With the noise around information technology, and now artificial intelligence, developments in other fields in recent years have gone relatively unnoticed. One such area is bioeconomy, an ecosystem that uses biological resources to produce industrial goods. The segment is projected to touch $300 billion by 2030 in India. New Delhi-based Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) is one of the pillars of this industry. A not-for-profit institution under the Department of Science of Technology, BIRAC has undertaken a multi-pronged approach to nurture entrepreneurs in the biotech industry for the past 14 years. Several successful biotech startups trace their roots to BIRAC. Cleantech company GPS Renewables, for example, received funding under BIRAC’s Biotechnology Ignition Grant. The company, which makes compressed biogas, 2g ethanol, sustainable aviation fuel, recently raised Rs 635 crore. Another startup is Secunderabad-based Kritsnam Technologies, which makes smart water usage systems that have been implemented across 50,000 hectares of agricultural land. Haystack Analytics is a Mumbai-based genomics based clinical diagnostics startup whose AI platform enables faster and accurate diagnosis of infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and genetic disorders. In an interaction withYourStory, former BIRAC Managing Director Jitendra Kumar said, “We dissected the pathway of biotech innovation, analysed it, mapped it and thought wherever there is a gap and requirement, we will provide support.” (At the time of publishing this article, Jitendra Kumar stepped down from his role as BIRAC MD and is expected to join IIT Hyderabad as R&D advisor) The institute zeroed on key requirements such as capital, dedicated space, mentors, networks and market access. Kumar said their analysis showed that while academic institutions were cradles for deeptech innovation, they didn’t have a dedicated space for scientists and entrepreneurs to build their startups. This led to BIRAC setting up the Bio-incubation centres called Bio-NEST in the late 2000 at more than 70 locations. Bio-NEST are dedicated centres for biotech startups which bring all the elements to create a new company. They are like plug-and-play facilities offering dedicated space, technical and business mentorship, industry and investor connections, networking platforms etc.. The Bio-NEST network has expanded to 75 bio-incubators, collectively supporting more than 2,500 biotech startups and entrepreneurs working across diverse domains such as healthcare, diagnostics, medical devices, agriculture, industrial biotechnology, bioinformatics, and environmental biotechnology. As with any business, capital remains a critical challenge for biotech startups. BIRAC has several programmes that support companies at various stages: from incubation all the way to the market launch. The Biotechnology Ignition Grant (BIG) is the flagship early-stage funding programme. This scheme offers grant-in-ai
