S&T Minister launches Global Health Innovation Fellowship to promote medtech start-ups

Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and WIPO fellowships will be implemented in the DBT Bio-design centers at IIT Delhi and AIIMS, New Delhi; IITB and Hinduja and Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai: Dr Jitendra Singh

Union Minister for Science and Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh presided over the launch of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) supported Global Health Innovation Fellowship to promote medtech startups and innovators among youth.

The Minister informed that the DBT and WIPO fellowships will be implemented in the DBT Bio-design centers at IIT Delhi and AIIMS, New Delhi; IITB and Hinduja and Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, as per the vision of PM Modi to find scientific solutions to the unmet health-related needs and challenges, this initiative will promote intellectual property and public health. He said, the move will also enhance institutional collaboration and help provide a valuable platform for young innovators to develop impactful solutions to address global health challenges.

Dr Singh said, under this initiative, WIPO has initiated a formal collaboration with the DBT to support four WIPO-supported Fellows to participate in the DBT Bio-design Program. The partners received 157 applications from young professionals across the world including low- and middle-income countries.

The Minister further added that recently, the DBT has scaled up Biodesign program by twinning over 20 medical and technical institutions across the country and he was happy to note that the WIPO has recognised this program for support under their Global Health challenges initiative.

Lauding the efforts of the DBT and WIPO, Dr Singh remarked, “This is a flagship partnership and must be strengthened to enable India attain global leadership in innovation and startup promotion”.

Dr Singh underlined that the bio-economy is on its way to achieve 150-billion-dollar target to contribute effectively to Prime Minister’s vision of a 5 trillion-dollar economy and as per the recent reports, every day 3 biotech start-ups are getting incorporated in India with aspirations to provide viable technological solutions. He said, India’s bio-economy with an exponential growth rate can support more than 10 million jobs in 2025. This has been made possible by the StartUps in the sector which is strengthening the “Make in India” initiatives and launching Biotech products in global markets, the Minister added.

Dr Singh pointed out that today India has 4,000 biotech startups which is expected to grow to 10,000 by 2025. He added that the Department of Biotechnology along with its PSU- BIRAC is steering the collective effort from all the stakeholders including Central/ State Government, Academia, Industry, Startups, Investors, Philanthropic organizations towards propelling the Indian Biotech start-ups.

Daren Tang, DG, WIPO promised all help from WIPO to make India a Global Space Technology Hub and also a role model of South-South cooperation. He promised meaningful cooperation in the areas of Biotech Fellows and Start-ups and in the field of Innovation.

Referring to DBT-WIPO Fellowship initiative, Tang said, “Our focus today is on leveraging IP, innovation and medical technology to solve local health challenges using global partnerships. The aim is to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange among young professionals from diverse countries”.

Dr Rajesh S. Gokhale, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India said “This partnership will enable us to co-develop national, regional and global institutional capacities of innovators across regions to collaboratively address global health challenges, including by promoting Global South-South cooperation”.

Professor Abhay Karandikar, Secretary, DST said in his remarks that the Department of Science and Technology is one of India’s oldest organisations to promote innovations and of late it is taking up several incubators by start-ups.

Dr N. Kalaiselvi, Secretary DSIR, said that WIPO should act as a catalyst to make India’s technology gain global acceptability.