Govt to develop 80 acres life sciences park at Mohali ; to accelerate biotechnology sector-Verma
KI Singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
The Punjab Government has decided to invite global key players for developing Life Sciences Park at Mohali for which the Department of Science, Technology and Environment has kickstarted the process.
A state-of-the-art Life Sciences Park spread over 80 acres is being developed with a series of consultation with the Government Departments, Biotechnology industry, Universities and Research Institutions.
Presiding over a high level meeting of the prominent universities and institutes here at MGSIPA, the Principal Secretary, Science and Technology, RK Verma said that the Lifesciences Park would be strategically co-located in Knowledge City Mohali, which houses first-of-its kind Agri-Food Biotechnology Cluster in the Country including National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI), Center of Innovative & Applied Bio processing (CIAB), Punjab Biotechnology Incubator and other reputed institutions.
Verma further apprised the participants that Punjab State Biotech Corporation, the nodal agency for the development of the Biotechnology Sector in the State has engaged Ernst and Young, India’s leading consulting firm as Project Management Consultant to assist the State in development of Life Sciences Park. The Park will cater to diverse sectors of Biotechnology including Bio Agri, Bio Pharma, Bio Industry, Bio Energy and Bio Services. Besides, the Park will also accelerate the development of Biotechnology sector in the State attracting investment, creating jobs and positioning the State as biotechnology hub.
Verma also underscored the need to develop the life sciences park on world class level for which it was imperative to invite global players to compete for the development of this prestigious park to ensure holistic development of biotechnology sector.
Meanwhile, the stakeholders welcomed the steps taken and gave their valuable suggestions for development of the Park.
It may be recalled that Punjab Biotech has already signed a MoU with Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a Public Sector undertaking of DBT-GOI to jointly promote innovation ecosystem in the State to meet space, service and knowledge requirement of this crucial sector.
The meeting was attended by the representatives from PAU, CUPB, MRSPTU, BFUHS, IIT Ropar, PGIMER, IMTECH, NIT Jalandhar, INST Mohali, DAV University, Chitkara University, LPU and Government departments including Health, Industry, Technical Education, Horticulture and representatives from Orbit Bio Tech, Select Bio Sciences, Dr Dozo Laboratories etc.
