AI in future will stop reacting and start foreseeing: Expert
The next boom after IT is Medical Devices: Venugopala Rao Sankineni, VP – Medical Devices Policy & Investments, Telangana Lifesciences, Government of Telangana
Hyderabad, November 08, 2025: After the IT boom, the next big boom will be Medical Devices, stated Mr. Venugopala Rao Sankineni, Vice President – Medical Devices Policy & Investments, Telangana Lifesciences, Government of Telangana, while delivering a special address on Day 2 of the two-day TG-PackCON 2025 Vision Edition, a Summit for Economic Growth organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at The Park, Somajiguda, Hyderabad.
Calling Hyderabad a powerhouse of India’s pharma industry, he outlined Telangana’s four-pronged strategy for growth — attracting investments, fostering innovation, upskilling talent, and building world-class infrastructure for Pharma and Life Sciences. Emphasising that MSMEs are the backbone of industrial growth, he said the future of life sciences lies at the intersection of biology and technology, highlighting the state’s focus on AI and Digital Health. He also detailed Telangana’s Digital Health Data Exchange programme, a unified health data portal for advanced digital integration. With India’s MedTech industry valued at USD 14 billion, expected to grow at 14% annually, he pointed out that 70% of medical devices are still imported, underscoring the need for domestic manufacturing. He also highlighted the Medical Devices Park at Sultanpur, Patancheru — India’s largest MedTech R&D and manufacturing cluster — and said the second phase is underway, adding that Hyderabad is emerging as a global hub for Medical Tourism.
Dr. Reddanna Pallu, Executive President, Federation of Asian Biotech Association (FABA), noted that India currently contributes only 0.3% of the global biopharma industry and stressed the urgency for accelerated innovation. He spoke about FABA’s Academy initiative which unites startups, investors and leadership to strengthen the biotech ecosystem, and emphasised the need for large-scale skill development in life sciences.
Mr. Gareth Wynn Owen, Deputy High Commissioner, British High Commission, described the India-UK Free Trade Agreement as the broadest and deepest trade treaty signed by the two nations, projecting a 50% surge in bilateral trade from the current £43 billion. Recognising India’s strength in medical device innovation and the UK’s legacy in MedTech, he said the FTA opens unprecedented avenues for global collaboration.
Earlier, Mr. Chakravarthi AVPS, Chairman – TG PackCON 2025 & Chairman & MD, Ecobliss India Pvt Ltd, opened Day 2 with the message: “A future economy cannot be built on linear thinking. Innovation is no longer a choice, it is a responsibility.” The day commenced with a high-level panel on Pharma & Life Sciences for Economic Growth, where Dr. Vinay Kumar Gupta, Assistant Drug Controller, CDSCO, highlighted the global footprint of Telangana APIs and CDSCO’s role in enabling regulatory readiness. Mr. Girish Kapur, Senior VP & Site Head, United States Pharmacopoeia (USP), stressed that affordability, accessibility, quality and global trust will define India’s pharma future, adding, “Excellence does not happen by accident, it is a journey we are all part of.” Dr. Ratnakar Palakodeti, President, Innominds, spoke on the central government’s Bio-E3 policy (Economy, Environment, Employment), calling it a holistic ecosystem-driven roadmap.
Riya Shah, Technical Sales, Cillicant Pvt Ltd, delivered a session on quality protection and shelf-life enhancement through cutting-edge desiccant technology. A special panel on “Regulatory Mastery & Global Compliance in Pharma & Medical Devices” discussed how harmonised regulations can accelerate exports, competitiveness, and patient safety.
A high-profile post-lunch session saw diplomats from the UK, Australia, Türkiye, and the Netherlands deliberate on global market opportunities and cross-country collaborations. Mr. Ram Babu Vedantham, Deputy Trade & Investment Commissioner, Netherlands Business Support Office, announced that Heineken is establishing its largest global backend operations hub in Hyderabad—Heineken Business Services India—covering AI, technology, finance and HR functions, to go live by end of 2025.
The summit’s highlight was a Disruptor Talk by Jignesh Talasila, Co-Founder & CEO, Perspective AI, on AI-led disruption in Health Sciences. Speaking on the theme Molecules to Machines, he demonstrated how AI is transforming drug discovery, citing Google DeepMind’s C2S-Scale system which reduced cancer drug discovery timelines from years to weeks and revealed new therapy pathways using AI models like Gemma.
He also explained the impact of AI-powered Character Twins — digital patient simulations used to test diagnostics before human trials — and next-generation World Models that simulate future outcomes instead of predicting words like LLMs. “AI will stop reacting and start foreseeing,” he said, predicting a future where computers simulate disease progression and treatment outcomes before symptoms peak, adding that “Your MacBook will become your lab.” He pointed attendees to emerging innovators such as Demis Hassabis (AI for Biology) and Brett Adcock (Figure AI humanoid robotics), calling this decade the biggest reset in life sciences innovation.
TG-PackCON 2025 concluded with a strong roadmap for India’s pharmaceutical, medical devices, biotech and AI-driven health sciences future, positioning Telangana at the centre of the next economic and technological revolution.