BIRAC funds over 100 entrepreneurs

The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a public sector undertaking established three years ago under the department of biotechnology in the Union ministry of science and technology, has reached out to more than 250 companies (mainly start-ups and SMEs), and has supported more than 100 young entrepreneurs through seed funding, according to the council's annual report.

BIRAC has also provided incubation and mentoring for intellectual property (IP) and technology management and business development to more than 100 companies. It has supported 15 incubators in a bid to strengthen the innovation ecosystem of the country.

BIRAC will operate an equity fund known as the BIRAC AcE Fund, which the Union government launched less than a fortnight ago, and which is aimed at accelerating the growth of entrepreneurship in the field of biotechnology.

BIRAC will attempt to enable and catalyse innovation-driven biotech enterprise to fulfil the vision of a $100-billion biotech industry by 2025 and create an 'Indian bio-economy', according to the council.

BIRAC is a not-for-profit company set up by the government's department of biotechnology under section 25 of the Companies Act, as an agency that will interface with emerging biotech enterprises. It operates mainly in three verticals.

Investment schemes provide funding support to entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs and biotech companies for all stages of the product development value chain from discovery to proof-of-concept to early- and late-stage development to validation and scale-up, right up to pre-commercialisation. There are also special product development missions.

The second vertical - entrepreneurship development - focusses on funding support, on making available the right infrastructure, networks for technology transfer and licensing, IP and business mentoring, including regulatory guidance.

Lastly, BIRAC's strategic partnership group works closely with all partners - national and international, including government departments and ministries (both Central and state), industry organisations, international bilateral agencies, philanthropic organisations and the corporate sector - to leverage their strengths, mobilise resources and extend the reach of its activities.