The Department of Biotechnology has mooted formation of a central body, Biotechnology Parks Society of India (BPSI) be set up for the promotion of biotechnology parks in the country on the same lines of the Software technology Parks of India (STPI).
The draft National Biotechnology Development Strategy, released for public comments by DBT, spells out the details of BPSI and feels that a central body is necessary to bring all the state level biotech parks that are coming up in various parts of the country. The BPSI would be run by professionals having experience in the areas of biotechnology, knowledge in Acts and Rules relevant to biotechnology and management skills. With all existing biotech parks becoming its members, the BPSI would be possessing firsthand knowledge to evaluate the project proposals and advise DBT on the funding pattern for new projects. The BPSI would also help industries in obtaining industrial, environmental and other relevant approvals from the Central Government and will be the official voice to making recommendation regarding fiscal incentives to be granted to the biotechnology parks. Providing guidance to the venture capital institutions on investment in biotech parks; providing accreditation to the parks etc. should also come under the purview of the central body, the draft has noted. The strategy paper also endorses DBT's role in supporting the creation of incubators in biotech parks promoted by a private industry or through public-private partnership. DBT feel that the support should be in the form of grant upto 30 per cent of the total cost or upto 49 per cent in the form of equity.
"With its large human resource in molecular biology, microbiology, biochemical engineering, synthetic organic chemistry, chemical engineering and allied branches of engineering and strong institutional base at the universities, CSIR, ICMR and ICAR, India is well placed to support a number of biotech parks," the paper notes.
Biotechnology Parks can provide a viable mechanism for licensing new technologies to upcoming biotech companies to start new ventures and to achieve early stage value enhancement of the technology with minimum financial inputs. These biotech parks facilitate the lab to land transfer of the technologies by serving as an impetus for entrepreneurship through partnership among innovators from universities, R&D institutions and industry, DBT has noted. Basic minimum components for parks should include research laboratories for product development, multi-purpose pilot facility for manufacturing and process development, quality control and validation of technologies, common effluent treatment plant, a GLP Animal House, a recognized human resource training centre, administrative support centre etc. The biotech parks should be located so as to be easily accessible for all the stakeholders, tenants, academia with connecting roads, water and power supply and should also attract less administrative clearances from the government, DBT opined.
The DBT plans to promote and support at least 10 biotech parks by 2010. Each park will necessarily meet the qualifying criteria related to the characteristics of the location, a viable business plan, management strategy and a clear definition of the partners and their roles.