UNHIE, BIRAC and Social Alpha announce India Accelerator Platform for Healthcare Innovations
- Initiative to fast track adoption, ease access and market entry to enable universal healthcare
- Platform will lead to successful adoption of at least 100 Indian innovations in 5 years; leading to creation of new market opportunities worth $500 million for India’s MedTech start-ups
- Create a Market Shaping accelerator and multilateral mechanism to identify and promote contextual, “Made-in-India” health innovations.
Delhi, November 21, 2019: A unique programme for health innovations has been announced by United Nation’s Health Innovation Exchange (UNHIE), Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) and Social Alpha. Conceived as the India Accelerator Platform, it aspires to unlock the potential of the Indian Medical Technologies (MedTech) and Digital Health innovations through successful adoption of 100 Indian innovations in the next five years. The accelerator is estimated to result in the opening of market access and procurement of Medical Devices and Diagnostics and Digital Health solutions worth $500 million from Indian Start-Ups during the same period.
These efforts are in line with the Government of India’s vision to provide Deep Technology Innovations that are ideated, conceptualized and manufactured in India. This accelerator will be an Open Platform and key stakeholders from public and private sector, multilateral agencies and foundations will be invited to join the platform.
Mr Pradeep Kakkattil, Director of Innovations, UNAIDS and Head – UNHIE said, “Leveraging innovation is essential to fast tracking progress to Universal Health Coverage and SDG3 targets. India’s innovation ecosystem has the potential to transform access to health – from pharma to diagnostics to digital health. The UNAIDS Health Innovation Exchange (UNHIE) was set up by the UN to facilitate acceleration and adoption of technologies and innovation for health and to make them available across countries. We are very excited to partner with BIRAC and Social Alpha to establish the UNHIE-BIRAC India Accelerator platform and I am confident that it will be transformative in the global journey to UHC.”
UNHIE is a platform to identify challenges faced by implementers and connect them with innovations that have high potential for impact. The platform links with investors to scale up the efforts and develop sustainable solutions to bridge the disconnect that exists between innovators and implementers to fast-track progress to reach Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and other health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary DBT & Chairperson, BIRAC said – India, with its rapidly growing start-up ecosystem, technology strength and government’s commitment to universal health coverage, is the best test bed and offers the right ecosystem for scaling disruptive healthcare innovations. BIRAC has significantly enhanced the capabilities of the Indian startup ecosystem by supporting a number of healthcare innovations and UNHIE-BIRAC India Accelerator will further enhance the adoption potential of health innovations. We thank UNAIDS and Social Alpha for joining hands with BIRAC in this ambitious initiative.
The platform will also create and curate investment opportunities for capital providers, prepare innovators for regulatory approvals, assist in market access and leverage all partners and their network for global advocacy. The platform will help Indian Innovators to use multilateral and UN mechanisms to fund and scale their innovation globally. Social Alpha will manage the accelerator programme.
Mr Manoj Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO , Social Alpha said – India can take a leadership role in creating multilateral “market shaping” mechanisms to promote innovative solutions globally and help drive down the cost of healthcare while improving both access and adoption. Moreover, home grown technologies in India are an excellent market fit for several developing countries since they all share similar healthcare challenges. Innovations developed in India also have significant potential for translation and adoption in developed economies. We are very excited to partner with UNHIE and BIRAC to design and execute the India Accelerator Platform.
About UN Health Innovation Exchange
UNAIDS and partners have launched a new initiative to leverage the potential of innovations to improve the health of all. The Health Innovation Exchange will link innovators to investors and innovations to implementers. Launched on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, the initiative aims to support global efforts to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. To respond to demands from countries, over the coming months UNAIDS will facilitate country-level innovation exchanges in key countries. Those exchanges will identify specific health-related challenges and areas in which innovation and technology could transform access to health care. For more details please visit: http://www.healthinnovation2030.org
About Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC):
BIRAC is a not-for-profit Section 8, Government of India enterprise mandated to catalyse biotech innovation ecosystem growth in the country. It supports Biotech Startups, Entrepreneurs and SMEs across Biotechnology sector. BIRAC has a strong network of national & international strategic partners that includes Academia, Industry, Corporate, Philanthropic organization, Central and State Government bodies. There are 2500+ Biotech start-ups, SMEs in the country along with a large pipeline of budding entrepreneurs in the ecosystem who get facilitated through BIRAC’s capital infusement of INR 2000+ Cr, Incubation Centre network and access to technical, IP, Legal and Business mentorship access. Angel and VC funding together with strategic partners and global ecosystem connect, all add value to country’s innovation ecosystem. These efforts have yielded innovators to create a pool of intellectual wealth (200+ IP) and launch of 130+ product and technologies. BIRAC also contributes to “Make in India”, “Startup India” and “Swachh Bharat” programs, leads national missions including National Biopharma Mission, and partners for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust and USAID programmes. For more information, please visit: https://birac.nic.in
Twitter: @BIRAC_2012
About Social Alpha:
Social Alpha promotes innovations and entrepreneurship with a mission to create large scale social, economic and environmental impact. Social Alpha nurtures start-ups through their lab to market journey, helping them create high quality, commercially viable, accessible and affordable solutions. Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (FISE) forms the core of the Social Alpha architecture, and operates through a nationwide network of technology and business incubation infrastructure sponsored and enabled by Tata Trusts, Government of India and several academic, philanthropic and corporate partnerships. Social Alpha is focused on catalysing entrepreneurship for impact and provides critical technology and business incubation support to the mission driven start-ups. For more information, please visit www.socialalpha.org
LinkedIn: SocialAlpha
Twitter: @SocialAlphaIN
Facebook: SocialAlpha
Instagram: social_alpha_in
For further details, please contact:
Social Alpha
Nayantara Dutta
Email: ndutta@tatatrusts.org
Mobile: +91 9819052768
Adfactors PR
Nikita Crasta
Email: Nikita.crasta@adfactorspr.com
Mobile: +91 9821071527