The 7th o2h Collaborative Innovation Conference successfully concluded at the Hyatt Regency Ahmedabad, bringing together a distinguished lineup of experts from diverse sectors. The event marked the 20th anniversary of the o2h Group, celebrating two decades of pioneering work in innovation, investment, and entrepreneurship in life sciences and tech.
The conference featured thought-provoking panel discussions on key global and national issues, including India’s economic outlook following Trump’s tariffs, the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents, the growing obesity crisis, and the impact of ongoing geopolitical conflicts.
The event also hosted two compelling keynote sessions—one by Renu Pokhrana, founder of India Recycles, who has worked extensively in public policy with city, state, and central governments, and another by Smruthi Suryaprakash, a partner at BCG New York. Further enriching the dialogue, the conference included two engaging fireside chats—one with Teena Singh and another with Mihir Joshi, Managing Director of GVFL, a leading investment firm. The event brought together an impressive lineup of speakers, thought leaders, investors, and innovators including:
- Teena Singh – Acclaimed actress known for Kabir Singh
- Mihir Joshi – CEO, GVFL Ltd.
- Arjit Johri – Vice President, Mars Shot Venture
- Anar Thakershy – Founder, Anar Thakershy & Associates
- Parthiv Patel – Co-founder and CEO, Pet Pooja
- Sangeet Sharma – Retired Wing Commander, Indian Air Force
- Pranav Pandya – Co-Founder and Chairman at Dev IT
- Dr Chirag Thakkar – Founder & Director of Adroit Centre for Digestive and Obesity Surgery
The panel discussions explored critical global and economic issues. The session on Trump-India, India Tariffs and Investment highlighted how a potential Trump re-election could reshape India’s economic landscape, with protectionist trade policies potentially positioning India as a favourable hub for global businesses and investors. Discussions on Multi-Agent LLMs: A New Era of AI focused on the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, particularly multi-agent systems, and their transformative impact on industries, decision-making, and automation.
The panel on Global War: Tragedy, Reconciliation, Healing, and Prevention offered a deep dive into current geopolitical conflicts, emphasizing the necessity of diplomacy, humanitarian efforts, and economic strategies to mitigate wars and promote global peace. The conference also celebrated Happy 20th Birthday o2h: Past, Present & Future, reflecting on o2h Group’s journey over the past two decades and reaffirming its commitment to fostering innovation and collaboration across life sciences, technology, and investments.
Prashant Shah, Executive Chairman of o2h Group, shared his thoughts on the milestone event
“At o2h, we love seeding new ideas to impact human and planet health. Innovation is exhilarating, but it thrives on collaboration—when diverse minds, perspectives, and expertise come together to challenge, merge, and create something entirely new. This event is a first-of-its-kind gathering, bringing together an eclectic mix of thought leaders and changemakers, echoing the spirit of Nalanda from Ancient India—where the world’s first university embraced learning and sharing without boundaries. As we celebrate 20 years of o2h discovery’s life science operations in India, we reflect with immense gratitude on this journey and look ahead with optimism, energy, and ambition for what’s to come.”
Editor Notes:
About o2h group
The o2h group was founded in 2005, with the vision to seed new ideas in life science, technology, and green innovation. We work across boundaries and take a collaborative and shared approach to innovation; therefore, we co-invest, co-create, and co-execute to bring these ideas to life. The divisions include funding, incubation, and execution covering chemistry, biology, and tech.
The o2h group is co-located in Cambridge, UK and in Ahmedabad, India, and has 6 verticals covering Ventures, discovery, technology, co-work, community, and therapeutics.
o2h Ventures – An engine for nurturing early-stage life-science and technology assets through seed investment.
o2h discovery – An integrated chemistry and biology services capability for collaborative research.
o2h technology – A multi-function, multi-platform technology capability for building proprietary software tools and companies.
o2h co-work labs – A co-working space in Hauxton, Cambridge, for entrepreneurs, scientists, techies & dreamers.
o2h community – We work with non-profit, social enterprise and hold events supporting women in science & tech and collaborative innovation.
o2h therapeutics – A novel pipeline of proprietary preclinical IP in oncology (glioblastoma, breast cancer), anti-ageing and diabetes.
For more information, please see – www.o2h.com
About Prashant Shah
Prashant is the CEO of o2h co-work labs, a general partner of the o2h Ventures seed funds, the Co-CEO of o2h discovery and the Co-Founder of the o2h group.
As a serial entrepreneur from the dot-com era now covering life-science and tech he co-founded a drug discovery company that was acquired by a major public company. He is an active ecosystem, community and culture builder and interests include seed investing (a portfolio of almost 50 companies), services and product/IP development.
Prashant began his career with the strategy group of Accenture in London working across various industry groups. He is an author and has a BEng, an MSc and an MPhil in Management from the University of Cambridge.
About Sunil Shah
Sunil has co-founded the o2h group, this includes o2h Ventures, an HMRC approved ‘ Human Health’ Knowledge Intensive EIS fund; o2h discovery, a medicinal chemistry research services company and o2h co-work labs. He is an entrepreneur having begun his career in the Life Sciences team at PA Consulting. He co-founded Oxygen Healthcare Ltd which was fully acquired by Piramal Enterprises Ltd (BSE: PEL) in 2013.
Sunil is either Chairman, Non-Executive Director, Board Observer or an Investor in over 20 Biotech companies in the UK and has won several awards for his significant contribution in the Life Sciences Industry. Sunil has a degree in Biochemistry from Keele and an MBA from Cambridge University.
