After making it big in promoting start-ups in Information Technology (IT), Telangana Government is now pushing start-ups in biotech, pharma space to drive growth and innovation at all levels of pharma/life sciences industry. 

The start-up showcase, organised as part of the initiative to encourage innovation ideas at BioAsia 2023, received a huge response with over 400 start-ups pitching in with their ideas to be presented before over 2000 strong audience consisting of representatives of industry and regulators from India and abroad. 

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According to K T Rama Rao, Minister for Industries, IT & Municipal Administration, about 400 entries were received for the showcase, out of which 76 participants hailing from national and international geographies were shortlisted and a jury consisting of Industry experts chose five start-ups as winners.

The winners were Exobot Dynamics Pvt Ltd (for developing bionic limbs, exoskeletons, and assistive devices for people with disabilities), Lambdagen Therapeutics, Singapore (aims to develop personalised brain tumour myeloid cell-based cancer vaccine), Pratibha Healthkon (solutions in primary health space for managing population screening), Ramja Genosensor (world’s first paper-based device that can detect any infection and antimicrobial resistance in just 90 minutes), and SatyaRX Pharma Innovations (for developing specific expertise in the DNA damage response pathway).

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Providing an opportunity

According to Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce Department, Telangana, the start-up showcase was intended to identify and encourage talent and to provide an opportunity for them to connect with industry and other stakeholders.

The government of Telangana enabled the participation of 76 start-ups and provided a platform for them to run shoulders with industry, academia, other governments, and allied industry professionals/

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Tech Mahindra sponsored the start-up stage and a cash prize of ₹50,000 was given to the top 5 sponsored by BIRAC, dept of biotechnology, GoI and AWS credits sponsored by Amazon Web Services.

“Our target is to triple the value of pharma - life sciences ecosystem in Telangana from current $80 billion to $250 billion by 2030,’‘ K T Rama Rao said.

A B-Hub has been provided to encourage start-ups and to facilitate emergence of some Unicorns by 2030.

While Hyderabad is already a hub for global pharma and life sciences players as the only region with the largest number of US FDA-approved facilities outside the US, a focus on start-ups promotes innovation and compliment and R&D ecosystem in Hyderabad.

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