The Hindu Business Line : Biotech finishing school to help meet industry needs

NEW INITIATIVE: Ms Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson, Karnataka's Vision Group on Biotechnology and Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon India, and Mr M.N. Vidyashankar, Secretary, Department of IT, Biotechnology and Science and Technology, Karnataka, at a press conference to announce the Bangalore Bio-2007-Biotech show in Bangalore on Monday. — G.R.N. Somashekar

Bangalore June 4 The domestic biotechnology industry, now poised at a critical stage, is evolving ways to beat its people problems with its own finishing school, according to Ms Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Biocon Chairman and Managing Director and head of the Karnataka Vision Group on Biotechnology.

At a curtain-raiser announcement for the seventh State-sponsored biotech event, Bangalore Bio, Ms Mazumdar-Shaw said while the industry has gained momentum in recent years and is seeing large investments in healthcare and agriculture segments, it does not have a matching human resource to suit its needs.

This is in spite of a large number of colleges producing hundreds of biotech graduates each year.

Training graduates

The finishing school to train these graduates into readily employable professionals would be launched soon from PES Institute of Technology, Bangalore.

The school, supported by the industry and fashioned after the IT industry's model, will take in 100 students for a 6-12-month course.

The biotech industry, which touched Rs 6,750-crore turnover mark last year, is still assessing its exact needs, reportedly a few thousand a year. It has some 25,000 direct jobs currently.

The shortage is not uniform and is felt more in areas like discovery research while there are enough engineers for the development side. The biotech industry hopes to fill the gap in 3-4 years.India, Ms Mazumdar-Shaw said, is at the centre of global drug development activities, having participated in 25 global clinical trials last year.

The industry is also trying to overcome pre-clinical stage lacunae such as the absence of large animal houses and a primate centre for research.

The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, is slated to inaugurate the three-day trade show and conference on June 7.

On the crop front, biotechnology, applied to date with Bt cotton alone, has increased the productivity and acreage manifold, said Dr K.K. Narayanan, President of the biotech association ABLE.

The next step would be to take it to rice, maize and vegetables.

Govt nod awaited

Ms Mazumdar Shaw said the Karnataka biotech policy of 2000 had been updated and was awaiting government clearance.

Bangalore Bio, one of its concepts, had now become the largest Asian bio event and "The scale has got grander and greater each year."

The industry is set to discuss talent shortage, regulatory issues, innovation and agri-biotechnology.

The event is set to see some partnerships being forged, with 11 States, 12 countries and a special team from Australia's Victoria State to be there.

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