By IANS
Bangalore : Bangalore Bio 2008, the eighth edition of the country’s flagship biotechnology event to be held April 24-26, will focus on fostering global partnerships to leverage the Indian industry’s expertise and talent pool for driving innovation.
Launching the first road show of the upcoming event here Wednesday, chairperson of the Karnataka Vision Group on Biotechnology and Biocon managing director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said Bangalore Bio would serve as a platform to bring national and international participants from biotechnology, pharmaceutical, educational and financial sectors to interact, network, showcase innovations in products and services and explore investments and business opportunities.
Mazumdar-Shaw said: “In a dynamic business environment, the biotechnology industry recognises the importance of international partnerships and their vital role in competing, growing and creating value on a global scale.
“Bangalore Bio will bring together the stakeholders of the industry to drive growth, develop innovative pipelines to enter deals for commercialisation, overcome capital constraints and capitalise on core strengths for achieving global competitiveness.”
Organised by the Karnataka government and Vision Group on Biotechnology, the three-day premier biotech event will be held at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre on the outskirts of the city. The exposition will have a trade show, conferences, CEO conclave, technical sessions, business forum, poster session and a bio-partnering platform for the first time.
State IT, biotechnology, and science and technology secretary M.N. Vidyashankar said that after emerging as an IT bellwether, the Indian knowledge sector had set its sights on replicating the IT success story in the sunrise biotechnology sector, with innovation and growth.
“A lot of research and innovation is being done by small and mid-sized biotech firms in the country. The event will provide a platform for emerging technologies and companies to showcase their research and explore global tie-ups,” Vidyashankar noted.
Mazumdar-Shaw said: “Though cost of innovation and commercialisation is a challenge worldwide, India has an advantage on both fronts. If we have to move forward, we have to foster partnerships globally. Global partnerships will enable the industry to take its biggest leap in terms of innovation, marketing strategies and funding growth.”
Australia will be a major participant in the event with a large delegation.
Calling for greater industry-academia collaboration, Mazumdar-Shaw said two special sessions would be devoted during the trade fair on Gateway to Europe and the Indo-US Corridor.
“With thrust on innovation, the conference will be addressed by leading scientists and industry experts from the world over. They will focus on frontier research and technologies, partnering and other contemporary issues. Technical papers will also be introduced to encourage and showcase research and development activities across academic institutes and emerging biotech firms,” she added.
Bio partnering, bio informatics, intellectual property rights protection and regulatory environment will be some of the topics discussed during the event.
The exclusive Build Your Business Forum at the trade show will serve as a platform to explore business opportunities, collaborations, investment, marketing, trade and research process outsourcing.
The last day of the event will be Agri-Biotech Day — to showcase the country’s experience and progress in the agriculture-biotechnology domain. The day will also focus on the current issues and emerging trends of agri-biotechnology. Some of the key focus areas will be on bio-fertilisers and bio-insecticides, bio-energy and bio-fuels, genetically modified crops and their roles in developing countries and policy, regulations and legal issues in agri-biotechnology.