“India is self-sufficient and is marching towards Amrit Kaal, and, at this juncture, the role of deeptech startups in bioeconomy is essential, and this is where we have to raise a bar for the innovations, Professor Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India, said today at the third edition of Global Bio India 2023 being held in Delhi from 4th to 6th December.
He stated that a lot of young entrepreneurs and innovators in biotech sector are implying towards nation building by providing innovative solutions to the unmet needs in the public health sector. A large number of manufacturing young startups and innovators in the country have come together to empower the innovation ecosystem.
“The deeptech startup policy has recently been prepared led by Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, involving all the stakeholders, and, a cabinet note is being prepared led by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), comprising presentations from deeptech startups,” he informed.
Apart from it, Minister of State for Science and Technology (Independent Charge) Jitendra Singh, also present on the occasion, said that in 2014, India’s bioeconomy stood at just about $10 billion. “This fiscal, we are likely to touch $150 billion and we look forward to having $300 billion by 2030,” he said.
According to him, India has made rapid strides in the last eight-nine years.
“We had just 55 biotech startups in 2014. Now, we have more than 6,000,” the minister notified.
He further mentioned that there are over 3,000 agritech startups that are successful in areas like Aroma Mission and Purple Revolution.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Founder, Biocon, also took the stage to say, “Today, we are on the cusp of a major breakthrough when it comes to bioeconomy. We will achieve the $150 billion economy by the end of this fiscal.”
She further said that the biotechnology sector has got immense opportunities with the use of latest technologies.
“New opportunities in the area of synthetic biology, gene editing, personalised and precision medicine and digital healthcare, which is in realm of digital prognostics and predictive diagnostics, is something that India has a huge opportunity to leapfrog into,” she suggested.
With the global biotech market estimated at $1 trillion in 2022 and projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7.4 per cent to 15.6 per cent from 2023 to 2030, Global Bio India 2023 serves as a catalyst for collaborative advancement in the rapidly evolving biotechnology sector.
The conference brings together stakeholders from across the world like the regulatory bodies, government players, SMEs, large industries, research institutes, investors and the startup ecosystem. It focuses on ethics, inclusive growth, agritech and medtech, among other areas.
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