India, Jan. 1 -- Setting the tone for the discussion, Dr Jitendra Kumar, Managing Director, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) emphasised that India's aspiration to become a global life sciences powerhouse must be rooted in deep science, long-term policy vision, and institutional capability building. While India has made significant progress over the past decade in nurturing biotech startups and innovation-led enterprises, he noted that the next phase of growth would require a shift from volume-driven expansion to science-led value creation.

Dr Kumar highlighted the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) across the life sciences value chain, particularly in drug discovery, protein structure predi...