Bengaluru can become innovation hub in healthcare, biotech and software like Boston: Experts

Bengaluru has the potential to become a formidable innovation centre with the combination of biotechnology, healthcare and software services activities much like the research ecosystem in Boston, said Devi Shetty Devi Prasad Shetty, founder and chairman, Narayana Health.

He said if one puts all three components of the software industry, biotechnology and healthcare together, it would be a formidable combination which is available in very few places in the world.

“Boston in the US has this kind of an ecosystem, where you have Massachusetts General Hospital MGH and that is also a part of the innovation ecosystem of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,” said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder, Mazumdar Shaw Medical Foundation (MSMF) and chairperson, Biocon, while launching BIRAC BIONEST, a MedTech Innovation Centre launched jointly by Narayana Health and MSMF that aims to help medtech entrepreneurs.


The centre would focus on filling the gap in healthcare innovation to have a single platform for entrepreneurs to co-create and identify clinical challenges in conjunction with doctors, scientists and technology enthusiasts, said Mazumdar-Shaw.

She added that one of the focus areas for Indian medtech industry should be affordable innovation because the work of the medtech entrepreneurs should be accessible for all.

“That’s what India should be known for. Affordable innovation is my driving mantra for whatever I do at Biocon and I am sure it can be the driving mantra for anything to do with innovation in India when it comes to life sciences,” said the Biocon chairperson.