Hyderabad: Telangana is all set to stake claim to pole position as a global techbio hub with BioAsia 2026, which kicks off on Tuesday with a speaker line-up that includes Amgen’s chief scientific officer and SVP of global research Dr Howard Y Chang, Google DeepMind’s VP of Science Pushmeet Kohli, CAR-T cell therapy pioneer Prof Bruce Levine of the University of Pennsylvania, and Sanofi’s EVP and head of business operations Madeleine Roach.The two-day conclave, touted as Asia’s largest platform for the life sciences sector, is being held on the theme, ‘TechBio Unleashed: AI, Automation and the Biology Revolution’, and will be inaugurated by chief minister A Revanth Reddy and industries minister D Sridhar Babu.The conference will see life sciences and tech experts deliberate on AI-driven discovery workflows, advanced therapeutic modalities, and the role of automation in scaling manufacturing, in line with Telangana’s push to deepen capabilities in biologics, vaccines, bioprocess design, and AI-enabled healthcare.The speaker line-up features top honchos from global giants such as Novartis, Eli Lilly, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Sanofi, MSD, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, Olympus Corp, and Miltenyi Biotec, alongside Indian leaders such as Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Bharat Biotech, Biocon Biologics and Laurus Labs, among others.Strategic deliberations will track how innovation is moving from laboratory discovery to clinical and commercial execution, with AI being leveraged for speed, efficiency, and decision-making across the value chain, along with discussions on developing resilient supply networks and cross-border collaboration.With global capability centres (GCCs) the current flavour, this year’s BioAsia will also feature plenaries and panel discussions focused on GCCs, with Day 2 sessions on building innovation-first GCCs that are focused on AI, R&D, and digital transformation, and how healthcare GCCs can transform capability into end-patient impact.According to the Telangana govt, the conclave is set to grow bigger, with participation expected to jump nearly 25% to 4,000 delegates (up from around 3,000 last year) and over 500 companies participating.The exhibition area is also bigger at 9,000 square metres, up from nearly 7,000 square metres last year, with over 175 exhibitors across pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medtech, digital health, and advanced manufacturing.The conclave will also showcase entrepreneurship and applied innovation through a Startup Pavilion featuring 40 emerging startups and an Innovation Pavilion with 16 exhibitors presenting breakthrough technologies and R&D advances, in addition to participation by 22 MSME exhibitors.According to the Telangana govt, this year’s BioAsia builds on the next-gen life sciences policy unveiled at the World Economic Forum in Davos that prioritises sustainability, precision medicine, digital health, and supply chain diversification.
