BioE3 Policy: Old Wine in New Biotech Bottle

 By Dinesh C Sharma, The Tribune, 5 September 2024

CLIMATE change, energy transition, waste management, sustainability, agricultural productivity, the need for new health tools and much more. India can not only address these pressing challenges through the application of biotechnology but can do so while generating jobs and contributing to the national economy. This is what the Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment (BioE3) Policy released by the government on August 31 would have us believe. The only caveat is that the policy is silent on the timeframe, the quantum of investment and human resources required, the possible number or types of jobs that will be generated and the pathway to achieve the goal.

The ‘vision’ of the policy is to “set Bharat at the forefront of the future that is more sustainable and responsive to global challenges by accelerating and harnessing biomanufacturing solutions that encompass diverse bioeconomic activities while safeguarding environmental and climate impacts.” The ‘goal’ of the policy is “to fast-track innovation-to-technology” by weaving together fragmented activities under the umbrella of biomanufacturing and to incentivise “concrete options to build a sustainable future”. The overall ‘objective’ is to present a framework to ensure the adoption of cutting-edge technologies and accelerate the development and production of bio-based high-value products.

While presenting the policy, Department of Biotechnology (DBT) Secretary Rajesh Gokhale declared that the goal was the ‘industrialisation of biology’ and making India a global leader in this field. If one cuts the fluff, all that the policy document indicates is the government’s intent to promote biotechnology-based industry and the use of new tools like digitalisation, artificial intelligence and machine learning. If that is so, there is nothing new here because the last policy document the DBT released in 2021 — National Biotechnology Development Strategy (2021-25) — said precisely the same thing but it was backed with timelines, financial targets and clear pathways.

Read the full article here in The Tribune