New Delhi: Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Bhupendra Patel unveiled new ‘Gujarat Biotechnology Policy 2022-27’ with a commitment to promote rapid and inclusive growth in the biotechnology industry in Gujarat.
Jitu Vaghani, State Minister of Education, Science & Technology, accompanied the Chief Minister during the launch of new policy at Science City, Ahmedabad.
British Deputy High Commissioner to Gujarat Mr. Peter Cook, Chief Secretary Shri Pankaj Kumar, Senior Secretaries, Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology Shri Vijay Nehra, representatives of nationally and internationally renowned institutes, and representatives from biotechnology industry were also present at the event.
Bhupendra Patel said, “being a policy driven and business-friendly state, Gujarat has remained at the industry forefront in the country. New forms of entrepreneurship have emerged with the adoption of science and technology in the state.”
As the biotechnology market is showing an upward trajectory worldwide, the state government has mapped out its new Biotechnology Policy today to spur the related industries in Gujarat.
“Biotechnology has made significant contributions in solving new-age problems, especially in the field of health and agriculture. The science-driven industry has been instrumental in understanding and fighting the global COVID-19 pandemic. It was due to biotechnology that we got effective rapid antigen tests, RT-PCR tests, vaccines, etc,” the CM added.
He asserted that the objective of this new Biotechnology Policy is to make Gujarat competitive in biotechnology market in the state and maximise the benefits.
Listing out the details, the Chief Minister added that, “various stakeholders such as educational institutes, research institutes, start-ups and entrepreneurs were consulted for this policy to attract more investments in the field of biotechnology. Their valuable suggestions were considered in Biotechnology Policy 2022-27.”
He further said that Biotechnology Policy has been formulated keeping the national policy and strategies in mind. The new policy will promote partnerships between various stakeholders such as NGOs, scientific establishments and industries. It also includes various financial assistance for technology acquisition, skill development, alternative energy production, quality certification, and bandwidth leasing, to make Gujarat’s biotechnology industry world class. The previous policy did not include such assistance.
The Chief Minister said that, “frontier technologies of the industry have been covered in this policy. Besides, the list of biotechnology products and services have been extended. This policy will encourage the fields of biotechnology research ranging from bioplastics to gene splicing and stem cell therapy in the state.”
