In its virtual avatar, India Bio @ BTS to showcase how global biotech community is fighting Covid-19 related challenges together

By 2025, the Indian biotechnology industry is expected to be worth $150 billion and its contribution to the global biotechnology market is expected to grow to 19 percent, up from 3 percent in 2017.

The last few years have seen India make significant advancements in the biotechnology space. It has established itself as among the top 12 global destinations for biotechnology. Within India, the state of Karnataka has emerged as a hub for biotechnology. Currently, the biotech industry in Karnataka has over 380 companies and more than 194 startups, which add up to 60 percent of India’s biotech strength. The state also employs over half of the country’s biotech workforce.

Karnataka was the first state in India to introduce a biotech policy back in 2001 when the sector was still to take off. The Millennium Biotech Policy of 2001 has since then seen two more iterations, the latest version in 2017, to accommodate the rapid pace of development and the adoption of newer technologies.

In 2001, Bengaluru hosted Bangalore India Bio, the first biotech event in the country. It merged with flagship IT event Bangalore IT.com in 2017 to become the Bengaluru Tech summit. Since then, the reach of the event has grown manifold, and the Bengaluru Tech Summit has been playing a key role in shining the spotlight on bio-sciences innovations.

What makes Bengaluru a go-to destination for biotech?

According to industry estimates, by 2025, Karnataka is expected to contribute nearly 50 percent of India’s biotech output, with a value of between $40 billion and $60 billion.

In the last two decades, the state government and the private sector have been working to create an integrated biotechnology ecosystem to foster the development of a strong bio-economy, attract investments, promote innovation and build a strong workforce for the industry. This includes the setting up of biotech parks, clusters and technology incubation centres in tier 2 and 3 cities; putting in place a favourable policy environment; enabling ease of doing business; facilitating an open and transparent business environment; and encouraging research and development (R&D) in emerging technology areas.

The fact that Karnataka has a number of well-known educational and research institutes has also made a difference. Karnataka produces more than 7,500 biotech graduates each year and the government set up BT Finishing Schools (BTFS) to enhance their skills and make them more industry-ready.

The availability of a strong research base and industry-ready workforce and favourable policies meant that Karnataka has become the preferred destination for large global and domestic biotech companies.

In addition to setting up funding mechanisms and mentorship programmes for biotech startups and incentivising investments and mentorship in the sector, the focus has also been on enabling innovations to progress beyond the lab into the market where they can solve real world problems. In fact, BTS has a dedicated track called Lab to Market for this purpose.

ALSO READ

Here’s why the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2020 exhibition is a launchpad for startups to reach a global audience and facilitate fruitful collaborations

Why should you head to IndiaBio @BTS?

Over three days from November 19-21, India Bio @BTS 2020 is expected to bring together the best minds from India and the world. The focus will be on breakthrough ideas in life sciences and technologies, and how the global biotech community is collaborating to address the challenges brought on by the pandemic.

BioPartnering: For the first time ever, the event will feature an advanced meeting scheduler platform from Inova, a leading global bio-partnering brand. The platform will allow attendees to search for and invite companies, accept invitations and conduct meetings virtually. This is the first time that Inova will be facilitating virtual collaboration at India's largest biotech event.

Poster Session- Walkway of Discovery: This session will showcase innovative ideas, outstanding research and ground-breaking studies that have the potential to impact Life Sciences and Biotechnology in a big way. For young researchers, this is an ideal platform to share their breakthrough ideas with delegates from across the world. The special focus this year is on ideas to combat the pandemic by way of vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, treatment, immunity and post-infection care. The top 10 posters can win prize money amounting to Rs 20,000 each.

So, if you are interested in biotechnology and life-sciences, don’t forget to block your calendars for the virtual India Bio@BTS event from November 19-21.

Register for the conference now to avail the early bird offer.