Business Development Mission to India: An Assessment

As the new chosen land of biotechnology, India today has become a key commercial partner. This booming sector, with an annual growth of 30% and a 2010 turnover of $ 5 bn, is now looking to move into the European markets. Provence Promotion, with support from its institutional partners and accompanied by a team of experts, went to meet the major players in the Indian biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. Flashback to a business development mission that could well lead to concrete exchanges between the Indian biotech industry and sector players in Provence.

A series of targeted meetings with decision-makers from India’s leading companies…

Following up on the groundwork done in June 2010 at the Bangalore India Bio exhibition, the Bouches-du-Rhône’s economic development agency took the strategic step of meeting the big names in India’s biotechnology industry to present Provence’s potential and underline the opportunities for partnerships.
Working with the Invest in France Agency (AFII) in New Delhi, Provence Promotion mapped out an itinerary that would take in four cities, all at the forefront of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors: Ahmedabad (historical center of the Indian chemicals industry and with existing ties to Marseilles via the cultural center), Bombay, Bangalore and Hyderabad. In all, 17 meetings were arranged with decision-makers from major Indian firms, in particular CIPLA, one of the world’s largest generic drug manufacturers.

… and participation in the BioAsia forum in Hyderabad…

The second leg of Provence Promotion’s mission took in the BioAsia 2011 forum, a flagship event for the Indian biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry. The event, which took place on February 21 – 24 in the city of Hyderabad, brought together more than 900 participants from 38 countries.
A delegation of important persons from the scientific fields accompanied Provence Promotion on this assignment, with the aim of making new business contacts and promoting the Provence region.
Among the experts who spoke at the various conferences organized as part of the BioAsia event were Prof. Olivier BLIN of the AP-HM (Marseilles hospitals authority), Prof. Patrick COZZONE, specialist in medical imaging and director of the CRMBM (Center for Magnetic Resonance in Biology and Medicine) in Marseilles, and Daniel LAUNE, director of BIO-RAD in Montpellier.

… yields promising results

The strong presence of experts from the PACA and Languedoc-Roussillon regions at this international event reinforces our regions’ influence overseas. The special relationship between the South of France and the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh will –in the medium term- see new R&D projects emerge at the academic level between French players in the biotechnology sector and Hyderabad’s “Genome Valley,” a technological cluster of a hundred or so companies all specialized in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

In the shorter term, the mission should lead to a visit to the region by several Indian companies interested in setting up partnerships with French laboratories or joint-ventures with French counterparts in the sector.

On this point it’s worth noting that the “Go Between” program, put in place by Provence Promotion and aimed at making company acquisitions and partnerships in the industrial or services sectors easier, attracted huge interest from Indian companies looking to expand into the European market.
In addition to the services provided by Provence Promotion, our region offers huge development potential for these companies, by virtue of the numerous biotechnology companies already established locally.

Synchron Research, an Ahmedabad company specializing in cosmeceuticals (a fusion  of cosmetics  pharmaceuticals and drugs) could well be interested in the various opportunities proposed by the PASS (Parfums Arômes Senteurs Saveurs) competitive cluster for project development and by the personalized assistance provided by COSMED (the cosmetics industry association) to companies in the sector.

Ocimum Biosolutions, based in Hyderabad, is a genomics company that provides sequencing services and manages a commercial biobank containing 250,000 samples. For Ocimum, the PACA region’s proven expertise in genetics and microbiology, and the presence of bioinformatics companies locally, could lead to synergies being developed.

Lastly, Stempeutics Research is a Bangalore-based company specialized in the clinical testing of stem cells for use in regenerative medicine, a field that has strong roots in the PACA region. For example, the research carried out by the AP-HM’s (Marseilles hospital authority) Musculoskeletal Institute in the field shows a complementarity with the work done by Stempeutics Research.

Therefore, new partnerships can be envisaged in the future, bringing new, Indian investment to the region.

In addition to being a “project detective”, Provence Promotion also acts as a facilitator for companies seeking to set up in the region. The mission the Bouches-du-Rhône’s development agency set itself for this latest trip to India was to highlight the pool of expertise available in the region and provide a portal for companies wishing to invest in the biotechnology sector; a mission that was completed successfully.