BioAsia 2026

Satellite Events

Roundtable
17th February 2026
14:00 - 15:30
The UK-India Advantage: Powering Innovation, Unlocking Opportunities
Location Oryx 2 (2nd Floor), Hall 4, HITEX
Organizer: UK Government's Department for Business and Trade (DBT)
14:30 - 16:00
Clinical Trials Roundtable: Australia-India Strategic Collaboration Dialogue
Location Oryx 2 (1st Floor), Hall 4, HITEX
Organizer: Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) and Trade and Investment Queensland (TIQ), Australia
16:00 - 17:30
Korea-India 2026 OLED Innovation Forum "Advancing OLED Innovation through India-Korea Collaboration"
Organizer: LORDIN Co., Ltd. South Korea
Roundtable
18th February 2026
10:00 - 11:30
Advancing Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) Vaccine Self-Reliance through Fill & Finish Technology Transfer
Organizer: International Vaccine Institute (IVI), South Korea & Telangana Life Sciences Foundation (TLSF)
From Lab to Market: The Future of Biomanufacturing Co-branded with C4IR Telangana and the World Economic Forum's Bioeconomy Initiative
13:00 - 13:30
Opening Remarks & Keynote
Session Chair & Moderator: Joint Forum + C4IR Telangana

Opening Remarks: Welcome and remarks from co-host, introduce keynote speaker (5min)
Speaker: Shakthi Nagappan, CEO, Telangana Life Sciences

Keynote:
  • State of the Bioeconomy: Global Trends, India's Opportunity and Telangana's Ambition
  • Precision Fermentation at Scale – Unlocking the Trillion-Dollar Opportunity: From proteins to peptides, precision fermentation is no longer a niche. This keynote maps how biology is becoming the next industrial platform, and why large-scale deployment is now within reach.
  • Speaker: Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary – Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India
  • Special Address: Global trends in Biomanufacturing, challenges and how India can contribute?
  • Speaker: Dr. Paul Shapiro, CEO, Better Meat Company
13:30 - 14:30
Panel and Roundtable Discussion
Building a Global Biomanufacturing Hub

Session Chair & Moderator: Rashmi Pimpale, CEO, RICH

The Third Pole of Biomanufacturing: Why the World Needs India

With the US and China locked in a biotech race, India is fast emerging as a trusted third pole. This session explores how India can leverage its dominance and leadership in vaccine and biosimilar production to anchor resilient, global scale biomanufacturing that addresses critical demand world across diverse sectors.

Potential panellists:
• Dr. Alka Sharma, DBT*
• Dr Santanu Dasgupta, Former SVP Reliance Industries
• Jay Novak, CEO, Glatt Group
• Srinath Venkatesh, MD, Thermo Fisher Scientific India
14:30 - 15:30
Panel and Roundtable Discussion
Breaking the Cost Barrier – From Hype to Market Viability

Session Chair & Moderator: Prof. William Chen, Michael Fam Endowed Professor, Nanyang Technological University Singapore

Precision fermentation is powerful, but can it compete with petrochemicals and agriculture on cost? This session brings together innovators, investors, and engineers to unpack the strategies that will finally bend the cost curve.

Potential panellists:
• Dr. Sandhya Sriram, CEO, Sprout Agritech and Investor
• Shubham Sandeep, Partner, Pi Ventures
• Tony, Hawkwood
15:30 - 16:30
Panel and Roundtable Discussion
Scaling Industrial Bioproduction

Session Chair & Moderator: Ezhil Subbian, CEO - String Bio

Great strains don't always make great factories. Leaders dissect the real-world challenges of scaling, productivity, yield, bioreactor design, and what it takes to turn petri-dish promise into industrial reality, including the role of AI & other technologies

Panellists:
• Emily Parker, Professor of Chemical Biology at Victoria University of Wellington and Science Advisor to the MBIE
• Rajaram Iyer, Executive Vice President – Corporate Strategy and Portfolio Management, Laurus Bio
• Mr. David Kestenbaum, Co-Founder, Cauldron Bio
• Dr Wataru Mizunashi, Deputy Senior Manager, Frontier & Open Innovation Division, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
16:30 - 17:00
Session Close
A synthesis of key insights and a shared view of next steps to advance India's biomanufacturing and broader bioeconomy leadership

Speaker: Brynne