Accidents in high-risk industrial environments are an occupational hazard but what is disconcerting is that they often go unnoticed. A new wearable safety system developed by IIITH’s Centre for VLSI and Embedded Systems Technology aims to change that. In sprawling industrial landscapes like thermal power plants, oil refineries, construction sites, danger is often part of the job. Thousands of workers move through complex, high-risk environments every day, equipped with helmets, gloves, boots, and harnesses. But when something goes wrong, those protections can only go so far. What happens when no one sees the accident? That’s the problem Prof. Abhishek Srivastava and his team have set out to solve. Industrial accidents are more common than most people realize and more critically, they’re not always immediately reported. In many cases, help arrives late not because it isn’t available, but because no one knows something has gone wrong.

In a first-of-its-kind initiative in India, IIIT-H convened the Learning & Longevity Symposium (LLS) placing learning—not medicine, fitness, or finance—at the centre of the longevity conversation. Hosted by IIIT-H’s Third Age Learning (3AL) Research and Design Group, the symposium brought together leading voices from cognitive neuroscience, molecular biology, geriatric medicine, AI, game design, eldercare technology, and learning sciences. With an aim to explore a bold, unifying hypothesis — learning is the most powerful intervention for healthy aging. The symposium unfolded across three thematic tracks: The Biology of Longevity, Third Age Learning, and The Longevity Ecosystem. The format encouraged unlikely but necessary intersections — neuroscientists engaging with game designers, dementia specialists in dialogue with edtech entrepreneurs, and cognitive scientists exchanging ideas with architects of the emerging silver economy.

The selective national research fellowship is backing the development of a low-cost smart mattress by Prof Aftab Hussain that can detect falls, track sleep, and improve elderly care – offering a privacy-first alternative to cameras and wearables. The sunset years come with their own set of challenges. Ageing is one of the key risk factors for falls. According to the WHO, older people have the highest risk of death or serious injury arising from a fall and the risk only increases with age. In fact monitoring the elderly during sleep is just as vital as keeping an eye on them while moving. It is the reason why elderly homes, hospitals and now even families employ nursing staff or attendants to monitor the well-being of elderly patients through the night. At IIIT-H, Prof. Aftab Hussain, Centre for VLSI and Embedded System Technologies, is particularly concerned about falls that go unnoticed. According to him, “In many cases, help arrives too late – not because care is unavailable, but because no one knows an incident has occurred.”