises in the Northern Netherlands, under the guidance of Hanze researchers and professors. On 12 June, the students presented their results, marking the successful completion of the first pilot. This pilot represents an important step forward in the collaboration between the Centre of Expertise Entrepreneurship at Hanze and MAHE, bringing together education, applied research and international talent development.

International collaboration on innovation challenges

The Manipal Institute of Technology, the technical faculty of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, has 12.000 engineering students, including 5.000 specializing in information technology (IT). This creates significant opportunities to develop joint projects around innovation challenges from small and medium-sized enterprises in the Northern Netherlands, as well as within our own research programmes.
Over the past six months, engineering students from the Manipal Institute of Technology worked on innovation challenges from small and medium-sized enterprises in the Northern Netherlands. This form of collaboration between MAHE and Hanze provides opportunities to strengthen our international research agenda while connecting international talent, innovation, and societal impact.

“Building up international relationships, individually and as an institution, makes us stronger in a global society. Especially when we collaborate on real-life challenges, shared values, and truly work together.” Dick Pouwels.

Student assignments

The first pilot, in which five groups of students from India worked on assignments from small and medium-sized enterprises in the Northern Netherlands, concluded on 12 June with student presentations.

The students worked on the following assignments:

This research focuses on improving the security of computer systems and networks by taking inspiration from how the human body protects itself against viruses and bacteria. Instead of only blocking known digital threats (as antivirus software does), this project explores whether computers can learn to respond flexibly to new, unknown attacks, similar to the human immune system. The goal is to develop a new type of security mechanism that is more resilient to emerging cyber threats, preventing damage before it occurs. Ultimately, this should result in a working prototype and a plan for practical application, for example as a business model or start-up.

This project explored how smart energy meters can securely share data without revealing sensitive information, such as a company’s exact energy consumption. It uses a technique called multi-party computation, which allows multiple parties to perform calculations together without disclosing their individual data. The challenge is that smart meters have limited computing power and memory, making this technique difficult to apply. The aim is therefore to develop and test an efficient, lightweight version of this technology on simple devices, enabling privacy-friendly data sharing within these constraints.

This assignment explored the development of an app that helps people better manage mental crises, such as stress or relapse, by creating a personal “safety plan.” Such a plan helps users recognize warning signs and understand what actions to take or whom to contact. A key feature of this project is the use of open standards, allowing data to be securely shared between different care providers and systems without being locked into a single vendor. This enables clients and care professionals to collaboratively develop and maintain the plan. The goal is to create a user-friendly app that facilitates this collaboration and data exchange.

This research focuses on using personal data (for example from telecom usage) to train artificial intelligence (AI) without violating privacy. The aim is to develop a method that transforms data in such a way that it can no longer be traced back to individuals, while remaining useful for training AI models. This is important because effective AI requires large datasets, but the use of real personal data is often restricted by privacy regulations. Ultimately, the goal is to develop a solution that is both secure and effective, potentially leading to a business model or start-up.

This project focuses on developing a tool to help researchers more easily and effectively register their work in systems used by universities and universities of applied sciences to track research outputs. Currently, researchers often have to manually enter information, which is time-consuming and sometimes incomplete. The idea is to create a web app that automatically extracts key information, such as summaries and author details, from documents. This reduces workload and improves data quality. A voice function may also be added, allowing researchers to log their activities through speech.

Joint PhD research

In addition to the pilot, the collaboration is being further strengthened through joint PhD trajectories. PhD candidate Prachi Pundir, affiliated with MAHE, has recently started her doctoral research under joint supervision by the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Utrecht University, and Hanze.
Her research focuses on technological innovations within Smart Ageing and Welfare Technology. In response to the global rise in dementia, she is investigating how technology can help detect and slow down memory problems at an early stage. The aim is to enable people to live independently for longer while reducing the burden on caregivers and families.
Joint PhD trajectories like this make it possible to combine high-quality research with the sustainable attraction and connection of international talent to Hanze.

International collaboration and applied research

The collaboration between Hanze and MAHE aligns closely with the international ambitions of both institutions. According to Ramakrishna M., Assistant Director International Relations and Associate Professor at MAHE, the pilot fits seamlessly into MAHE’s broader strategy, which strongly emphasizes international cooperation and applied education.
“The pilot initiative demonstrates MAHE’s ability to connect academic learning with international industry-driven problem solving,” says Ramakrishna. Students not only gain subject-specific knowledge but also develop essential skills for an international context, such as working in multicultural teams and solving complex, real-world problems.
This combination of education, research, and application makes the collaboration both valuable and future-proof. “The collaboration between Hanze and MAHE has strong potential to evolve into a long-term strategic partnership with broad academic and research impact,” he adds, pointing to opportunities for joint research projects, educational development, and closer engagement with industry.

If you look at the amount of IT work we will need to handle in the Netherlands in the future, I expect we will greatly benefit from collaboration with India. This team shows that it is indeed possible.

From the Hanze perspective, the pilot is also seen as a valuable step. Lecturer-researcher Rolf Velthuijs, who was involved in supervising one of the assignments, highlights the quality of the students’ work and their approach. He particularly values their thorough research methodology, with students engaging deeply with academic literature and effectively applying relevant methods and techniques.
This approach also led to tangible results. In his own project on privacy-friendly AI, he sees clear potential for further development: “My project has produced an interesting result around the anonymization of large datasets containing sensitive personal data. I definitely intend to develop this further.”
At the same time, Velthuijs places the collaboration in a broader context. With the growing demand for IT solutions in the Netherlands, international partnerships are becoming increasingly important. Velthuijs: “If you look at the amount of IT work we will need to handle in the Netherlands in the future, I expect we will greatly benefit from collaboration with India. This team shows that it is indeed possible.”

For both institutions, the conclusion is clear: the pilot is just the beginning. There are opportunities to expand the number of projects and involve more regional companies. Step by step, this is creating a sustainable model in which international talent, applied research, and collaboration with industry come together.