| Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Biospectrum bio-awards presentation, Maharaj Kumar Bhan, secretary, DBT, said these centres of excellence will be in defined areas like marine, medical and silk biotech, molecular biology and stem cell research. |
| The DBT is also planning to set up technology transfer centres in four regions to propagate biotech inventions and help commercialise it. |
| "To fund these initiatives, a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore outside the DBT budget is estimated. The proposal for this is getting ready at the DBT. Once it is ready it will be placed before the Union Cabinet for approval," he added. This is likely to give the sector a five-year development strategy. |
| Also, the DBT is planning to introduce legislation giving intellectual property rights to institutions and scientists who create it as a financial reward. The draft legislation is currently being vetted by various departments. |
| "The process is on; it (government moving the bill in Parliament) will shortly happen," revealed Bhan. |
| The legislation to be in place will empower institutions and scientists who create intellectual property. "They don't have to go to government departments to seek permission whether they can patent it or transfer the technology. They will be totally free to do so on their own," he added. |
| "Even with public money, the government will simply give the right over IPRs to institutions and scientists," he added. |
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