IIT Roorkee launches Bio-Incubator at Roorkee Campus

Roorkee :Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee is launching its Bio Incubator at Roorkee campus to ensure start-ups incubated get state of the art labs and equipment to work with and conduct their research.The Bio-Incubator aims to encourage, incubate, and accelerate the life sciences, healthcare and Biotechnology based innovations for commercialization as well as to support the researchers and entrepreneurs by providing the necessary resources to transform their research works into a viable commercial product.

Emphasizing the benefit of this facility for students thinking of creating start-ups in life sciences area, Prof. Ajit K. Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee, said, “Growth in healthcare and biotechnology area is imperative for our country’s progress. This Bio-Incubator will enable young entrepreneurs to freely explore and develop viable products and thus give wings to their start-ups and thereby also fuel India’s growth”.

TIDES Bio-Incubator has been granted a funding of ₹3.92 Crore over a span of 3 years under Bio-NEST (Bio-Incubator Nurturing Entrepreneurial for Scaling Technologies) scheme of BIRAC (Biotechnology industry Research Assistance Council, set up by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India.

Speaking about the importance of establishing this Bio-Incubator,Dr.Manish Diwan, Head, Strategic Partnership & Entrepreneurship Development,Makein India Facilitation Cell for Biotech sector, BIRACsaid, “BIRAC’s Bio-NEST incubation centre at IIT Roorkee is a channel to synergize biotech entrepreneurial energies in the region. Integration of local expertise and talent pool with the Bio-NEST community of 60 incubators in the country, would contribute to India’s growing Innovation ecosystem and address unmet needs”.

The Bio-Incubator has spent about ₹2 Crore in order to obtain world class equipment and development of laboratories. The Bio-Incubator plans to spend further allotment of amount to create a wholesome environment to promote entrepreneurship. Bio-Incubator will provide incubation to all deserving entrepreneurs in the region, in and around IIT Roorkee,with a focus on North Zone.

Highlighting the significance of healthcare and life sciences start-ups, Mr. Azam Ali Khan, CEO, TIDES, IIT Roorkee, Said, “The present decade is identified as the decade for Healthcare & Life science Start-ups. This bio incubation facility is going to promote & support interdisciplinary research converging into commercially viable products for affordable healthcare solutions”.

TIDES Bio-incubator, IIT Roorkee established under Bio-NESTscheme of BIRAC (A not-for-profit Section 8, Schedule B, Public Sector Enterprise, set up by Department of Biotechnology, Government ofIndia).

Bio-NEST was launched by BIRAC with a vision that focused on fostering the biotech innovation ecosystem in the country. Unlike start-ups in the IT sector, enterprising ideas in the biotech sector need incubation support of a different kind where they need a landing space to test their ideas, run their operations, have access to high-end instrumentation, and be located in a place where they connect with other start-ups and mentors. Bio-NEST program provides support to establish bio-incubators either as a standalone entity or as a part of the academia. Through Bio-NEST, BIRAC has supported 60 bio-incubators creating a cumulative area of 6.5 lakh sq. ft. for budding entrepreneurs.

The Bio-Incubator at TIDES, IIT Roorkee is developed in the Multi Activity Centre (MAC) at IIT Roorkee, which is inthe centre of Student activities hub. It is spread across a vast space of over6000 sq. ft. and has multiple labs with cutting edge technology equipment to aid start-ups and innovators with their research and development.

The labs that Bio-Incubator houses are –

Ø Media Lab

Ø Tissue Culture Lab

Ø Bio-Tech Lab

Ø Independent Wet Lab

Ø Utilities Lab

Ø Dry Office Space

The equipment available at these labs are niche such as Cell homogenizer/disruptor, Protein Purification System, Refrigerated Incubator Shaker, Inverted Microscope with digital camera etc. These instruments will be available to Incubates to conduct their research or to better their product.