Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Feb 26 : Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said, Government will promote industry driven StartUps.
Addressing the 37th Foundation day of Department of Biotechnology (DBT), as chief guest, at National Institute of Immunology (NII) here, Dr Jitendra Singh called for equal stakes with equal partnership and responsibility by Industry to sustain the StartUps. He said, it will be possible to make StartUps sustainable, if Industry from the very beginning identifies the theme/subject/product and invests matching equity.
The Minister assured that support, technical and financial, has never been a constraint under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Government to promote the “Innovation Ecosystem” in the country.
Giving the example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of an AtmaNirbhar Bharat, where India’s Vaccine strategy brought together academia, research, pharma and industry together in a partnership with an eye on meeting the current as well as possible future challenges, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the idea behind initiatives like this is to have a sustainable partnership in the long run and provide a sustainable source of livelihood to India’s youth. He added that the Government of India, led by Prime Minister Modi, is encouraging industrial outreach by extending all possible support.
Dr Jitendra Singh pointed out that the Biotechnology Sector in India has evolved over the last three decades and has made significant contributions in various sectors including health, medicine, agriculture, industry and bioinformatics, due to enormous support received both from government & private sector. He underlined that the Biotechnology Sector has seen a rapid growth in the last 9 years and India is now being rated among top 12 biotechnology destinations in the world. He said, more than three times funds allocated to this sector compared to pre-2014 era to make India globally competitive in biotechnology research, innovation, and entrepreneurship and also paving the way for the promising future.
In his address, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Dr Rajesh Gokhale said that Government of India, through science, technology and innovation, among other things, aspires to position India among the world’s top five scientific powers and it is very much committed in supporting scientific research and innovations. He added that DBT is the nodal agency for promotion of Biotechnology in the country and nurturing Biotechnology by creating a strong ecosystem for facilitating basic, early and late translational research and entrepreneurship and also formulation of policies and guidelines in all sectors of biotechnology.
Delivering the Foundation Day Lecture, Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan,Director, Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru said that India is on the cusp of a new revolution.
Dr Alka Sharma, Senior Advisor, DBT and MD, BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council) in her welcome address said, DBT has established 15 theme-based autonomous institutions across the country.
Dr. Sanjay Mishra, Senior Scientist presented vote of thanks and took the collective pledge to make DBT, one of the premier Research and Innovation Departments of the country and the world in times to come.
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