Developmental Scenario of Small and Medium Indian Biotech Industries

Small and Medium biotech industries shall come up in large numbers through entrepreneurial efforts in the country. Entrepreneurial journey begins with ideas, which may or may not be novel but they have to be stewarded through entrepreneurial innovation.

The ideas that are market driven, that are strategically and economically attractive, that are durable and timely shall produce goods and services, which are valuable to the user and the consumer.

Entrepreneurs are people who can take risks, who are comfortable with ambiguity and who are determined and strongly willed against adversity. Generally, they have a clear vision for moving towards success.

Entrepreneurs plan every step of their venture. The analysis includes competitor spectra, product description, product developmental and improvement plan, marketing plan, access to finance and analysis of critical risks.

Small and Medium entrepreneurs are at heavy risks however. Their success possibilities brighten in an encouraging environment, which includes multilateral support from the government in every critical step including obtaining licensing, land acquisition, waste handling methods and their placement in a cluster of similar industries with sturdy and durable communication and transport infrastructure. Success factor also requires ease of partnering with academics and an environment for strong intellectual property protection.

In most of the above areas, India is trying to extend support to the industries. Several State governments are trying to create a cluster of biotech industries by encouraging entrepreneurs to get together at the Biotech parks. They are also trying to create incubators within the park to provide premises that have strong developmental infrastructure and instrumental support for easing the conversion of ideas into products and services. In States, where the incubators are established, such facilities shall ease the induction of several knowledge-based small and medium biotech industries. As biotech product development is highly capital-intensive and requires strong instrumental support, the States that have planned for incubators and formation of clusters shall do much better than the states that are only providing land.

The Indian Central Government through the Department of Biotechnology is trying to promote skill development at different public funded institutions and universities. Many states are also supplementing such efforts. All these efforts would provide a good number of skilled young people, trained in profound biotech skills for the country. The Central and the State governments are also creating excellent web sites, which are rich in modern biology related information. All these efforts are moving in the right direction.

One of the essences of development is time management. There is fierce competition all around the world to take advantage from biotech research innovation and development. One of the shortcomings which are observed in most of these national endeavours is that they are not moving at the right speed. Too much of time spent in implementation is likely to have its debilitating negative effects. Therefore, all the biotech projects must pick up more speed so that the efforts are more prominently visible.

The money available for the development of small and medium biotech industries from different sources is also adequate. While the basic knowledge development is therefore inadequate, the shaping of the innovations into competitive products and services is also getting affected. There is a need for putting more thoughtful efforts to prioritize areas for basic research and applications at the national level and to allocate adequate funds for making the country more innovative in biotech industry sector in the global context.