Wednesday, November 21, 2007

"India releases new biotechnology strategy"

Green represents biotechnology
and life sciences clusters.
Source: BiospectrumIndia

Read the full article by T.V. Padma in SciDev.Net (November 14, 2007).

"India has launched a national biotechnology development strategy focusing on biotechnology's potential to provide long-term benefits for agriculture, health and the environment......

"In a major new initiative, the strategy will reserve up to 30 per cent of Department of Biotechnology's (DBT's) budget for public-private partnerships and the launch of a biotechnology industry partnership programme for advanced technologies.

"The strategy aims to improve biotechnology education throughout the country by identifying highly-reputed colleges in around 20 smaller universities and supporting them through teacher training programmes.

"Existing university science departments will be upgraded, and departments working on different disciplines will be streamlined to create globally competitive centres of education and research.

"A UNESCO regional centre for science, education and innovation in biotechnology will be set up at Faridabad, near Delhi in northern India. The centre will provide global standard, industry-oriented training for physicians, biologists and engineers."


Last year the State Department announced
that the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) would fund a $500,000 training program for Indian officials on biosafety risk assessment and policies and practices in regulating agricultural biotechnology products. The training program followed the release of the Indian government’s National Draft Strategy Framework for Biotechnology.

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