Telangana Hosts Roundtable on Skilling for Life Sciences Sector

Hyderabad: The State Department of Employment & Training (DET), in collaboration with the Centre for Good Governance (CGG), organized an Industrial Roundtable Conference on the Life Sciences Sector under the theme “Skilling Telangana for a Brighter Future.”

The conference, part of a six-roundtable series held between March 7 and 21, focused on key sectors such as BFSI, Construction, Retail, Manufacturing, and IT & ITES. It addressed crucial issues related to skill development in the life sciences industry, including the pharmaceutical, medical, and biotechnological sectors.

Prof Devi Prasad Juvvadi, Director of CGG, delivered the welcome remarks, followed by Dr. Sangramsingh Patil, IPS, Additional Director General, CGG, who set the context for the discussions.

Special Chief Secretary to Labour and Employment department Sanjay Kumar, IAS, said that the government focused in strengthening the skill ecosystem specifically revamping the Industrial Training Institutions (ITIs) and endeavors to make the private players a key stakeholder in their management. Skills are being imparted to youth in life sciences related sectors, he said, adding that the primary objective of the Industrial Roundtables is to bridge the existing gap in the skill training programmes offered by various government departments to meet the industry requirements. The meeting addressed the major challenges and requirement of skills required to be engaged in Life sciences sectors including pharma, medical and biotechnological sectors.

“The primary objective of these Industrial Roundtables is to bridge the existing gap in skill training programs offered by various government departments and align them with the needs of the industry,” he stated. The discussions at the conference focused on addressing critical skill challenges in the pharmaceutical, medical, and biotechnology sectors.

DET officials presented detailed updates on Telangana’s skill development initiatives, including the Telangana Overseas Manpower Company (TOMCOM) and the Kshamatha scheme of the Government of India. The conference also featured extensive discussions on industry expectations, existing skill gaps, and ways to foster collaboration between the government and industry to ensure sustainable skill development.

The roundtable brought together leading experts from government and industry to deliberate on skill gaps, workforce training, retraining needs, entrepreneurship, and business skills. Key participants included senior representatives from KIMS Group, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Continental Hospitals, Sai Life Sciences, as well as officials from the Life Sciences Sector Skill Council and the Biotechnology Incubation Centre at Genome Valley.

The conference marked an important step in fostering industry-academia collaboration to equip Telangana’s workforce with the skills needed for a rapidly evolving life sciences sector, ultimately driving employment opportunities and economic growth.