Responding to the request of ABLE President, Mr G S Krishnan, Karnataka’s Minister for IT, BT and Rural Development, Mr Priyank Kharge, agreed to give priority to the biofuel sector growth as it is a key driver of the state’s BioEconomy. 

Mr Krishnan made this request while presenting the highlights of the state’s BioEconomy at the “Conversation with the Honourable CM of Karnataka” organized to unveil the Bengaluru Tech Summit (November 19-21, 2024) on July 12. More than 250 Industry leaders from Biotechnology, Information Technology, Semiconductors, Tech Startups and AVGC had a 3-hour interaction with CM, Mr Sidharamaiah, Deputy CM, Mr D K Shivakumar and the IT-BT Minister. IT-BT Secretary, Dr Ekroop Caur and senior official of the state government were also present to listen to the suggestions from the tech industry.

Mr Krishnan highlighted the role of biotechnology and its 10.2 % contribution to the state’s GDP. He said Karnataka contributed more than 20% to the national BioEconomy of $ 151 billion and the industry is scaling up to increase this share. He presented the various facets of the biotech industry in the state and also requested the government to consider setting a modern vaccine hub in that state. This is one biotech area that Karnataka lags behind. 

Other senior ABLE members also shared their suggestions with the state’s top political leadership on the occasion. Former ABLE President, Dr K K Narayanan suggested that state should encourage co-generation of power using agricultural waste and with suitable incentives, this could be achieved quickly. Agriculture, Dr Narayanan, said is now becoming very tech intensive with extensive use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, electronics and communications, sensors and Karnataka should be at the forefront of adapting these technologies on a large scale to reap full benefits for the farmers. The value addition could be in multiples of 200 in this sector, he added.

Dr Ezhil Subbian, CEO, String Bio and General Secretary, ABLE, talked about the great opportunities bio manufacturing provided to entrepreneurs in the state. She gave the example of her company’s cutting edge gas fermentation facility which is the first of its kind in the country, coming up in Tumakuru to covert waste into useful products. She requested the government to remove many obstacles biotech entrepreneurs face in getting various government clearances despite the single-window system in place. Karnataka, she suggested, should take the lead in carbon offset projects to mitigate climate crisis facing the state and the nation

Mr Shrikumar Suryanarayan, Chairman and Co-founder Sea6Energy and former President of ABLE, urged the government to speed up the launch of the ambitious C-CAMP Innovation Park that will provide the city’s innovative biotech parks with ‘grow out’ space to accommodate their increasing need for expansion facilities close to the biotech incubators.

Dr Tasliamrif-Saiyed, CEO of C-CAMP, said the proposed Innovation Park planned by his institution with support from the state government will turbo charge Karnataka’s innovative biotech ecosystem. He gave the examples of some of the globally acclaimed developments pioneered by incubates such as Eyestem (first cell therapy for vision correction), Bugworks Research (first new class of antibiotics undergoing phase 2 clinical trials in Australia) to fight superbugs, Sea6Energy (world’s first mechanised platform to grow seaweeds in open sea) and many such world class developments by startups in C-CAMP.

Minister Kharge announced that the state will organize a Social Innovation Summit to gather wide range of inputs from the entire tech industry to tackle a wide range of problems faced by the state in some sectors. 

Mr Krishnan highlighted the role of biotechnology and its 10.2 % contribution to the state’s GDP.