A new enzyme for developing a new antibiotic, stress management in pets by analysing their stools and a potential anti-malarial drug/vaccine — all by CSIR-CCMB scientists Manjula Reddy, Umapath and Puran Singh Sijwali — are entrepreneurial projects being incubated at the Atal Incubation Centre (AIC) with infrastructural facilities and funds.
AIC is open to new ideas from young entrepreneurs in the field of biological sciences for mentoring and nurturing, said chief executive officer and consultant scientist N. Madhusudana Rao in a live interaction over the weekend.
Participating in the institute’s ‘Open Day’, Dr. Rao said AIC is ready to ready to “listen to any young entrepreneurs with even half baked ideas” as beginners are also helped in scaling up of an idea, making prototypes, taking approvals, intellectual property rights and connecting with the investing agencies. Close to 50 startups were incubated in this facility set up four years ago with help of NITI-Aayog and 28 startups are currently functioning, fine-tuning their research plus business plans.
Under the accelerated development to combat COVID-19, eight startups are being supported, including a firm trying to make diagnostic kits without a single import component. While there has been an ongoing programme on finding various methods for adult healthcare, a new programme on maternal and child health care is about to be launched for which project proposals are welcome. More details in this regard are available on ‘https://aic.ccmb.res.in/’.
The new diabetic-friendly variety of Sambha Masuri rice developed by the CCMB in association with the Indian Rice Research Institute and National Institute of Nutrition will soon be available in the market with technology being made available to some firms, said senior scientist Hitendra Kumar Patel on ‘Innovations to Help Farmers’.
The improved variety seeds have been shared with 10,000 farmers and it is being grown on 7 lakh hectares in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand. Better rice varieties giving higher yields, early maturation, ability tp withstand drought, floods, etc., are under various stages of research, he added. The institute is also working on new lab-based anti-venom testing to avoid animal exploitation and ensure it is affordable and easier to access for rural masses.
