The Karnataka government and ICICI Venture are jointly promoting the Institute of Biotechnology and Applied Information at the International Technology Park Ltd at Whitefield near Bangalore. The Rs.10-crore project will have a 50:50 equity participation from Karnataka government and ICCI Venture. Prof. Sharat Chandra, a distinguished Indian scientist has been selected to head the IBAB.

The government of Karnataka and the ICICI Venture would each invest Rs. 5 crore in the Institute, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw managing director, Biocon India Limited and The Indus Entrepreneurs [TiE] member announced here at the Entrepreneurs and VC Funding Conference as a part of the IT.Com 2000.

Vivek Kulkarni, IT secretary, government of Karnataka said that the Institute would begin to function next month at the ITPL. He said five companies would be incubated from the Institute. The names of the company were not informed.

Shaw said that the main objective of the Institute was to provide training and incubate companies in biotechnology and informatics with the help of the Indian Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore [IIIT-B]. "There are a lot of emerging opportunities, mainly outsourcing, she informed.

The announcement is a vital initiative of the Biotechnology Task Force in Karnataka, in order to catalyse the growth of the emerging global opportunities in informatics and Biotechnology in the State. "It is imperative to support start-up companies through incubation and Venture Funding. The IBAB will provide incubation as well as link up with IIM Bangalore to give management and entrepreneurial inputs to start up Companies. The IBAB will also focus on training activities the area of Informatics which is today considered to be the fastest growing segment in the Knowledge segment," informed Shaw.

The key objectives of the IBAB are to incubate start-ups in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics. It will conduct courses and programmes in Bioinformatics. In addition, it will carry out R&D in genomics and genetics through a dedicated group under the Prof. Sharat Chandra. This apart it will carry out high throughput screening of select microbial and plant bio-diversities. The most vital aim is to help carry out contract research for industry.

The International Technology Park (ITPL) at Whitefield in Bangalore has been a very successful initiative in Software Technology for Karnataka and has leased out space for the IBAI as it is the ideal location for Karnataka's initiative in Biotechnology. The Government of Karnataka readily agreed to lease out 15,000 sft of space at the ITPL from June 1, 2000.

The IBAB will showcase its activities at ITPL through which it hopes to forge international alliances.