The second phase of the ICICI Knowledge Park at Turkapally, near Hyderabad, will be ready for occupation by November. The second module has 16 laboratories, of which six have been already booked. Deepanwita Chattopadhyay, CEO of ICICI Park, told Pharmabiz.com that negotiations are at various stages for the leasing out of the remaining blocks. When most of the blocks in the second phase are booked, work will begin for the third phase.

The park has provision to build 10 modular blocks, called Innovation Corridors, to house more than 100 laboratories depending on the demand. The park also offers plots of varying sizes to set up individual research centres, pilot plants or agri-research farms, as per the specific requirements of the tenants. There are 16 plots in all for lease, of which two have been already booked.

Chattopadhyay said all the 10 laboratories in the first module had been booked and seven were operational. Though the first phase was ready in June 2000, initially a lot of awareness building was needed to attract companies to set up their labs in the park. Now more and more institutions are coming forward to make use of the research facilities offered by the park. Initially the Indian companies and NRIs were targeted. "Now with the growing popularity of the park we are thinking of targeting even the multinational companies," she said.

The tenant companies at the park include: Medicorp Technologies India Ltd, Bijam Biosciences Ltd, Krebs Biochemicals Ltd, Optiwave Photonics Ltd, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, GVK Bio-Pharma Ltd, Maanya Biotech Ltd, Bioserve Biotechnologies Ltd, Helvetica Industries Ltd and Medifil Pharma Ltd.

In phase-I all the labs were of the uniform size of 3,000 sq.ft. But in phase-II, the size of the lab is flexible. There are labs ranging from 1,600 sq.ft to 3,000 sq.ft to suit the requirements of different customers.

According to Chattopadhyay, "This is where the finest scientific minds will come together to do business in the knowledge-driven millennium." It was more of a users' cooperative than a commercial business undertaking. The park, set up under Section 25 of the Companies Act, was not run for profit. The revenue coming from the park would be ploughed back to create fresh facilities and expand the project. When the phase-II labs were fully occupied, the park would become self-sufficient. At present the monthly outgoing was around Rs 16 lakh, she said.

Started as a fully owned subsidiary of ICICI Ltd, the park has now the entire investment coming from ICICI Venture Fund and is no longer a subsidiary. ICICI has so far spent Rs 40 crore for the development of the land and the construction of the two modules.

The park is situated on a 200-acre lush green campus at Turkapally village, in Shameerpet mandal, 40 km from Hyderabad. The land was provided free of cost by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The park enjoys full support of the Government of India and the state government in the form of speedy approvals and infrastructure development.

The park is recognised as a Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (SIRO) by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India. The AP government has declared the entire area as a pollution-free zone and prohibited establishment of polluting industries within a radius of 25 km around the park.

Asked about the target areas for research and development in the park, Chattopadhyay said though the park envisaged research and development in all knowledge intensive fields, the current focus of the park was in the areas of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, speciality chemicals, new materials, information technology and communications.

In order to integrate R&D and production in biotechnology, the state government is developing a Biotech Park, in collaboration with the Mumbai-based firm Shapoorji Pallonji, adjacent to the knowledge Park. The inherent synergy of the two parks is expected to immensely benefit the tenants of the Knowledge Park and the Biotech Park.

The state government has also declared an area of approximately 600 km covering the mandals of Shameerpet, Medchal, Keesra and Uppal as the Genome Valley in which biotech activities will be encouraged and promoted.

Chattopadhyay said initially there would be the problem of commuting a long distance every day. But once the area has developed as a natural cluster of biotech research, training and manufacturing activities with several research institutions and companies located there, the entire area will become a modern township. Major institutions that already dot the area include the Biotech Park (under construction), the Knowledge Park and Bharat Biotech in Turkapally village; Medi Citi, Shanta Biotechnics, Godrej Plant Biotech and Metchinikoff Biosystems, near Medchal town; Satyam, the Forest Research Centre near Doolapalli and Nuzeevedu Seed Company at Kompally, all within a radius of 10-15 km.

Besides the world-class infrastructure, the park has launched a unique facility - the Virtual Information Centre (VIC). A key component of the Knowledge network, it links the digital resources of the participating companies and extends widespread library and literature search facilities online. It provides a web interface for virtual meetings, discussions, and sharing of ideas and experiences among participating member institutions.

The second step, Chattopadhyay said, was putting up a Scientific Network, in collaboration with the Science and Technology Entrepreneurial Parks (STEPS). She also disclosed that ICICI Park would be holding an international conference on "Drug Discovery and Healthcare in the Knwledge Economy -India's Oppportunity" on November 24 and 25. Called International Millennium Knowledge Conference, the event is jointly sponsored by ICICI, CII and the Government of Andhra Pradesh.