The 11th edition of the Bangalore Bio was inaugurated with a slew of announcements from the Karnataka government. These include a Rs.67. 5 crore fund assistance for the development of the sector, Out of this an amount of Rs.45 crore ($10 million) is allocated to promote projects in the area of high technology which cover stem cells and regenerative and genetics. The remaining Rs.22.5 crore ($5 million) is for companies to help support technology transfers and commercialize research projects.
Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, inaugurated the 3-day exposition said that all efforts were being made to ensure adequate assistance to the state which accounted for 52 per cent of the core companies in biotechnology and the 5 of the top ten enterprises in the country.
Some of the efforts to ensure the growth of the sector include a revised Millennium Biotech Policy in 2009, setting up 12 biotech finishing schools which were granted Rs.1 crore each to start the courses. The focus is on creation of high quality, industry ready human resources. Biotech sector was also treated by the state government as a non polluting industry and is eligible as a ‘green’ technology enterprise.
The government has also awarded the biotech park, Bangalore Helix to the bidder Alexandria which would invest Rs.500 crore to set up phase II of this biotech park that would span over 52 acres. The bidder was also responsible to bring in the investments into the Park from international majors.
Efforts to rope in public private partnerships to set up biotech parks in Dharwad, Mysore, Mangalore among others. The state positively responded to the promotion of the Knowledge sector which covers biotech and information technology. To create an conducive and industry-friendly environment to woo investments. In this regard it is also setting up an IT BT Centre within Helix which involves companies like Indian Institute of Science, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Research, Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology and Strand Genomics.
The 11th edition of the annual biotech event took the opportunity to provide 12 BT Finishing Schools with Rs.1 crore and these schools would commence the training from this year. The Finishing Schools include Bangalore’s PESIT, Dayananda Sagar College, Maharani Ammani Coolege for Women, Oxford College, Mysore JSS, Mangalore’s Aloysius College, Tumkur’s Siddaganga institute, Sirsi’s MM Arts and Science College to name a few.
This year’s event is attracting 800 visitors, 150 foreign visitors and 150 stalls. There is also a multi track conference, trade show, vision 2015 leadership series, CEO conclave, BioQuiz as part of the exposition.