In the latest edition of Bengaluru Tech Summit 2024 (BTS 2024) themed “Unbound, Breaking Barriers”. Experts from the public and private sectors spoke about the endless possibilities for development in the IT and Agricultural sectors. The potential of biotechnology and the bioeconomy contributing to the nation’s GDP was vastly emphasized while also elucidating how innovations in biotechnology are in the hour of the need owing to the catastrophe the climate change is wreaking upon traditional food sourcing methods.
Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Founder of Biocon, opened the doorway to numerous discussions by detailing how the bioethics policy will encourage the bio-manufacturing sector to provide solutions to many of the challenges that everyone faces. “Biotechnology has the strength to combine artificial intelligence with the power of biology,” she further added.
Numerous sources predict that climate change will decimate 24% of the world’s GDP in the upcoming decades. Industry experts here discuss how biotechnology developments can be a panacea to uplift the economy while combating climate change.
Unlocking the Bioeconomy Potential
“The bioE3 policy rolled out by the government is said to have come in a timely manner”, commented Dr. Jitendra Kumar, Managing Director, BIRAC, Govt. of India. The government is on track to set trends when it comes to carbon capture, paving the way for the private sector to actively mitigate its carbon footprint.
This was proven with the impressive track record the Karnataka state government. The state had attracted over 30% of its investments towards its biotech sector and is currently contributing to 21% of the nation’s bioeconomy.
Brynne Stanton, Thematic Lead for Bioeconomy at WEF, remarked on the nation’s progress in agricultural technology and how it has become a key driver of the Indian economy. Harnessing biology as commercial technology offers the potential for better outcomes for both people and the planet. “Agricultural Biotechnology is the future,” she added as an addendum.
The state has actively made efforts to foster the bioeconomy. It has set up BT Parks synonymous with IT Parks and has inaugurated numerous incubation centers which has promoted the state’s agricultural endeavors, Added Parnika Pavanram, General Manager (Biotechnology & ESDM Policy), KITS, Govt. of Karnataka.
Bioenvironment: Addressing Sustainable Food Production
“The biggest problem faced by the agricultural sector is arguably climate change,” said Dr. Peter Kelly Founder, Grow Further. While sustainable food production is achieved to a laudable extent, the world is still protein deficient. The unseen problems when it comes to food shortages are scalability and resource constraints. Numerous non-profits have voluntarily taken up the initiative to address these invisible challenges by collaborating with the governments.
“Nearly 80% of the world's fisheries that are already fully exploited, over-exploited, depleted, or in a state of collapse”, commented Ankit Alok Bagaria, Co-Founder & CEO of Loopworm. He also elaborates on this statistic by stating fish meals are the major drivers for overfishing and alternative sources have to be found to combat this marine crisis.
The rapid growth from the combination of government efforts coupled with private institutes is said to drive the bioeconomy of the nation to a $100B economy by 2029 with a CAGR of 19%.
While this event was a gathering of experts from numerous fields and over 50 nations, the center stage of the event was the numerous LoIs and MoUs signed by the government and international institutions to aid in the rapid progress of India’s biotech prowess.
