A pavilion at the ‘Make in India’ week in Mumbai. Credit: Indranil Mukherjee/ AFP/ Getty Images
Innovation is key to solving many problems faced by communities, societies, nations or humanity as a whole. Nurturing innovation requires special attention to maximize benefits for those with the greatest need.
An innovation ecosystem models the economic dynamics of the complex relationships between entities, which in this case are the material resources and humans whose goal is to enable technology development and innovation.
Innovation is believed to be the fundamental source of significant wealth generation within an economy. An innovation ecosystem is thriving and healthy when the resources invested in the knowledge economy (either through private, government, or direct business investment) are replenished by innovation induced profit increases in the commercial economy. The interdependence of innovation and entrepreneurship is therefore a clear one.
India is undergoing a revolution in the area of innovation, whether it is in the areas of science, technology or others. The emphasis of Make in India, Stand Up India, and Startup India launched by the government is on creating a conducive environment for home-grown innovation and entrepreneurship to solve some of the biggest challenges that India faces.
A penchant for frugality, combined with public and private support for entrepreneurship and innovation, mean that India is uniquely poised to deliver effectve and affordable solutions in areas of medicine, healthcare, agriculture, energy, industry and others.
In science and technology, this thrust for innovation and entrepreneurship has been possible because of the systematic and unflagging support of the government. Since independence, until the 1980s, India had built a substantial scientific infrastructure through public funding and some private funding. By the early 1980s, India had a fledgling biotechnology sector with a few biotechnology focused companies that manufactured vaccines, enzymes and other biotechnology products intended primarily for the domestic market.
It was during this time that the true growth potential of the biotechnology sector was realized by science policy-makers and the government, to deliver valuable and affordable solutions to some of India’s challenges. This spurred public investments first in academia for basic research which has now expanded to include translational research and development and the entire innovation ecosystem.
Systematic government support for the biotechnology sector began in the 1980s with the National Biotechnology Board (NBTB) and followed by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in 1986.
Biotechnology today well poised, because of the excellent base created by DBT in the last 30 years. There are more than 500 laboratories to 16 autonomous institutes each strategically positioned to contribute to a special high-risk area of research. They are part of a focus on creating the translation ecosystem through bio-clusters and connecting with industry, startups and entrepreneurs through BIRAC. It is because of this that India is today a preferred partner for all international collaborations in biotechnology, which we currently have with more than 80 countries.
Biotechnology’s role is crucial for the Indian knowledge economy to grow. Establishing and growing an innovation product driven biotech industry was a significant need in India which led to creation of BIRAC by the Government of India. Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) is a not-for-profit public sector enterprise, set up by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) as an interface agency to strengthen and empower emerging biotech to undertake strategic research and innovation, addressing nationally relevant product development needs. BIRAC is a new industry-academia interface and implements its mandate through a wide range of initiatives, be it providing access to risk capital through targeted funding, technology transfer, IP management and handholding schemes that help bring innovation excellence to the biotech firms and make them globally competitive. In its four years of existence, BIRAC has initiated several schemes, networks and platforms that help to bridge gaps in the industry-academia innovation research and facilitate novel, high-quality affordable product development. BIRAC has also initiated partnerships with several national and global partners.
In recent years BIRAC has had very positive impact on the whole ecosystem for startups and entrepreneurs, and the industry academia interface has greatly benefitted. We have more than 1,000 startups and 500 industries engaged in the network. The ecosystem has been empowered by creating over 30 bio-incubator centers with 300,000 sq.ft of incubation space. More than 1000 products or technologies have been developed, many of which are in the market, and more than 150 new IP’s have been filed. The focus is also on skill development, training, employment and market access.
An important part of encouraging entrepreneurship is assuming the business risk that a young business developing an innovative scientific idea faces specially in its nascent stages. As products move along the value chain, only the level of their risk changes. Therefore, funding bodies such as BIRAC need to create support through the market value-chain to ensure that ideas don’t fail for the want of support. Government funding has also plugged several holes where venture capitalists and angel investors were typically unwilling to invest before, such as early-stage research, during which private investors were more wary. India is moving towards high-risk funding, encouraging for many scientists to take up research on disruptive technologies.
Our recent focus on retaining and attracting scientists with high-level experience and our recent investments in high-tech infrastructure gives us the confidence to support disruptive technologies.
Biotechnology is an intrinsic component of the 21st century knowledge economy. The Indian government has set an ambitious target of US$ 100 billion for the biotechnology industry by 2025. DBT along with BIRAC is committed to work alongside all partners in the endeavor to create an innovation driven biotech ecosystem and amplify the growth of Indian biotechnology.
The vibrant ecosystem we see today gives us the confidence that our innovators will be recognized globally for providing solutions for addressing major societal problems.
The recent government impetus on 'Make in India' and 'Startup India' have given a major boost to this sector, and the biotechnology industry will contribute immensely to the enhanced GDP and employment opportunities.
The industry is poised to leverage its strength and capacity to bring in transformational change and the making of a new India by 2022.
Renu Swarup is the Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, India. She was BIRAC’s managing director when she authored this article.
