India Reaffirms It Bioeconomy Target Of $300 Billion By 2030

(MENAFN- Live Mint) India is committed to growing its bioeconomy to $300 billion by 2030, Union minister for science and technology Jitendra Singh said on Monday, as the country aims to leverage biological resources such as crops, forests, and micro-organisms to sustainably produce goods, services, and energy and mitigate climate change.

The biotechnology ecosystem in the country has grown from around 50 startups a decade ago to nearly 11,000 today-a leap made possible by policy backing and institutional partnerships, Singh said on the occasion of World Bioproduct Day.

In March this year, the government said that the size of the country's bioeconomy was estimated at $165.7 billion in 2024.

Referring to the recently-launched BioE3 Policy, Singh noted that it lays the groundwork for India to lead in sustainable biomanufacturing by aligning bioeconomy goals with environmental sustainability, economic growth, and equity.

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The BioE3 Policy aims at accelerating development of technologies for bio-based products and their commercialization by setting up of bioenablers that include bio-artificial intelligence (Bio-AI) hubs, bio-foundries and bio-manufacturing hubs across the country.

Bio-AI hubs will be set up to augment research and innovation for the development of technologies for bio-based products across the identified thematic sectors of biomanufacturing, by powering data-driven research and AI-informed predictive analytics. The bio-foundries and biomanufacturing hubs will aim at setting up of infrastructure facilities for scaling up of technologies for bio-based products.

The key performance indicators (KPIs) for meaningful success have been identified in terms of setting up of bio-foundries and biomanufacturing hubs.

According to the minister, bioproducts aren't limited to laboratories anymore. They're about livelihoods-from biodegradable packaging to eco-friendly personal care, from rural employment to green jobs, he said. He also emphasized that the future industrial revolution will be driven by bioeconomy, and India, he believes, has taken the lead.

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The minister acknowledged the challenges faced by young scholars in biotechnology, pointing out the mismatch between parental expectations and individual aptitude in career choices. He termed the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 a“game-changer” that would allow students to pursue disciplines of interest with flexibility.“We are seeing a new generation with real aptitude and capacity to learn,” he said.

Singh also drew attention to the disparity in India's past policy priorities, especially in agriculture, which he said was historically informed by western models. He stressed the need to leverage the untapped potential of India's natural resources and traditional knowledge systems.

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