Biotech sector to get a shot in the arm

BIRAC, a Public Sector 'not-for-profit company' aims to promote innovative research and growth of biotech industries

The Association of Biotechnology-Led Enterprises (ABLE) and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) have entered into an understanding whereby ABLE would seek to facilitate the effective and efficient delivery of BIRAC's mandate by providing critical inputs on various aspects concerned with technical knowledge, interactions with the private biotech industry, inputs for policy making, dissemination of schemes through workshops and seminars.

BIRAC is a new industry-academia interface and implements its mandate through a wide range of impact initiatives, be it providing access to risk capital through targeted funding, technology transfer, IP management and hand-holding schemes that help being innovation excellence to the biotech firms and make them globally competitive.

BIRAC is a Public Sector Section 25 'not-for-profit company' set up by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, to promote and nurture innovative research and growth of biotech industries through interventions that facilitate high risk research, innovation and product development. BIRAC works in partnership with private, public and international agencies.

With the industry aspiring to grow at a CAGR of 30 per cent till 2025, it has become imperative to develop a significant bioeconomy in the country. For that to happen, the industry needs to communicate its requirements to the government to enable the government to respond by putting together facilitative policies and mechanisms in place.

There is a need for all stakeholders to move and work in tandem. It is expected that these efforts would encourage biotech start-ups to conve\rt innovative research in public and private sectors into viable and competitive products, and enterprises and provide support for all stakeholders.

With public-private partnerships being the norm in almost all sectors, they need to be done in a manner that is sustainable and that leads to maximum benefits in terms of the end products or services that are useful in mitigating current and future problems of health, food and environment in case of biotech sector.

"ABLE already has a meaningful engagement with BIRAC and this broad understanding paves the way for several more programmes and projects on which the two institutions can now work together," said P M Murali, President - ABLE.

Renu Swarup, Managing Director-BIRAC, said, "Partnership is a key philosophy of BIRAC and we look forward to ABLE being a knowledge partner of BIRAC to bring the Industry perspective forward."