Technology and innovation synergies between India and Israel are immense and have become key focus areas as avenues of collaboration and partnership in academia, IT, telecom, healthcare and other areas
India and Israel are known names in the global generic pharmaceutical business but the ample opportunities to collaborate have not been fully explored. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Ananta Centre (formerly Aspen India) and Tel Aviv University (TAU) recently organised the seventh India Israel Forum – the Indo-Israel Innovation Colloquium in Mumbai to address this gap. The meet was chaired by Israel Makov, Chairman, Sun Pharma and S Ramadorai, Vice Chairman, Tata, Consultancy Services in Mumbai. Over the decade, CII, Ananta and TAU have focused on broadening the India-Israel relationship.
Speaking at a panel discussion exploring further ties between the two nations in the healthcare sector, Israel Makov, Chairman, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries commented that while both India and Israel are strong in generic pharma, the latter has shown more innovation in the pharma sector.
He also pointed out that India is one of the fastest growing pharma markets globally but most innovator drugs available here are from other markets while companies in India tend to focus on generics. While stressing the need for advanced technologies and medicines, Makov urged industry stakeholders to invest in Israel and vice versa.
Dr Adheet Gogate, Senior Director and India Head, Philips Healthcare Transformation Services explained the necessity of three pillars for improving the healthcare system in India.
Firstly, India needs to become wealthy enough and also needs to get the economy growing faster. Secondly, the country needs to look at adopting new paradigms in healthcare delivery; for instance, where the poor pay lesser from their pockets and get better reach to healthcare. As the third pillar, he mentioned that there has to be a lot more coordination between different sectors. He signed off commenting that in the last 20 years we have not seen a single drug to treat drug-resistant infections which is crucial and we have to figure out how to make it profitable.
Dr Hadar Ron, Managing Partner, Israel Health Care Ventures spoke about the opportunities existing in the Israel pharma market where Teva is the largest pharma company. She shared that many start-up companies involved in pharma research get good support from the Israeli government and therefore urged Indian companies to invest in Israel. She also mentioned that while Indian pharma companies have the capabilities, they need better engagement with Israel, citing the way their counterparts from the US, China and Singapore consider Israel as a strategic investment partner. She urged Indian pharma companies to follow suit.
Technology and innovation synergies between India and Israel are immense and have become key focus areas as avenues of collaboration and partnership in academia, information technology, telecom, healthcare and other areas. The day long colloquium witnessed panel discussions, presentations as well as focused sessions on innovation, information technology, healthcare, water technology, renewable energy, wellness, engineering, etc.