Making India a biotech hub

Aim to develop India into a global innovation hub by 2020 and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) has paved the way to deliver on that mandate.

BIRAC

Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) is a not-for-profit Section 8, Schedule B, Public Sector Enterprise, set up by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India as an Interface Agency to strengthen and empower the emerging Biotech enterprise to undertake strategic research and innovation, addressing nationally relevant product development needs.

DBT

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), under the Ministry of Science & Technology, promotes and accelerates the development of biotechnology in India, including growth and application of biotechnology in the areas of agriculture, healthcare, animal sciences, environment and industry.

Advantages of Biotechnology

• Biotechnology is a multi-faceted domain encompassing applications in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, scientific discoveries, etc. The biotech sector can be broadly divided into five major segments:
• Biopharma
• Bio-agriculture
• Bio-services
• Bio-industrial Applications
• Bioinformatic

• The biotechnology sector in India has grown from $1.1 billion in 2003 to a mammoth $64 billion sector in 2019 and by 2024, it is expected to be a $100 billion industry.
• Biotech start – ups: Currently, there are over 2,700 biotech start-ups and are expected to touch the 10,000-mark by 2024.

Challenges

• Public sector dominated
• Structural issues
• Lack of Innovation: India is currently ranked at 52nd on the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2019, with a jump of five places since last year, and 29 places in the past five years.

Government Innitiatives

• Make in India
• Skill India
• Start-ups 

Way Forward

• Motivate our young scientists to continue this path of research and generate new ideas and solutions. 
• Atma nirbhar
• Favourable industrial infrastructure and location
• Need for government support