C-CAMP’s National Bio Entrepreneurship Competition is inviting innovators with scalable business ideas in the life sciences domain

Bengaluru-based life science incubator Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) announced its fourth edition of National Bio Entrepreneurship Competition (NBEC 2020) which is open for bio entrepreneurs and innovators. According to the official statement, the competition has been launched with an aim to conduct nationwide search for potential ideas which can make a societal impact in the life sciences sector.

According to the incubator, this edition also has a special student vertical apart from startups to encourage student innovation and has instituted separate awards for student-led teams.

“NBEC is about building entrepreneurship from ground-up in India. With the right keenness to become innovators and an enabling ecosystem where industry and government work in synergy, our innovation quotient can only go higher. The position in the top 10 of Global Innovation index is within reach!,” C-CAMP CEO and Director Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed said in a statement.

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Search for innovations

The incubator is inviting startups, student teams, and individual innovators to participate in the challenge and come up with solutions for several sectors in the live sciences sector — including agriculture and allied sector, healthcare, digital health, medical devices, AMR, industrial biotechnology, personal care products, and environment and renewable energy.

“NBEC as a platform identifies and nurtures promising bio-innovators and entrepreneurs from across all these domains. A unique feature of NBEC is an ‘Entrepreneurship Development Boot Camp’ which trains the shortlisted finalists in important aspects of entrepreneurship and also provides them an opportunity to interact with mentors from industry and academia,” the official statement said.

The competition, which is being conducted as a part of the BIRAC Regional Entrepreneurship Centre (BREC), will be held online due to the pandemic.

Speaking during the launch event held on September 7, Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon said, “Translating science to business through entrepreneurial ventures is the biggest testimony to pathbreaking research. Innovators need to know what creates market demand and [needs to] deliver to meet that demand. The mentorship opportunities that NBEC brings will help meet that crucial gap in market economics skills.”

What’s in for the innovators?

The NBEC competition, which was first launched in 2017, claims to have received over 6,000 applications from 34 States and UTs in the past three years. Currently, the fourth edition of the NBEC competition is inviting applications. Applications for NBEC 2020 will close on October 7, 2020 at 6 pm.

C-CAMP announced that NBEC 2020 will give out a total of Rs 7.1 crore in cash prizes and investment opportunities in the startup category. Apart from this, the winners will also get the chance to be mentored by key industry leaders and will also get opportunities to receive seed funding and business acceleration networks.

Meanwhile, student teams can win prizes of upto Rs 10 lakh along with mentorship from industry experts and networking opportunities.

“Reaching out to all corners of the country is a remarkable achievement for NBEC as a platform. NBEC is not only about recognition but also about honing entrepreneurial skills and connecting to industry at an early stage,” said Anju Bhalla, MD, BIRAC.