Illumina, a global player in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, plans to establish a Global Capability Center in Bengaluru, India. The company announced this at the Illumina India Genomics Summit. With this initiative, Illumina also plans to expand its technology workforce to support its global customer base.
India is on track to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2030, while continuing to confront public health challenges such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other infectious diseases. It is estimated that up to 9.6 crore people in India have a rare disease, and one in nine people in India are likely to develop cancer in their lifetime.
Expanding access to genomics in India will help unlock opportunities for advancing healthcare and combating the effects of climate change. With this development, Bengaluru joins the ranks of Singapore, Cambridge (England), Eindhoven (Netherlands), Shanghai (China), Madison (Wisconsin, USA), Hayward and San Diego (California, USA), as cities with Illumina Global Capability Centers. Illumina aims to hire 100 technology professionals in India, including software engineers, IT hardware and network engineers, and system analysts in 2024, with plans to hire 200 more by the end of 2025.
Last year, Illumina opened the Illumina Solutions Center—a new office and genomics lab—in Bengaluru. The facility features a fully equipped laboratory with next-generation sequencing technologies. The center provides training and educational opportunities.
The Illumina India Genomics Summit in Bengaluru, where the investment announcement was made, is Illumina India’s flagship event. It welcomed a variety of genomics experts, clinicians, researchers, and scientists to exchange their experience and knowledge on the latest updates in genomics, encompassing clinical and translational research.
In recent years, Illumina has supported initiatives to increase sequencing capabilities in India, including the Genome India Project and COVID-19 surveillance with the Gates and Rockefeller Foundations. In December 2023, Illumina launched the Global Health Access Initiative to help countries perform local pathogen sequencing, addressing logistics and supply chain challenges, strengthening health systems, and improving preparedness.
Illumina’s philanthropic support in India includes an early COVIDSeq collaboration with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’s Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology in New Delhi, a $1 million donation in sequencing capabilities to Mumbai’s Kasturba Hospital for COVID surveillance, and the use of whole-genome sequencing to detect drug resistance in tuberculosis at PD Hinduja Hospital.
“Genomics is a critical part of public health, from characterizing new and emerging pathogens to revolutionizing the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease,” said Gretchen Weightman, Illumina’s senior vice president of the Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa region. “Illumina has been supporting India for over a decade by providing access to genomic sequencing technologies, particularly next-generation sequencing, and building our presence and capability in India makes sense to accelerate this.”
“Illumina has had a strong presence in India, working with our trusted channel partner Premas Life Sciences, for the past 17 years, and more recently with the opening of our ISC,” Weightman said. “During this time, we have seen the capability of the genomics industry in India grow substantially. Expanding Illumina’s presence in India offers us access to a talented workforce and helps Illumina take advantage of efficiencies, driving flexibility and agility to advance our mission further.”
