BioAsia 2019 witnesses the highest ever participation

Hyderabad: BioAsia, Asia’s largest Biotechnology and Life-sciences forum and the annual flagship event of the Government of Telangana concluded after 3-days of insightful deliberations by global leaders of Life Sciences and healthcare.

The 16th edition of the event also saw the highest ever participation of 2,400 delegates and visitors from Healthcare, Biotech, Pharma, Life-Sciences, IT, Academia and Startups representing over 50 countries. Over 100 high profile speakers and more than 700 Corporates participated in this edition. A record number of 1,700 partnering meetings in the history of BioAsia were conducted on the sidelines of this edition leading to key strategic collaborations.

In the startup stage event, BioAsia 2019 recognized selected startups from the healthcare industry for their innovative work in the sector. An eminent jury chose 76 startups from close to 300 applications from India and abroad, out of which the top 5 were showcased which received a cash prize of INR 25,000 each.

Top 5 Startups:

• Caredose (Mr Kinshuk Kocher) – Tracks the medicine doses and helps in taking the medicine at the right time

• Spectral Insights (Mr Nishant Jain) – A compact scanner

• Dozee (Mr Pritish Gupta) – Monitors the sleep, heartbeat, respiration and notification on mobile

• Aura – Ekistics Solutions (Dr Srikant Mohapatra) – Breakthrough medical technology designed by Ekistics, offers replacement and reconstruction of damaged and diseased valves avoiding artificial prostheses

• Azooka Life Sciences (Mr Alex D Paul) – Helps in testing of DNA faster

A special Social Innovation award was presented to Adero Labs (Mr Saaniya Mehra and Zane Barboza) which works in the field of citizen safety and women empowerment.

The event had attendance from the investor community with representation of 35 investors including, Lighthouse Canton, Fulcrum, 50K Ventures, 3one4 Capital, Unitus VC, Ah! Ventures, Anthill Ventures, RoundGlass, M&A division of Dr Reddy’s., to name a few.

During the valedictory session of Bioasia 2019, Mr Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, IT and Industries and Commerce Departments, Govt of Telangana said, “With the highest number of delegates and partnership meetings, this edition of BioAsia was the largest and most successful edition in the journey of 16 years of the event. We are also witnessing constant interest from corporates and start-ups in BioAsia with an increased number of participants each year. The event has been instrumental in getting many significant partnerships and strategic meetings organized between all stakeholders of the Healthcare and related areas. In its journey of 16 years BioAsia has provided platform to initiate partnerships and around 18,000 business meetings have been organized at BioAsia in last 16 years with delegates from over 90 countries participating in BioAsia so far. We are sure that the trend will continue in next edition of BioAsia in 2020 as well.”

Mr Shakthi Nagappan, Director of Life Sciences, Govt. of Telangana and CEO, BioAsia said, “This year BioAsia has continued its 16 years tradition of being the largest forum in Asia in the field of Healthcare, Life sciences and Biotechnology. The key deliberations during the course of this 3-day event emphasized on Disruption, key challenges and the prospective opportunities for the industry at global as well as domestic level.”

The Lifetime achievement award was presented to Dr. BS Bajaj of Federation of Asian Biotech Associations for his outstanding contribution to the Healthcare industry and initiating International collaboration for Indian companies.

The last day of the event witnessed an MoU signed between Government of Telangana and Taizhou Medical Hi-Tech Development Zone (Taizhou Zone) supported by the Government of Taizhou, China. Under the MoU valid for 2 years, the Chinese Medical Zone and the State Government have discussed and agreed to share the know-how and offered to support and assist the research in the field of life sciences, biotechnology and medical devices along with identifying new technologies and industry requirements with a view to expand the public industrial service platforms in the industrial cities. They will support and facilitate matchmaking of companies and research institutes from their respective regions, in the related fields towards R&D, regulations, manufacturing practices, commercialization and other areas of mutual interest.

An elite panel shared their views and discussed on the importance of Data and how can Life Sciences can harness the same to achieve better patient outcomes leading to better service to the people at large. The panelists included Mr. Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman, Axilor Ventures, Dr. Bhaskar Rao, MD & CEO, KIMS, Dr. Sridar Natesan, VP – Head of Strategic Initiatives and Scientific Relations, Sanofi, Mr. Achim Plueckebaum, Global Head, Drug Development IT, Novartis, Mr. Suresh Katta, CEO and Founder, Saama Technologies, Mr. Min Seob Lee, CEO of Eone Diagnomics Genome Center, Mr. Sriram Shrinivasan, Partner, National Life Sciences Leader, Emerging Markets LS Lead / Global Generics Lead, EY.

The 3rd and last day of the event started with an Oxford Style Discussion on How traditional Life Sciences companies are leveraging Technology vs how Technology companies are approaching Healthcare. The session saw an insightful discussion by Ms. Karenann Terrell, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, GSK, UK, Mr. Peter Lee, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Healthcare, USA and Mr. Ambar Boodhoo, Partner, Americas Life Sciences Transactions Leader, EY who Moderated the session.

Another panel discussion deliberated on Life Sciences 4.0 and the Challenges and strategic opportunities for healthcare in India which had eminent experts including Prof K. Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India, Dr Krishna Ella, Chairman and MD, Bharat Biotech, Ms Shobana Kamineni, Executive Vice- Chairman, Apollo Hospitals, Ms. Lara Bezerra, Chief Purpose Officer (MD) Roche India, Mr Rohit Sathe, President – Philips Health Systems, Indian Subcontinent and Mr Kaivaan Movdawalla, Partner, PI Advisory – Healthcare.

For the first time, an Experience zone was created at BioAsia exhibiting disruptive technologies including Artificial Intelligence, 3-D printing, Virtual Reality and immersive technology in healthcare, Augment Reality, and Nanotechnology applications in healthcare and how they can be leveraged to improve patient outcomes.