Our aim is to make Telangana Knowledge capital World’s life sciences industry:Min KTR

Hyderabad, Feb 24 (Representative) Expressing confidence that the Telangana state will achieve the target of USD 100 Bn by 2025 itself , five years ahead of schedule, Minister for IT and Industries K T Rama Rao (KTR) on Friday said that “our ultimate aim is to make Telangana, the knowledge capital of the world’s life sciences industry”. Addressing after inaugurating the 3-day 20th edition of BioAsia 2023 , Asia’s largest Life Sciences and health care Forum and the annual flagship event of the Telangana Government, in Hyderabad, the life sciences capital of the Asia, here, Mr KTR said we had set out a vision of doubling our ecosystem value to $100 billion by 2030,but a lot of people felt that it was too ambitious. The ecosystem value has already touched USD 80 bn in 2022 and this represents a phenomenal ecosystem value growth in Telangana at a mind boggling 23 percent over the last two years compared to the national average of about 14 per cent, said Mr KTR.

The state of Telangana has been a frontrunner in identifying the importance of life sciences, pharma and of course the development of holistic healthcare. With our vision to develop, promote and propagate an enabling ecosystem, he said we are proud to state that Hyderabad is the only city in the country that has an ever-growing Genome Valley, an expanding Medtech Park and an upcoming Pharma City, which will be the world’s largest. This state-of-the-art infrastructure, combined with progressive policies and proactive execution on the part of the government, has not only distinguished us as a progressive state, but also enhanced our share and contribution to positive health outcomes nationally and globally, he said. Extending thanks to all the stakeholders who have come together to make this happen, he said the growth is evident from the fact that we have been able to attract net new investment of more than $ 3 bn over the last 7 years and during the same period, we have created a total employment of more than 4.5 lakh jobs.

A key component of this is the growth of the lifesciences services sector, he said we already serve more than 1000 life sciences companies globally, including the top 10 pharma companies, in their innovation journey. He said that four of the top 10 global innovator companies now have a direct presence in Hyderabad through their dedicated centers. These centers drive core R&D, digital and engineering activities. Today, we have established our stature as the world’s pre-eminent lifesciences destination, but I don’t want us to stop here, he said one of my idols Nelson Mandela once said, “No matter where you are in life, there is more journey ahead”. We have a unique opportunity to help reshape the future of the life sciences industry. We need to dream BIG. I envision that by 2030, the value of the life sciences ecosystem will cross $ 250 bn, he added. There are four pillars – 1) Complex manufacturing at scale; 2) R&D and Innovation; 3) Building High-end, cross value chain GCCs and 4) Convergence of healthcare and technology — that will help us achieve this audacious target, the Minister said. These 4 pillars combined with Hyderabad’s excellent infrastructure, logistics connectivity, and world-class talent, make this city perhaps the most credible, stable and secure ecosystems for Global Life Sciences companies to work out of, especially in the post-covid world of uncertainty, he said.