Healthcare Summit – Disruptive Indian Healthcare Innovations for the World

Welcome Speech

by Mr. R Janardhan – Pro Vice Chancellor, Dayananda Sagar University

• DST Funded Startup Incubation centre
• GE Healthcare, Nvidia, Autodesk and Bosch few of the many companies that have already set up labs within the Innovation centre on campus (DS University, Kudlu Gate, Hosur Road)
• Set up of a privately funded Innovation Centre at Dayananda Sagar Innovation Campus to instil the spirit of entrepreneurship amongst students

Keynote
Precision Medicine and growth of personalized medicine in the 4th Industrial Revolution Era – creating policy and ecosystem to keep pace with innovation
by Dr. Vijay Chandru, CEO Strand Life Sciences and World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer Awardee

• 1/3rd of India’s Biotech companies in Bangalore – Study by ABLE
• Ecosystem is ripe for disruption in the field of personalised medicine
• Discussion about the growth story of Strand Life Sciences, an independently held private company
• Strand Life Sciences working towards creating affordable genomics solutions
• Bioinformatics is today helping early screening for cancer and providing testing methods to determine probability for occurrence of a hereditary disease
• World is moving towards personalised treatments and neo-natal gene modification is leading to a future where we will have “designer babies”
• Strand has 30% market share in its segment and currently has both local and international clientele

Panel Discussion
Healthcare solutions for the masses. Indian Healthcare innovations for the World.

Dr. Vijay Chandru (CEO – Strand Life Sciences, World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer Awardee); 
Dr. Jagadish Mittur (Head – Biotechnology Facilitation Cell – KBITS, Department of IT BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka); 
Mr. K Chandrasekhar (CEO, Forus Health); 
Dr. Dheepa Srinivasan (Additive Manufacturing, General Electric); 
Mr. Anurag Ramdasan (Global Shapers Bangalore and VC at 3one4 Capital)

Key Highlights

Gene editing (CRISPR technology) has lots of potential in this fourth industrial revolution era and policy is being framed with Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT), to enable Indian innovators to stay ahead of the curve and innovate in the space of genomics – Dr. Vijay Chandru

Government of Karnataka was the first state to come up with a biotechnology policy (circa. 1999) and last month released the third updated version of the policy. Gov. of Kar is focussed towards creating clusters for innovation in healthcare (Bangalore Bio innovation Centre, IBAB); deploy funds for early/ growth stage start-ups via their Idea2PoC and Elevate funding programs; create quality human resource personnel (Bioinformatics graduate students from IBAB centre are in global demand for their skills). Government is also focusing on creating new clusters of innovation across the state – Hubli / Dharwad Agri-Tech cluster, Mangalore Marine Biotech cluster being some of the many to be set up. – Dr. Jagadish Mittur

3D Printing in Healthcare is a 3 Billion Dollar opportunity. GE is focused on utilising the power of additive manufacturing (3D Printing) to create affordable healthcare devices. Work with certifying aerospace grade parts similar to what needs to be done by medical sector to certify medical grade implants. Various advantages of using additive manufactured in designing medical grade implants, equipment and lab testing tools (3D Bioprinting). Solutions to cater to needs of India’s large diabetic population can come from 3D Printing. – Dr. Dheepa Srinivasan

Inspired by the Aravind Eye Hospital chain, Forus Healthcare set forth on their journey in 2010 to develop an affordable eye screening device with the goal to eradicate avoidable blindness. Their key product is 3nethra. Forus has sold products in 26+ countries and truly represents the Make in India for the World dream of our country’s Prime Minister. Ecosystem was supportive to provide inputs and collaboration, when they started off. Challenged faces along the way to building a global product company include lack of support from government run regulatory bodies, slow time from prototype to product. 
– Mr. K Chandrasekhar

Private VC firms already working with government to help their portfolio start-ups tackle various on ground challenges and to deploy technology to improve government efficiency in fields ranging from agriculture to IT. Most VC funds have a shorter life cycle than a deep tech focused life sciences company that is looking at 10-year plus gestation period. This requires exploring other routes for VCs to be able to work better with startups in this space with special structures, incentives and better liquidity through proposed SME exchanges. VC community will continue to better engage with the healthcare ecosystem with the goal of supporting novel Make in India Healthcare companies. – Mr. Anurag Ramdasan

We also had the following Healthcare companies and start-ups showcase their work through 10-minute presentations followed by audience Q&A

1. DocsApp: Doctor consultation and chat via Mobile Application
https://www.docsapp.in/

2. Niramai: Pre-screening AI tools for Breast cancer 
http://niramai.com/

3. Next Big Innovation Labs 3D Bioprinting: 3D Skin Tissues for cosmetic R&D testing & Maxillofacial Models for use as pre-surgical guides
http://nextbiglab.com/

4. Gangagen: Developing Drug Resistant Bacteria
http://www.gangagen.com/

5. Biodesign Innovation Labs: New age ventilator for emergency rooms accessible to the bottom of the pyramid 
http://biodesigninnovationlabs.com/

An event by Global Shapers Bangalore (World Economic Forum Chapter), Dayananda Sagar University and Autodesk

Event Photos – https://goo.gl/HNJS2m


For Further Details regarding the event, please contact –
Mr. Alok Medikepura Anil -alokanil@gmail.com, +91 8971909120
Member of 3D Printing Expert Network
World Economic Forum & Global Shapers, Bangaloree