Given the presence of high-level healthcare services through doctors, hospitals, researchers and entrepreneurs, Pune has the opportunity to emerge as the healthcare capital of India.
This was the view expressed by eminent scientist and Pune International Centre (PIC) president RA Mashelkar and Vishwas Mahajan, founder and ex-CEO of Compulink Systems Ltd and president of TiE Pune, on Saturday. Both were speaking at the TiE Pune Healthcare Summit 2017, a mega event of healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs and startups.
While Mashelkar presented the vision of Pune’s transformation into the ‘Boston of India’, as the healthcare capital of the country, Mahajan said that Pune has a fertile ground for such an ecosystem to flourish given the presence of doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical firms, research and development and applied research firms and startups.
“So far they have been working in isolation, and that is where we found the opportunity to facilitate interaction, learning and networking among these, through this summit,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“So far they have been working in isolation, and that is where we found the opportunity to facilitate interaction, learning and networking among these, through this summit,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Various aspects of healthcare entrepreneurship were discussed at the event, ranging from New Age diagnostics through Internet of Things (IoT) and devices, the importance of data analytics in healthcare, and funding and investment opportunity in the sector.
“TiE is a non-profit network of entrepreneurs, by and for entrepreneurs. We try to foster entrepreneurship through horizontally focused programmes which could be around funding, mentoring, investments, networking and so on, regardless of what industry they belong to. But, for the first time through the summit we are verticalising the approach whereby focus of a particular industry is being created along opportunities around that for these startups,” Mahajan said.
He said Pune has all the ingredients in place for progress, and what has been done is the planting of the seed which will need nurturing for it to grow.