The conference served as a platform for stimulating discussions, idea exchange, and networking opportunities to facilitate collaborative innovation.
Ahmedabad: o2h Group, based out of Ahmedabad, India and Cambridge, UK, a leading investor in emerging life science and tech companies, hosted the 6th o2h Collaborative Innovation Conference in Ahmedabad, bringing together participants from diverse sectors. The conference served as a platform for stimulating discussions, idea exchange, and networking opportunities aimed at facilitating collaborative innovation.
The conference witnessed engaging sessions and stimulating discussions on an array of topics including free trade, the role of India in the global biotech ecosystem, advancements in cancer research, the future of generative AI, the significance of businesses in youth education and skill development, and many more.
Prashant Shah, Co-founder of the o2h group, emphasised the importance of collaboration in driving innovation, saying, “Innovation is the force that powers new ideas for the way we live. The model of isolated big company innovation has struggled. Every year, we organise the Innovation Conference because, at o2h, we enjoy working with others and not trying to go it alone, not least because it’s the cross-fertilisation of ideas across boundaries that can spur exciting innovations. I am confident that the deliberations will lead to meaningful work in terms of its impact on society and the planet.”
Stephen Hickling, British Deputy High Commissioner to Gujarat and Rajasthan, Dr. Anasuya Bhadalkar, Joint Director of Gujarat State Biotechnology Mission, and Mihir Joshi, President of GVFL, were among the esteemed speakers who shared their insights at the conference.
The conference also witnessed fireside chats with triathlon coach Ingit Anand and Rashmi Barbhaiya, co-founder of Advinus Therapeutics, a Tata group-promoted pharma research company.
Reflecting on the conference’s impact, Mr Shah said, “We are passionate about playing our part in the creation of a collaborative community of innovators connecting Ahmedabad, Cambridge (UK) and Boston, which we hope will inspire all of us in these ecosystems to work ever more closely for our collective love of innovation.”
The 6th Collaborative Innovation Conference brought together live operators from a wide range of fields including science, technology, art, academia, entrepreneurship, social enterprise, non-profit, investment, media, government, creative, engineering, law, architecture, finance and big business.
The o2h Group has a track record of nurturing and investing in emerging life science and tech companies, covering biotech, techbio and green innovation. The vision is to be the best at seeding new ideas in life science, technology and green innovation by co-investing, co-creating and co-executing across boundaries. It promotes new ideas by triaging funding, execution and incubation, and has an impressive track record of breakthrough innovations in people, processes, and technologies over the past decade.
The event enjoyed the generous support of leading organizations, with BLD Pharm serving as the Title Sponsor and ChemScene as the Associate Sponsor. Additional sponsors included TCI Chemicals (India) Pvt Ltd, Angene Chemical, Agility 4IR Technologies, Terraquaer Venture Pvt Ltd, and Scientific Sales. The o2h group extends warm appreciation to all sponsors for their invaluable contributions, which are poised to nurture a vibrant community of innovators and changemakers in Ahmedabad, India.
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 Venture, 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.
