The Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD) celebrated its 23rd Foundation Day by organising a seminar on ‘Bioeconomy from Bioresources: Promoting Bioentrepreneurship in NER for Viksit Bharat’.
IBSD is the only institute in the North East under the ambit of the Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council (BRIC) and was established on April 26, 2001 in Imphal. This institute serves the people through its Manipur centre as well as three others in Gangtok, Shillong and Aizawl.
While delivering his welcome speech, Prof Pulok Kumar Mukherjee, Director of IBSD, highlighted the scientific progress and outreach activities performed by the institute. He also mentioned the new initiatives of IBSD, including the Phytopharmaceutical Mission, Himalayan Bioresources Mission, Synergy Mission and Network Pharmacology for the development of bioresources of the region.
Mukherjee highlighted the agreements signed with 29 international/national institutes for collaborative research in this region.
The chief guest of the programme was Rajesh S Gokhale, Director General of BRIC and Secretary in the central government’s Department of Biotechnology, appreciated the research and outreach activities of IBSD for the development of bioeconomy from bioresources.
He mentioned that IBSD has initiated many collaborations for translational research for bioresources and traditional medicines for the development of products/processes. He highlighted various challenges and opportunities in bioresources research, which can be taken forward for biomanufacturing.
The guest of honour was Jitendra Kumar, Managing Director of BIRAC, who mentioned the various bioresources of the North East that have bioeconomic potential. He highlighted various schemes of BIRAC, including Biotechnology Ignition grant for promoting startups in the region. He mentioned that IBSD should focus on training and outreach activities for development of bio-entrepreneurship through BIRAC programmes in all North East states.
Other who spoke included Umesh Varshney, Honorary Professor at the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology in the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru; Zavie Hiese, former Director of the Nagaland Science and Technology Council (NASTEC), Kohima; Prof Debasisa Mohanty, Director of BRIC-National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi; and Prof SR Joshi, Professor at the Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics in North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong.
The inaugural programme was followed by a lab visit for the students. The programme was attended by women entrepreneurs, beneficiaries, officials, scientists, scholars and staff of IBSD.
