BioAsia 2024 concludes successfully: witnesses launch of WEF-Govt. of Telangana’s C4IR, 3new partnerships forged

-Governor Smt. Tamilisai Soundararajangraced the Valedictory Function

–Over 2700 delegates and over 700 visitors; Multiple CEOs from Fortune 500 companies

–Government of Telangana announced strategic plans for the formation of a Lifesciences GCC Consortium

–Over 2,800 plus B2B meetings; 200 plus startups and exhibitors

Hyderabad:The 3-day BioAsia 2024 conference came to a successful conclusion today at HICC, Hyderabad. Over 700 visitors, 2,737 delegates, 4 CEOs from Fortune 500 companies attended the global conference for the first time, while over 2,800 plus B2B meetings, 200 plus startups and exhibitors made the event a success. This was also the first time that The Governor of Telangana – Smt. Tamilisai Soundararajan, Chief Minister of Telangana Shri Revanth Reddy and Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana Shri Mallu Bhatti Vikramarkaand Minister for Industries and Commerce, Govt. of Telangana, Shri D Sridhar Babu graced BioAsia.

On the sidelines of BioAsia 2024, Government of Telangana announced strategic plans for the formation of a Lifesciences GCC Consortium bringing together all the Lifesciences GCCs in Hyderabad and India. The Government aims to create a collaborative ecosystem fostering innovation, knowledgesharing, and collective growth within the life sciences GCCs.

BioAsia 2024 witnessed the launch of C4IR (Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution in Life Sciences) by the government of Telangana and Global CEOs – Mr. David Ricks, CEO, Eli Lilly; and Mr. Geoff Martha, Chairman & CEO, Medtronic. C4IR is the first thematic center focused on healthcare and life sciences in Telangana, in collaboration witWorld Economic Forum. New partnerships were forged as Sweden headquartered Garmin Healthlaunched a hackathon with C4IR.An exchange of MoU between National University of Singapore and C4IR also took place with the aim of empowering and designing innovative clinical trials that will facilitate development and skilling programs for local talent. Yet another MoU exchange between Calyx.AI and C4IRwas the hallmark of the event which aimed at utilizing AI tooprovide advanced health solutions.

Marking the second day of the prestigious event,Hon’ble Minister for Industries and Commerce, Govt. of Telangana, Shri D Sridhar Babu said, “We just set a significant milestone as we gather to inaugurate the Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution in Telangana. It’s a moment of pride for Telangana and also India as the World Economic Forum has considered Telangana for setting up this center. C4IR is aligned withthree focus areas- Skilling to provide livelihoods and growth opportunities; Health profiling of every citizen; Creating clinical registries for better evidence based care through clinical profiling and cutting edge therapies to market.”

Speaking on the occasion, Dr.Tamilisai Soundararajan, Governor of Telangana said, “BioAsia was conceptualized 20 years ago, and now it has matured as an initiative to support more entrepreneurs. In India, the cost factor is very important. I appreciate BioAsia for creating such a platform for encouraging innovations such as affordable ultrasound and vaccines. After the invention of AI, diagnosis has become easy. Early diagnosis and prevention is more significant than the treatment. But when it comes to treatment cost-effective treatments and affordability are the key. As the First Citizen of the State, I appreciate the Telangana government supporting entrepreneurs, Biotechnology centers and pharma centers”.

Mr. Jeremy Jurgens, Managing Director of the World EconomicForumsaid, “As we gather at this forum we are reminded of the critical juncture in the society – the rapid advancement in technology including AI – importance of addressing fundamental areas like health, education and wellbeing. We can balance these through combination of innovation and direct conscious efforts by harnessing technology. This is one of the reasons we decided to establish our centre for 4^th industrial revolution on life sciences in Telangana – C4IR. We couldn’t find a better place for the investments for the combination of life sciences segment involving both multinational and national CEOs.”

Principal Secretary of the Industries & Commerce (I&C) and Information Technology (IT) Departments of the Telangana government Mr. Jayesh Ranjansaid,“The quality of speakers, delegates, the insightful panel discussions at BioAsia 2024 have been absolutely brilliant. We have inaugurated the World Economic Forum’s Center for Industrial Revolution which willfocus on some unique opportunities for lifesciences. Over the past few years, Hyderabad has bloomed as an attractive destination for multiple GCCs, technology development centers and other verticals as well.  ”

BioAsia recognized five brilliant startups: UR Adv. Therapeutics, Zedblox Logitech, Descign AI, Lamark Biotech, andPlebc Innovations. The distinguished jury included Ms. Shilpy Kochhar, Head of Business Development and Communications at BIRAC; Dr.Viswanadham D, Vice President of IKP Knowledge Park; Dr. Madhusudhana Rao, CEO of AIC CCMB; Dr. Mamesh Iyer, Head of STATS, AI, ML, and Innovation at Pfizer; Dr. Nutan, Senior Innovation Advisor at the Consulate General of the Netherlands; and Mr. Ranajit Sen, Startup Mentor and Founder of Graphene Med Resource.UR Advanced Therapeutics Pvt Ltd, works on Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering with focus on endoregenarative cornea, ZedBloxActiPodpaves the way for unbreakable cold chain solutions in Healthcare, Descignis an AI enabled digitalization platform for life sciences and healthcare, PLEBC Innovations,  are developing teleoperated robotic ultrasound system improving access in rural areas by eliminating the need of physical presence of radiologist while Lamark biotech is a start up focused on life saving medicines accessible globally.

Mr. ShaktiNagapopan – Director of Lifesciences, Government of Telangana,and CEO, BioAsia said, “BioAsia 2024 as a global bio-business conference had witnessed significant and beneficial deliberations in its monumental 21^st edition.It is a momentous occasion for Telangana and India to launch C4IR, the first in the world, with focus on healthcare and lifescienes in association with the Govt. of Telangana. The centre has focus on three aspects: 1. Evidence-based care wherein informatics and software as medical device. 2. A number initiatives have rolled out for establishment of clinical registry with a special focus on haemophilia – we will roll this across the state; and 3. Starups and innovations – to test products in the clinics, data analytics labs and propel innovation with high throughput and skilling programme. The initiatives under C4IR Telangana will have a huge impact not only in India and across the world. “

Other key highlights include:

• Japan headquartered Takeda announced 50 Mn doses of dengue vaccines manufacturing in Telangana
• German company Miltenyi announced setting up their first R&D center in Telangana
• INR 2000 crore investment by RxPropellant and Terminus group
• High level roundtables were held during the 21^st edition:
  • Roundtable between Western Australia Delegates and Indian Health & Medtech leaders
  • Roundtable between Queensland Delegates and Indian Pharma leaders
  • Roundtable on enabling flow technology for commercialization by Corning and the Institute of Life Sciences
  • Symposium organized by Miltenyi Biotech on revolutionize CART and other CGT advancements through cutting edge automation
• US-headquartered BMS inaugurated a new facility with an investment of USD 100 million.
• Inauguration of Providence India’s new specialized Healthcare engineering, global operations and Innovation centre

The finale of BioAsia 2024 boasted of2 keynotes and3 panel discussions that deliberated on the key pillars that reinforce the global growth of life sciences industry.The first keynote address by Mr. David Ricks, CEO, Eli Lilly; and Mr. Geoff Martha, Chairman & CEO, Medtronic. C4IR will be the world’s first thematic centre focused on Healthcare and Life Sciences. The first panel deliberated on the topic ‘Leading the Health-tech revolution – The Next Normal’ with key speakers,Mr. Diogo Rau, EVP, Chief Information and Digital Officer, Eli Lilly and Company; Mr. Greg Meyers, EVP, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, BMS; Ms. Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals (India); Mr. Phanimitra, Chief Digital & Information Officer, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories; Mr. Scott Burgett, Director – Health Engg. Garmin; Mr. Sriram Rajamani, Corporate Vice President & Managing Director, Microsoft Research India; with Moderator being Mr. Jeremy Jurgens, Managing Director, World Economic Forum & Head of the Forum’s C4IR.

A second panel discussion on ‘Unlocking the Potential of GCCs: From Centers Of Capability to Catalysts Of Global Transformation’ included important speakersMr. Siva Padmanabhan, MD and Head, Global Innovation and Technology Centre, AstraZeneca; Mr. Manoj Prasad, VP, GM and Head of Digital Solutions APAC, Thermo Fisher Scientific; Ms. Mrinal Duggal, Head of Sanofi Global Services, Hyderabad Hub, Sanofi; Ms. Vani Kodandaram, Head of IT Culture and Strategy, Bristol Myers Squibb; Mr. Sanjay Vyas, EVP, Global SBU Head and Managing Director India, Parexel; with the Moderator being EY Partner – Sunil Venkatesh, Partner, Tech Consulting.

The third panel discussion on ‘MedTech is the place to be!Tech and AI – The Powerful Combination for Medical Devices’ hosted leading speakers Chair: Dr.Arunish Chawla IAS, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Government of India; Co-Chair: Dr. D Nageshwar Reddy, Chairman & Managing Director, AIG Hospital; Dr. Sarah McMullen, Country Director – India, FDA; Dr. Gagandeep Kang, Director-Enterics, Diagnostics, Genomics and Epidemiology, Global Health, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Mr. Probir Das, Group Executive Officer, Regional Representative, Asia Pacific and India, Chairman and Managing Director, Terumo Asia Holdings Pte. Ltd; Mr. Andre Roggan, Executive Officer & Chief Technology Officer, Olympus; Dr. Mani Prakash, VP, Enterprise R&D, Medtronic; Mr. Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, Association Of Indian Medical Device Industry and the session will be moderated by Mr. Ramesh Subrahmanian Non-Executive Independent Director-Healthium Medtech.