Building sustainable digital public goods through academic partnerships: the approach of openIMIS

Partnerships between openIMIS and academic institutions create a win-win – building local digital capacity, embedding digital public goods in health and social protection systems, and strengthening the long-term evolution of openIMIS. 

In a computer lab at Kathmandu University in Nepal, master’s students in health informatics gather around a screen as systems specialists Sunil Parajuli and Sajit Manandhar demonstrate how openIMIS – the digital platform used to manage Nepal’s national health insurance programs – draws on data from the Bahmni Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system to manage insurance claims.

 Through live demonstrations and guided practical exercises using openIMIS, students learn how health insurance programs operate in real world settings – from registering beneficiaries and processing claims to understanding how data moves between digital platforms. ‘The workshop on openIMIS has helped bridge the gap between theoretical concepts and their practical application,’ says master’s student Sijal Rupakheti. ‘The hands-on exercises made it easier to understand how patient data is used to process insurance claims in an interoperable system.’ The experience of the global openIMIS initiative over the past decade has shown that investing in partnerships with academic institutions, like the one with Kathmandu University, is a win-win.

These partnerships benefit countries by building local digital capacities and embedding digital public goods within health and social protection systems, while also contributing directly to the ongoing development of the software. Universities and medical schools in other countries, including Indonesia and the Philippines, are pursuing similar approaches. Building digital capacities sustainably For digital public goods to grow and be sustained, they must be embedded within a country’s institutional and professional landscape. As incubators of future talent in both IT and public health, universities can play a critical role in building understanding of digital public goods and developing the skills and confidence needed to use and maintain them. Partnerships between openIMIS and academic institutions offer students more than academic qualifications; they create a bridge between education and professional practice.

 Access to internships and mentoring, and participation in the global openIMIS community of practice, support students to transition into professional roles where they can contribute to their country’s long-term digital development. Furthermore, working with openIMIS provides students with a “seat at the table”, allowing them to participate in national and regional discourse around health financing, helping students situate their work within broader public health and social protection agendas. The integration of openIMIS into the curriculum at Kathmandu University in Nepal offers an interesting example of how universities are building digital capacities sustainably.