CII oks draft National Biotech dvpt strategy

Welcoming the draft National Biotech Development Strategy, CII said this would enable the sector to emerge as a global player and help attract domestic and foreign investments into the sector.

"The draft polciy would go a long way in providing direction and enable actions by various stakeholders to achieve full potential of this vibrant sector," CII said.

The chamber said the draft would provide a roadmap to achieve the annual turnover of five billion dollars by 2010 and create more jobs.

Hailing the thrust on education and training, it said the proposal to set up a National Task Force would help in formulating model under-graduate and post graduate curriculum in life sciences and biotechnology for future needs.

The chamber, however, said that certain other issues like the need for more trained technicians with excellent laboratory skills and training of technicians particularly for the chemical industry on the lines of the German model, should be considered.

CII said the draft would encourage public-private partnerhip in PhD programmes through creation of 'Bio-Edu-Grid', a network of universities and industries, facilitating pooling of resources.

Emphasising on capacity building, CII said infrastructure facilities in the biotech institutions had to be scaled up while enhancing the breadth and depth of life sciences at the graduation level.