Hyderabad: A corpus fund of Rs 400 crore for a biotech start-up has to be created by the Centre to allow incubation centres in institutes like the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) to aid the industry.
The present gap which is seen between industry and academia can be addressed if the incubation centres and start-ups are nurtured and provided support in terms of research.
The CCMB celebrated the first anniversary of the Atal Incubation Centre, and a discussion between the industry and students was conducted wherein the issue of lack of engagement of the industry with prestigious Indian institutions like CSIR laboratories and start-ups was discussed.
Speakers from the life sciences and biotechnology industries explained that there were challenges noted in the translation of the research work to implementable work and that these issues needed to be discussed and mitigated.
The main focus has to be on how the transition from a laboratory to real life can be less cumbersome, and how it can be achieved within a specified time. The industry analysis shows that by 2028, there will be one billion jobs available in India, and these will not come from corporates but from incubation centres and start-ups.
Dr A.V. Ramarao, the ex-director of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research said, “The plunge from academia into entrepreneurship in life sciences was taken when it was not the cool thing to do. But the success of the laboratory speaks for itself.”
Director general of CSIR Dr Shekar Mande explained, “This is the age of life sciences and CSIR-CCMB are supposed to help the emerging life science start-ups with technical and intellectual expertise.”
The scientists and industry stalwarts who were present at the gathering have asked students to indulge in research which is relevant to India and which will help solve the problems that the country is going through.
