Bangalore Bio, the biggest biotech event held annually in India, could rightly be termed as the platform to assess the progress made by the biotechnology sector in the country. As the eight edition of the event is poised to kick off on April 24 at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), it reinstates the success of Bangalore Bio, which has placed the biotech sector on the path of strong and sustainable development. "Bangalore Bio has raised the profile of Indian biotechnology on the global stage," feels Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, head, Karnataka Vision Group on Biotechnology. In an interview with Nandita Vijay, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw outlines the key factors that led to the success of Bangalore Bio and its success as a great networking forum. Excerpts:
What are the key factors that make Bangalore Bio a success in every year?
Bangalore Bio has proven to be a great networking forum, and this is what makes it so successful. The business element has been a key attribute, which has seen a number of interesting start-ups, mergers and acquisitions (M&As) as well as Indian operations of multinational companies (MNCs) take root. The trade show has been a resounding success with 20,000 business visitors registering their presence at Bangalore Bio 2007. The conference has always been well designed to ensure that the speakers and topics are relevant to bring about the much needed industry-academia partnering. This year, the Association of Biotechnology Led Entrepreneurs (ABLE) has partnered with the event managers MM Activ to put together a meaningful conference programme. It is loaded with successful case studies of partnerships, discussions on the proposed NBRA (National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority) and three disease tracks - cancer, diabetes and infectious diseases. The event would also feature special sessions on agri-biotech, intellectual property (IP), investments and global business opportunities.
The conference has been segmented in such a way that all sectors in biotechnology have received due attention. The B-to-B module introduced a few years ago has been a tremendous success in enabling biotech companies to have partnering discussions. This year, we have introduced a new initiative titled research industry collaboration hub (RICH) to enable 10 promising start-up companies to present their businesses to investors and industry to explore scaling up of their operations through investments, collaborations and M&As.
What is the most significant contribution of the event to the industry?
Bangalore Bio has played a key role in raising the profile of Indian biotechnology on the global stage. Today, biotechnology is recognised as one of the fastest growing sectors with the greatest promise. The Government of India has committed large budgetary allocations to this sector in this fiscal through various tax concessions and funding initiatives, including seed and innovation funds. Investment in this sector has grown exponentially over the years from a paltry $10 million in 2001 to nearly $1 billion. The sector has registered a consistent year-on-year growth of more than 30 per cent annually and has crossed $2 billion in 2007. It is now racing towards the target of $5 billion by 2010. The event continues to be the flagship event in the Asia Pacific region in biotechnology, attracting the largest number of participants each year.
This year the theme is 'Global Partnering'. What went behind embracing this theme? How much and to what extent partnerships have helped the sector?
Biotechnology is a sector where the growth of strategic alliances across the globe has been truly dramatic. Besides, there is a need for new collaborative research, joint ventures and new forms of cooperation amongst biotech players across the globe, as biotech is a highly knowledge intensive industry and progress requires complementary assets that reside in different types of organisations. The knowledge gap that exists in India in terms of innovation-led businesses has led to effective partnering models, where Indian companies have proved to be strong development partners to international research companies. In addition, the pressure on Western biotech and pharma companies to address the challenges posed by increasing operational costs and poor research outcomes have made India an attractive hub for process and clinical R&D.
In your opinion how could we grow the sector from the present $2 billion?
Research services both in drug development as well as clinical development are strong growth opportunities for India. Manufacturing also provides enormous opportunities, as Indian companies have penned a new history in vaccine production as well as other recombinant proteins. Data management and Bio-IT are already large segments. Agriculture is another large opportunity for Indian biotechnology, where Bt Cotton is already attaining global leadership. Additionally, diagnostics and bioengineering can also contribute to growth. The $5 billion target by 2010 will be easily surpassed.
What are the challenges faced by the industry, which need to be addressed?
Specialised and industry-ready human capital is our greatest challenge, which in turn points to our limited educational bandwidth that needs to be rapidly expanded and upgraded. We need to multiply our colleges, universities and research institutions, especially in terms of faculty.
What is the present status of the Bangalore Helix and the Finishing School on Biotechnology? Do you think that opening of the Helix and School would accelerate growth of the sector?
The Finishing School is in the final stages of getting started. Bangalore Helix is also at the final stage of completion and Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB) would be ready to start its next academic year at its new premises.
What is the future of Bangalore Bio events?
The global biotech community has now endorsed Bangalore Bio as the best platform to connect with India. But we have a long way to go. We are looking at developing this brand as the best networking platform in this part of the world. We are also trying to develop BIO GRID, where Bangalore Bio will cooperate and collaborate with successful international platforms and leverage collective strengths.