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Towards a biotech future

Chitra Phadnis

Biotechnology could well emerge as the destination in this millennium and Karnataka is all set to make the best of this blend of biotech and infotech.

THE other technology that is making headlines now is biotech, the science of the new millennium. (Even Karnataka's policy for the industry is called the `Millennium Biotech Policy').

Common with infotech is the industry's dependence on intellectual capital, education and skilled manpower and it is easy to see why hopes have risen about its power to drive the next revolution in India. Bangalore has the highest concentration of educati onal and research institutes in biosciences as well as infotech and all efforts are being made to repeat the IT success story in biotech.

Manpower apart, other global developments have opened up new possibilities in the field, the biggest being the decoding of the human genome. That has in fact created a new subject, bioinformatics, a blend of biotech and infotech that Karnataka is gearing up to make the most of.

The pharma industry the world over, one main user of biotech research is looking at outsourcing a great deal of research work, and contract research in biotech could help Indian companies catch up in the biotech research area. In fact, Bangalore-based Bi ocon is doing contract research for most of the top ten pharma majors. Such work can lead to creation of intellectual property for the Indian company and perhaps joint patents with partners.

Karnataka's Vision Group on Biotechnology, followed by the biotech policy, and a biotech development cell, all announced during the last six months is an indication of how seriously the state takes the industry.

The policy has recognised the importance of creating awareness of the opportunities for investment, drawing up the kind of incentives and concessions required to attract investments, providing infrastructure including human resources, and providing an in stitutional framework to achieve these objectives.

Today, there are around 45 biotech companies in Karnataka, engaged in a range of businesses from hybrid seed development, diagnostics, fertilisers and pesticides to the latest field bioinformatics.

The Software Technology Park of India, Bangalore (STPI) already has four units dedicated to bioinformatics, and the State Government has set up an Institute for Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology to be housed with the Indian Institute of Informatio n Technology.

The first of the big biotech seminars, sponsored by the industry itself was held in January and the next one (this time, the government's initiative) is scheduled for mid-April. While seminars such as this help create awareness of biotech, it is also a m eeting ground for various companies, individuals, venture capitalists and financial institutions.

Biotech (or BT as it is being called) is getting as much importance as IT. The two come under the umbrella of the same government department and share the same secretary, Mr Vivek Kulkarni (now redesignated, Secretary -- IT and Biotechnology). It now re mains to be seen if Bangalore will exchange its `IT Capital of India' sobriquet to a wider `tech capital'.