The Asia-Pacific biotechnology industry has been witnessing a growth phase on the back of several factors, such as cost effective manufacturing capabilities, improved clinical capabilities, growing health needs of large population base, exports and increasing government support among others. According to an industry report, the industry grew at the CAGR of 6.7 per cent between the years 2010-2014 to reach a total of US$ 77 billion in 2014. India is witnessing a new era of growth and opportunities in the life sciences/healthcare sectors.

With increasing pressure to reduce drug development costs and accelerate R&D programmes, the global companies have started setting up R&D centres in Asia to take advantage of cost-effective, yet highly skilled talent pool. India has emerged as a preferred destination for contract research and manufacturing activities, process re-engineering and innovative R&D to act as a single destination with various enablers in place. The country is aided by a large, highly skilled community of scientists and researchers. Additionally, the government’s support in bringing a comprehensive IPR Policy, launch of ‘Make in India’ and financial support programmes, regulatory reforms etc. are expected to further boost the growth of life sciences industry.

Under this backdrop, the 13th edition of BioAsia will be organised from February 8-10, 2016 at Hyderabad International Convention Centre, with the theme of leveraging India to succeed globally and shall focus on connecting the dots to build stakeholder consensus and draw a distinct road-map to propel the sector growth. Given the enormous potentials and promise offered by the sector, the event will bring together the global thought leaders, pharma & biotech companies, diagnostic companies, technology companies, medical practitioners, CROs, entrepreneurs and investors to enable cross pollination of ideas.

The 13th BioAsia will be organised by Federation of Asian Biotech Associations, government of Telangana and the Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council of India in partnership with the government of India & Make in India, with the objective of positioning India as the global life sciences & healthcare hub.

Over the years, BioAsia has come to represent the flagship event of domestic and international lifesciences sector and has truly evolved in to a global platform witnessing participation of senior leaders from over 50 countries. The success of BioAsia is largely attributed to the strong support and participation of industries which is witnessed in each edition. Given the demonstrated success over the years in terms of investments, business partnering and quality of the deliberations, government of India (through department of biotechnology and department of pharmaceuticals) is playing a very active role in the planning and execution of the 13th BioAsia. In addition to the core biotech and pharma focus, the event will also collaborate with healthcare leaders, technology companies and entrepreneur community aimed at connecting the cross sectoral stakeholders to enable cross pollination of ideas. BioAsia 2016 will not just be bigger and better in terms of number of participants and scale, but will enable more meaningful dialogue between the stakeholders

The technology conferences at BioAsia 2016 are designed to be a Science-Business bridge that brings together a trans-disciplinary environment for driving innovation in the life sciences industry. While presenting an opportunity to explore partnerships and channels for extending businesses between industry and academia, BioAsia’s tech conferences will cover contemporary developments in research and will assist in building capabilities to break the barriers for smooth flow of technology and collaborations. The aim is to build a trans-disciplinary environment for driving innovation in the life sciences industry.

The conferences include Drug Discovery and Innovation Conference, Clinical Research Conference and Digital Health & Healthcare IT Conference. BioAsia 2016 will provide a larger impetus to the healthcare and life sciences industry with conference themes, the ones above mentioned and many more; derived from the current industry trends and conceptualised to create many more opportunities than its previous editions.

Since its inception, BioAsia has been committed to fulfilling its core objective of serving as a global conclave to facilitate business in the pharmaceuticals, healthcare, life sciences sectors in India. Today, it is widely accepted as a catalyst for the life sciences industry since it provides a critical platform for B2B meetings helps in speedy resolution of key issues that affect the industry and sets the overall agenda. 0ver 200 bilateral cooperation agreements and MoUs have been signed through BioAsia. The conference has enabled bringing in trade & investments to an estimated extent of Rs. 13,736 crore. More than 20 knowledge papers have been released post the success of the past editions and more than 11,700 B2B, B2R and R2R meetings have realised.

Continuing its role as catalyst for the Indian life sciences industry, the 13th edition will be bigger and better with major breakthroughs in the form of a partnership with the Make in India initiative of the government of India. BioAsia 2016, in conjunction with the Make in India initiative will also host a Digital Health Start-Up pavilion to promote and showcase India’s vibrant start up community in emerging areas of healthcare, to the global leaders and investors.