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Telangana to establish second phase of Genome Valley
The chief minister said his government had already announced the establishment of 10 pharma villages around the state capital with investment of ₹1 lakh crore
Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Tuesday announced establishment of the second-phase of Genome Valley in around 300 acres of land near Hyderabad with an investment of ₹ 2,000 crore.
Inaugurating the 21st Bio-Asia-2024 conference at Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Revanth Reddy said Hyderabad has emerged as the undisputed capital of life sciences in India and perhaps the world. “One in three vaccines of the world are made in Hyderabad,” he said, referring to the discovery of Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin at Bharat Biotech established at Genome Valley at Shamirpet on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
The chief minister said his government had already announced the establishment of 10 pharma villages around the state capital with investment of ₹1 lakh crore. “The government has identified clusters for greenfield integrated pharma villages in Vikarabad, Medak and Nalgonda, all three different areas of Telangana for infrastructure and investment. We are employing a decentralisation strategy to focus on these three different directions of Telangana,” Revanth Reddy said.
He said the pharma villages would result in development infrastructure, create jobs, and create opportunities for entrepreneurs. “We hope to create over 5 lakh new jobs,” he said.
The chief minister said he had met representatives from the pharma sector recently to understand their challenges. “We have promised to support them in the best way that we can. If you dream to reach the sky, we will ensure a rocket is in place to take you to the sky,” he said.
Stating that there was both anxiety and hope, he said if Covid was fear, data and Artificial Intelligence technology in healthcare were hope. Hyderabad is the capital of research and start-ups and IT, he pointed out.
Revanth Reddy said his government was committed to create the perfect ecosystem that included policy, infrastructure and support. “We must also focus on driving micro-small-and medium enterprises (MSMEs) further, which are the bridge between the start-ups and corporates,” he said.
The chief minister said at the recently concluded World Economic Forum in Davos, the state government got investment proposals worth ₹40,232 crore. “I am delighted that Takeda has decided to set up the manufacturing facility in Hyderabad in partnership with Biological E. This facility will make 50 million doses of vaccines each year,” he said.
Similarly, Milteny Biotec also had decided to set up a research and development facility in Hyderabad.
As part of the conference, the chief minister presented Genome Valley Excellence Award to professor Gregg L Semenza, Nobel Laureate and professor Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
State minister for information technology and industries D Sridhar Babu said the state government was committed to making Hyderabad the skilled capital of India. “The chief minister has envisioned a plan of bringing a skilled university that will produce enough talent in two years from now,” he said.
The university aimed at bringing out the new revolution in terms of providing value to academia through mandatory internship programmes with industries for all the students in Telangana for a period of three to six months, which will give a platform across life sciences, IT, manufacturing sectors. “The best human capital will now be available in Hyderabad,” he added.
