For Biotech students, it is
necessary to know about the Biotechnology parks and incubators for getting
further exposure to the Biotech industry knowledge after completing their
academic courses. So here you get complete details about the Biotechnology
Incubators in India.
What is a Biotech Incubator?
Every Biotech and life science
students know about Incubators. Incubators are the device used to grow various types of microbiological or cell cultures. Incubators provide the
optimal temperature, humidity, CO2, and oxygen for microbial cultures to
grow easily.
Similarly, Biotech Incubators are a support system that aims to nurture, enhance, and provide all basic
requirements to the Biotech start-ups in India that work in the Biotechnology areas.
In short, Biotech Incubators' main activity is to host Biotech start-ups. Biotech Incubators are also
popularly called Bio-Incubators.
Who is Incubatee?
A firm that wants to start the
Bio-business in the Biotechnology sector under the Biotech Incubator for a limited time period is called Incubatee.
Biotechnology Incubation Centre
Biotech Incubation Centres are
the places that provide a well-established template for the growth and
promotion of Biotechnology start-ups with public-private partnerships.
Biotech Incubator Business
Model
Biotech Incubators always have to
face high uncertainties regarding future technologies, potential markets, and
team development. There is always a risk in the investments on the start-ups so
Incubators have to do risk management. So supporting new Biotech start-ups with
effective risk management is the business model of Biotech Incubators.
You Should Read: Biotechnology Research Labs in India
Types of Biotechnology Incubators
The overall goal of any Biotech
Incubator is to speed up the Biotech start-ups to develop their business network.
They have to focus on promoting, nurturing, and developing start-ups.
Biotech Incubators can be of various
types based on the type of investor, area, strategic partner, operational
models, business models, and strategic objectives.
- Host Organisation
- Location or Region Specific
- Industry-Specific or Sector Focus
- Commercial Purpose: For-Profit or Not-Profit
1. Host Organisation
On the basis of the host organization, Biotech Incubators can also be classified. The parent body or
host organization can be a university, academic institution, or industrial body,
corporate, government, or non-government organization.
University-based
incubators give preference to their faculty and students for entrepreneurship.
This host academic institution or university provides sponsorship and technologies
for their client firms.
2. Location or Region Specific
Biotech Incubators can be further
classified on the basis of their regional approach. The geographical focus is a
natural competitive factor for regional-specific Biotech Incubators since their
main aim is to support new Biotech businesses locally.
Last decades we have
seen that Biotech Incubators emerged more in South Indian states such as
Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Gujarat than in North
Indian states. The reason is that in these states the Biotech ecosystem is more
developed than in other states.
3. Industry-Specific or Sector Focus
The Biotechnology sector has a
vast variety of sectors so some Biotech Incubators focused only on a particular
industry such as Genomics, Bioinformatics, Agriculture, etc. They have a
specialization and experience in a particular sector.
They believe that that
sector has more scope than others. They have good business facility services,
infrastructure, and networking in a specific sector. These Biotech Incubators deal
with all start-ups of a specific sector from across the country.
4. Commercial Purpose: For-Profit or Not-Profit
Actually, all types of Biotech
Incubators operate at the highly uncertain stage when Biotech start-up business
plans are not finalized, technologies are underdeveloped and future markets are
uncertain.
On the basis of commercial
purposes, Biotech Incubators can be divided into two further categories that
are for-profit making and not profit-making.
Some of the Incubators focus on making the source of income from the Biotech Start-Ups for themselves. They can
generate income by providing working space on rent, commercialization of
technologies, and licensing.
The non-profit-making incubators
focus on the start-ups nurturing and promoting. These help entrepreneurs to
scale up at various levels of venture development.
Non-profit Biotech Incubators are
generally section 8 companies that are registered under The Companies Act, or
Society, or a Trust. New start-ups attract more to these incubators because
they know that their main aim is to support them.
Importance of Biotech Incubators in India
In India, starting a
Biotechnology company is more challenging than the other types of company
due to some of the following reasons.
- Biotech companies need more heavy capital investment than other companies.
- Skilled manpower in the Biotechnology field is not available as per requirement.
- There is a lack of awareness related to the Biotechnology related business in India.
- The Biotechnology market is not developed in India as in developed countries.
- Businessmen or entrepreneurs have a lack of guidance to invest in the Biotech sector.
- Starting a new Biotechnology company is a challenging and long-term endeavor.
You Should Read: List of Biotech Parks in India
Challenges Faced by the Biotechnology Incubator in India
Since India is a developing
country and Biotechnology is still a new sector for the Indian market. Biotech
Incubators face lots of challenges during operating the Biotechnology
Incubation centers.
- Biotech Incubators are bound by the rules and regulations of the host institution that sometimes constrain their functioning.
- Whether it is the Government or private promotor at the Biotech Incubator, there is a need for a financially stable assistant for long-term support.
- Space provided to Biotech Incubators is limited which is not sufficient. Some of the Biotech-related works such as agriculture-related works need more space.
- Exact or specialized facilities are not available at Biotech Incubators due to the lack of funds and space. Biotech-related equipment is very costly such as a lab-scale Fermenter is more than ten lakhs.
- Biotech Incubators need more specialized experts that can monitor the Biotech products developed by Incubatees.
- For running a Biotech Incubator successfully there is a need for proper training for new staff and retaining the expert staff at the Biotechnology Incubation center.
- For screening the viability of a Biotech project or start-up before or rejecting low-quality entrepreneurs professional experts are needed.
- Some Biotech technologies are not viable on a commercial scale so monitoring such techniques is necessary at Biotech Incubators.
- Agricultural-related Biotech products need large space for scale-up trials and time for accurate results that is not available at every incubator.
- Many Biotech Incubators are situated at the location where the Biotech ecosystem is not available and some are situated in remote areas.
- At the Biotech Incubator, the working culture is more similar to academic or research labs. But for competing with a growing business in the Biotech market very competitive business culture need.
- Biotech Incubators need highly skilled specialized manpower that can handle their fields of specialization very well. A Biotechnologist can expert in Biotech techniques but may not be skilled in marketing strategies
Challenges Faced by the Biotechnology Incubatees in India
In the field of the Biotechnology industry not only Biotech Incubators, but Incubatees also face lots of
challenges.
- Biotech Incubatees do not get the exact facilities required for their projects at the Biotechnology Incubator centers.
- For growing up a Biotech Incubatee to the Indian market to the International market, Biotech incubators should have strong business network links internationally. This facility does not available at every Biotech Incubator.
- Biotech Incubatees are newbies in the field so they don't have Biotech-related business skills and Biotech Incubators are unable to help in this field.
- A Biotech Incubatee gets prototype facilities that are not similar to the exact industrial system.
- Biotech Incubatees have to pay high incubation charges for their projects which are very tough at the initial level for an Incubatee.
- At the Biotechnology incubation center, Biotech Incubatee does not get the industrial ecosystem that is needed to understand the market needs.
You Should Read: Types of Biotech Companies in India
Bio-incubation Boom in India
In India, the Biotechnology sector started by the Government of India in 1986 by establishing the
Department of Biotechnology but there is not much development in the industrial sector of Biotechnology.
For further boost, the
Biotechnology sector in India, the Government of India, and the Department of
Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology established the Biotechnology
Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) on 20th March 2012. BIRAC has the
main vision to make India a US $150 billion Biotechnology Industry by 2024.
BIRAC is a not-for-profit public
sector enterprise, registered under the company act. BIRAC has to support
Industry-Academia interaction and serve as a single window for the
Biotechnology industry. They have to help establish connectivity with Biotech
professionals and institutional networks. BIRAC has to also provide financial
support for quality innovation and product development.
Under Entrepreneurship
Development, BIRAC runs six programs to boost the Biotechnology sector namely,
- Biotechnology Ignition Grant Scheme (BIG),
- BIRAC– SRISTI
- BIRAC Regional Innovation Centre (BRIC)
- BIRAC University Innovation Cluster (UIC)
- Biotechnology Industry Partnership Programme (BIPP)
- BioIncubators Nurturing Entrepreneurship for Scaling Technologies (BioNEST)
- AcE Fund
In 2016, the Government of India
(GOI) launched the ‘Startup India Action Plan’ that encompassed various
technology areas. For solving funding support issues started industry-academia
partnerships and incubation programs.
BIRAC and DBT play the main role
in the implementation of the 'Make in India' program in the Biotechnology
sector. BIRAC now supports more than 50 Bio-incubators in the country to create more
state of art Bio-incubation facilities to nurture the Biotechnology ecosystem.
List of Top Ten Biotech Incubators in India
There are lots of public and
private Biotech Incubators in India. BIRAC also supports more than 50
Bio-incubators all over India. There is a long list of Biotech Incubators in India. Here we mention only the top ten Biotech Incubators in
India.
- Atal Incubation Centre- CCMB, Hyderabad, Telangana
- Aspire-Bionest, University of Hyderabad, Telangana
- Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre (BBC), Bengaluru, Karnataka
- Crescent Innovation & Incubation Council (CIIC), Chennai, Tamil Nadu
- Entrepreneurship Development Center (Venture Center), Pune, Maharashtra
- Guwahati Biotech Park, Guwahati, Assam
- KIIT Technology Business Incubator (KIIT-TBI), Bhubaneswar, Odisha
- Manipal Government of Karnataka Bioincubator, Manipal, Karnataka
- Savli Technology & Business Incubator (STBI), Savli, Gujarat
- Technology Business Incubator, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad, Telangana
