HYDERABAD: On the concluding day of BioAsia 2024, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) was launched in Hyderabad on Wednesday. This is the first thematic centre focused on healthcare and life sciences in Telangana.
Speaking on the occasion, Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu said, “C4IR Telangana envisions creating over 10,000 new job opportunities in health-tech besides the R&D and manufacturing jobs, nurturing 20-25 emerging companies and startups, and generating 10-25 novel ideas through its registry.”
He also shared the government’s vision to expand a strong workforce by skilling nearly 50,000 local graduates over the next five to six years to make them industry-ready for life sciences research and manufacturing. The pilot batch of the skilling initiative with two specialised courses — medicinal chemistry and analytical chemistry — will start in a week, he said.
Speaking at the valedictory function, Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan said, “In India, the cost factor is extremely important. I appreciate BioAsia for creating 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.”
On the occasion, a distinguished jury recognised five startups: UR Adv. Therapeutics, Zedblox Logitech, Descign AI, Lamark Biotech, and Plebc Innovations.
As per an official release, over 700 visitors, 2,737 delegates and four CEOs from Fortune 500 companies attended the conference for the first time. BioAsia hosted over 2,800 B2B meetings, over 200 startups and exhibitors, the release added.