VMPL

New Delhi [India], June 5: In a landmark convergence of minds, mission, and momentum, FITT IIT Delhi, in collaboration with Pfizer India (as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative) and ecosystem partner Social Alpha, successfully hosted 'Translating What's Next: Securing the Future of Innovation' at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.

The event brought together an extraordinary assembly of leaders spanning healthcare, public policy, academia, venture capital, and India's startup ecosystem - all united by a shared conviction that India's moment in global healthcare innovation has arrived. What unfolded was more than a conference; it was a declaration of intent.

SPOTLIGHT: Pfizer INDovation Program (IP Support Edition) 2025-26

The centrepiece of the event was the unveiling of 20 winning startups of the Pfizer INDovation Program (IP Support Edition) 2025-26 - a flagship, first-of-its-kind initiative, purpose-built to accelerate India's next generation of healthcare and innovators. The program provides winning ventures with end-to-end technical and legal IP consultation, comprehensive commercialisation support, and privileged access to a curated network of investors, venture capitalists, and seasoned industry mentors.

By placing intellectual property at the heart of a startup's strategy, the INDovation program addresses a critical gap in India's innovation pipeline - equipping founders and their ideas with the legal and commercial armour to protect, scale, and globalise them.

Visionary Voices: What the Leaders Said

'The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission is not merely a government scheme - it is the digital spine of a new India. Interoperable health infrastructure, data-driven systems, and technology-enabled access will fundamentally rewrite who gets care, when they get it, and how.'

-Dr. M. Srinivas, Former Director, AIIMS New Delhi & Member (Health), NITI Aayog

Drawing on decades of leadership in India's public healthcare system, Dr. Srinivas delivered a compelling and visionary address on the transformative potential of India's rapidly advancing digital health ecosystem. His remarks set a powerful tone: that innovation without inclusion is incomplete, and that the infrastructure being built today will define healthcare outcomes for generations.

Shri Bhuvnesh Pratap Singh, Director, Startup India Singh's address electrified the room, connecting the ambitions of individual startup founders to the national vision of a self-reliant, innovation-powered India by 2047. He underscored the indispensable role of accessible healthcare technologies in realising this vision.

'The gap between a breakthrough in a laboratory and a breakthrough in the market is where most innovations die. Closing that gap requires bold industry-academia partnerships, relentless translational research, and startups willing to bet on deep tech.'

Mr. Tarun Chaturvedi, COO, FITT IIT Delhi

Mr. Chaturvedi brought the perspective of one of India's most active translational research institutions to the conversation, highlighting FITT's role in bridging the chasm between scientific discovery and real-world healthcare impact.

'We at Pfizer recognize that sustainable healthcare transformation cannot happen in silos, but demands innovation enablers, cross-border collaboration, and ecosystem partnerships to translate breakthroughs into real impact for people around the world.'

Mr. Sharad Goswami, Senior Director, Global Policy & International Public Affairs, Pfizer India

Representing Pfizer's global policy perspective, Mr. Goswami articulated the pharmaceutical organization's conviction that India is not just a market - it is an innovation source for the world. Pfizer's commitment to MedTech and HealthTech innovators through the INDovation program, he noted, is a long-term bet on the Indian startup ecosystem's capacity to deliver globally relevant healthcare solutions.

Sessions That Shifted the Conversation

Beyond the podium addresses, the event featured two standout panel discussions that challenged conventional thinking and offered provocative, practitioner-led insights:

'We at Pfizer recognize that sustainable healthcare transformation cannot happen in silos, but demands innovation enablers, cross-border collaboration, and ecosystem partnerships to translate breakthroughs into real impact for people around the world.'

-Mr. Sharad Goswami, Senior Director, Global Policy & International Public Affairs, Pfizer India

'Regulation as a Product Strategy, Not a Compliance Checklist'

A paradigm-shifting session that reframed regulatory foresight from a bureaucratic burden into a powerful strategic growth driver for emerging healthcare and biotech startups -- one that, when leveraged early, can become a durable competitive advantage

Why This Matters: India's Innovation Inflection Point

India stands at an inflection point in its healthcare innovation journey. With a digital health infrastructure maturing at scale, a startup ecosystem producing world-class founders, and policy frameworks aligning to support deep-tech commercialisation, the conditions for India to emerge as a global healthcare innovation hub are more favourable than ever before.

The Pfizer INDovation Program and events like 'Translating What's Next,' represent exactly the kind of catalyst that can convert this potential into reality. By combining world-class IP support, access to capital, and the credibility of partners like FITT IIT Delhi, Pfizer India, and Social Alpha, the program gives India's best healthcare startups a genuine pathway to global relevance.

Key outcomes and pillars of the initiative include:

- 20 high-potential healthcare and biotech startups identified and empowered through rigorous selection

- End-to-end IP consultation: technical patent strategy + legal protection frameworks

- Direct access to investors, VCs, and industry mentors through a curated ecosystem network

- Comprehensive commercialisation roadmaps tailored to global market entry

- Policy dialogue integrating regulatory strategy as a core startup competency

About the Partners

FITT IIT Delhi

The Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT) at IIT Delhi is one of India's leading technology transfer and industry interface organisations, with a mandate to translate cutting-edge academic research into market-ready solutions. FITT has facilitated hundreds of industry-academia collaborations, patents, and startup launches across sectors.

Pfizer

One of the world's premier, responsible and innovative biopharmaceutical companies, Pfizer collaborates with healthcare providers, governments, and local communities to support and expand access to reliable and affordable healthcare around the world. For over 75 years in India, it has worked to make a difference for all who rely on Pfizer and its therapies.

Social Alpha

Social Alpha is India's leading science and technology innovation platform, focused on incubating, accelerating, and scaling solutions that address fundamental challenges across health, energy, agriculture, and water. As ecosystem partner, Social Alpha brings deep expertise in frontier innovation and impact capital.

For media enquiries, interviews, and high-resolution assets, please contact the FITT IIT Delhi Office.

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