Southern States
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Karnataka-Bangalore
Incentives offered to biotech. firms
By Our Special Correspondent
BANGALORE, DEC. 8. The Minister of State for Information Technology and Biotechnology, Prof. B.K. Chandrashekar, said here on Saturday that the Government was offering a number of incentives for biotechnology companies, especially those coming up in the genetic engineering field, cell culture, bio-chemistry, and allied sectors. Recombinant DNA-based business development and bio-informatics were other areas of focus, according to him.
The Government was also in the process of identifying a location for the proposed biotech. park in Bangalore, and he was holding discussions with the Vision Group on Biotechnology in this connection, the minister said, indicating that an announcement would be made shortly.
Addressing the ``Business of Biology-2001'' conference organised by the St. Joseph's College of Business Administration, he said industries such as those in the IT and biotechnology sector needed a ``social vision for the use of science'' and use technology to benefit the people, as in providing food security to the poor. The M.S. Swaminathan Foundation had turned difficulties into a technical and global business opportunity by researching into crops for saline soils, and offering the genetics knowledge to other countries. The agri-industry, medicine, and veterinary sciences provided similar opportunities for business, he added.
``Combining IT with biotech. will add to the technology strength of the country, and in biotech., we need more first generation entrepreneurs from today's students who can match the advances made by those in the IT industry,'' Prof. Chandrashekar said.
Ms. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Director, Biocon, who heads the Government's Vision Group on Biotechnology, asked the students not to lose their competitive urge to excel, after leaving college. There was global potential for biotechnology businesses with a sharp focus on thrust areas such as food, health care, and environment, she said. ``The world is now looking at India because of our self-assurance in our technical skills. Human resources give us a competitive edge, compared to other countries which have financial capital but lack skilled persons,'' she pointed out.
India's knowledge in the medical field, related to vaccines for tropical diseases, would be another strength, Ms. Shaw said. Research in TB control would also be an advantage with the disease resurfacing in the West as a fallout of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. While some MNCs were carrying out clinical trials of medicines based on Ayurveda, few Indian pharma companies were into this now.
Mr. Philip Cherian, Managing Director, Sartorius India, Bangalore, spoke on ``Challenges and opportunities in the global bio-pharmaceutical industry'', and Mr. Gourav Srivastava, Chief Information Office, GE Technology Centre, gave a presentation on ``International perspective on India as a knowledge bank''. Rev. Fr. Pradeep Sequeira, Rector, St. Joseph's College of Business Administration, presided.
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