Exploring opportunities in bio-technology

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, FEB. 24. The ``Millennium Bio-tech Policy'' launched today by the State Government has set upon itself the task of a catalyst to tap the vast opportunities the field of bio- technology is throwing up.

The policy has outlined creation of specific infrastructure for the development of bio-technology and intends setting up of a Bio-tech Park, similar to the Information Technology Park Ltd., which the Government has set up in association with the private sector.

The first Bio-tech Park is to be established at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Hebbal. Nearly 30 acres of land will be given to the Department of Information Technology and Bio- technology to house research and development institutions, bio- tech companies and incubation facilities. The Vision Group on Bio-technology will oversee the project. A similar park will be established on the Karnatak University campus, Dharwad, where about 15 acres of land is being made available.

A Centre for Human Genetics is being set up in Bangalore, to bring together a group of highly-talented scientists to join the ongoing revolution in understanding human genes. The policy intends to make available a corpus grant and land for setting up the institute.

The policy mentions the setting up of an Institute of Agri-bio- technology in Dharwad by the Department of Agriculture, for which a special grant of Rs. 5 crores has been allocated. The institute will focus on agricultural productivity improvement.

With regard to genomics, the policy mentions the developments that have taken place in the Human Genome Project (HGP), the first mega project in biology involving international participation, and public and private partnership. The HGP has deciphered the existence of 30,000 to 40,000 genes, less than half of the originally predicted one lakh genes. India now is in a unique position to harness this opportunity through researching its vast and varied disease populations in conjunction with its human diversity.

On bio-fuels, it proposes to support the setting up of plants to convert molasses into bio-fuels. This will help achieve the dual benefit of cost savings as well as of a cleaner fuel with a positive impact on the environment. Sugar factories in Karnataka produces 6,00,000 tonnes of molasses annually, most of which was converted by distilleries to produce rectified spirits.

Another aspect the Government intends to give a boost has been contract research. The policy mentions the potential of companies in Bangalore to take up contract research. The trend to outsource low-cost research and development capabilities in bio-technology was increasing and this gave tremendous opportunities for Indian companies. The current global spending on outsourced R&D was approximately $ 7 billion and was expected to grow at 30 per cent per annum for the next five years.

On the institutional framework, the policy states that the single window agency will clear all projects of the bio-technology industry. The Karnataka Bio-technology Development Council, headed by the scientist, Mr. V.Prakash, will help develop norms for setting up bio-tech companies. The council will be funded by the Government through contributions from the bio-tech fund and from other sources. Each bio-tech company is expected to contribute 0.5 per cent of its annual turnover to this fund. The council will develop a database on patents.

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