HYDERABAD: The concluding day of BioAsia 2026 on Wednesday featured panel discussions on innovation in Global Capability Centres, India’s global innovation footprint, deep tech and advanced biotech.
In a session titled ‘Building innovation-first GCCs: R&D and digital transformation’, speakers said GCCs were evolving from cost-arbitrage hubs into strategic drivers of global innovation. They stressed that AI was now an embedded capability across R&D, manufacturing, commercial operations and patient engagement.
Anton Groom, chief AI Officer, MSD, US, highlighted enterprise-wide AI adoption to accelerate molecule discovery, streamline clinical documentation and unlock decades of research data using semantic data layers and generative AI models.
Another panel, ‘Making It Matter: How GCCs Transform Capability into End-Patient Impact’, discussed global healthcare challenges such as ageing populations, regulatory complexity, pricing pressures, supply chain disruptions and shrinking workforces, positioning AI as a key enabler of affordability and access.
In ‘India’s Innovation Moment: Scaling the Next Phase of Global Impact’, Dr Jitendra Kumar, Managing Director of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council under the Department of Biotechnology, said India’s biotech startup ecosystem had grown from a few hundred to 10,000 startups over the past decade. He noted that funding instruments, regulatory sandboxes and public-private partnerships could help overcome innovation bottlenecks.
Experts also called for faster clinical trials, citing countries such as Australia and China as models. The final session, ‘Financing TechBio and DeepTech Manufacturing’, underscored AI’s potential to bridge healthcare access gaps amid shortages of medical professionals and infrastructure.
Hospital-industry innovation bridge launched
Hyderabad: The Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad launched the Telangana Hospital-Industry Innovation Bridge at BioAsia 2026 on Wednesday. The initiative was launched by IT Minister Sridhar Babu. It aims to strengthen the state’s position in healthcare innovation, translational research and medtech manufacturing.
The programme will provide a collaborative platform for clinicians, medical students, researchers, startups and industry leaders through curated exposure visits and partnerships. The pilot phase will begin with select institutions before expanding statewide.
Phase one will focus on awareness and capacity building through clinical immersions, industry exposure and workshops on IPR, regulatory pathways, testing and validation. Phase two will support startup acceleration, including prototype development, manufacturing readiness, regulatory and clinical validation, market access and investor connect.