The life sciences vertical in India has been undergoing drastic transformations over the recent years. With the advent of Innovations and Entrepreneurship in Life Sciences, companies poised in this vertical are striving to strategically evolve from one stage of business maturity to another at the right time and with right capabilities. Startups especially are in the dire lookout for the right incubation centre that can bring their innovative ideas in life sciences to fruition. Soaring high amidst the swarm of incubation centres in India is Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre, a state-of-the-art translational research and entrepreneurship centre that is proactively catering to the end-to-end needs of startups in life sciences. Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre is specialized in areas of life sciences like Healthcare (MedTech/Pharma/Bio-Pharma), Agriculture Biotechnology, Food/Nutrition, Industrial Biotechnology, and Environmental Biotechnology, and thus is ‘Sculpting the Future of Bioinnovation’.

Incredible Infrastructure
Established in 2015 and operational since 2016, Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre is a part of biotech ecosystem promoted by Department of Biotechnology, Government of India and Department of IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka. The centre is located at Bangalore Helix Biotechnology Park, a bio-cluster in Electronic City Phase-1 of Bangalore, spanning 100,000 sq. ft. of built-up area. This vast area includes modular incubation suites (bigger – 550 sq. ft. & smaller – 190-260 sq. ft.) and bench incubation spaces, along with meeting rooms, conference rooms, training rooms and other facilities. Dr. Jitendra Kumar, Managing Director, Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre, adds, “We have a wide range of facilities entailing Proteomics & Small Molecule Analysis Lab, Centrifugation Facility, Microbiology Lab Facility, Molecular Lab Facility, Microbiology Lab Facility, Microscopy Lab Facility, Confocal Facility, Cell Culture Facility, Flow Cytometry & Cell Sorting Facility, Histology Facility, and Fermentation Facility”.

In just four years since inception, Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre has achieved 100 percent occupancy across its incubation centres, helped multiple startups in the development of new products or technologies with a huge social impact, and also generated employment for 400+ people. Its current focus is on nurturing 45+ incubated startups such as Innov4Sight, String Bio, OmiX Labs, EduBioSkills, Pandorum Technologies, Next Big Innovation Labs, Biofi Medical Healthcare India, and others, in life sciences space, and successfully be ready with launching 15 new technologies or products into the market.

The biggest catalyzing factor behind the creation of such vibrant ecosystem at Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre is its full-fledged Central Instrumentation Facility (CIF) funded by DBT, rated as one of the best facilities in India. It is well-known for its 100+ state-of-the-art analytical and high-end instruments that are operated and supervised by highly qualified scientific professionals. These experts provide scientific & technical services to startups and individual innovators, along with demonstrations, hands-on training sessions, workshops and lectures on handling each instrument. The other important fortes of CIF are its own IP cell to enable startups to create IP framework, file IP and commercialize patients, besides EHS, Agriculture, and Food & Nutrition departments. This way, Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre has been seamlessly addressing the multi-disciplinary

research requirements of incubatees in every area of Life Sciences and thus delivering them best-in-class results for their research experiments.

Funding Services
Apart from CIF, Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre holds rich expertise in offering funding, mentorship, events & workshops, branding/networking services, and many others to its incubatees. Being a nodal centre for Karnataka Startup Advancement Programme (K-SAP Bio 50), an initiative by Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS), the centre facilitates SEED funds for startups to develop their ideas, innovations and technologies. Acting as a bridge between promoters’ investment and venture investment, this scheme escalates the startups to a level where they can raise investments directly from VCs or seek loans from banks or financial institutions. Thus, Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre creates a bio-cluster for startups that is in synergy with ecosystem partners such as other like-minded startups, SMEs, investors, government organizations, policy think tanks and business organizations.

Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre holds rich expertise in offering funding, mentorship, events & workshops, branding/networking services, and many others to its incubatees

Also, being an implementation partner for Idea2PoC, Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre helps innovators and startups who require early-stage funding to commercialize their inventions and validate Proof of Concept (PoC). This initiative is a part of India’s first multi-sector Startup Policy launched by Govt. of Karnataka, with a one-time grant limit of up to Rs.50 lakhs. The centre is further associated with Elevate 100, an initiative of Department of IT & BT, which enables startups to tap into a whopping sum of Rs.400 crore of Government’s funds to build their companies.

Recollecting about Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre’s MedTech Centre, Dr. Jitendra asserts, “We take utmost pride in BIRAC selecting Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre for establishing a MedTech Accelerator under its BioNEST program to transform the healthcare industry”. Through this partnership, Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre provides assistance to entrepreneurs to develop an investable startup pitch, go-to market strategy and kick-start commercial activities for their innovations under medical technologies, In Vitro Diagnostics and digital health solutions. At the backend, MedTech comprises of software lab furnished with tools like COMSOL CAD, MATLAB, LabVIEW, Virtual Bench, Microsoft Visual Studio, and others, and electronics lab with FPGA, small board computers, advanced embedded add-ons, robotics, biomedical reference modules and other equipment. It also has a mechanical lab equipped with 3D printers, drilling machine kit, gas welding devices, and many other devices.

Branding & Networking
Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre’s vast regional, national and international collaborations & partnerships have helped startups in enhancing their networking strength. Besides, workshops, seminars, panel discussions, symposiums and other events which the centre conducts, stand as the best platforms for incubatees to augment their networks significantly. What places Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre an edge above its competitors is its Technical Advisory Resource Group (TARG), a committee that regularly analyzes individual proposals and progress of incubatees, besides mentoring them. To encourage its incubatees to perform well, the centre highlights all their awards, recognitions and achievements during National & International conferences. Further, it keeps them updated with latest industry trends through magazines, journals, and associations with ABLE, ISBA, Bio USA, Bio Korea, research institutes, journal clubs, and others. Going forward, during the upcoming years, Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre is all geared-up to successfully nurture startups and build them a fruitful life ahead!

Dr. Jitendra Kumar, Managing Director
Dr. Jitendra is a well-experienced biotechnology researcher, mentor and business leader currently focusing on innovations in agriculture, food & nutrition, biofuel/bio-energy and pharma/healthcare at Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre.

Quick Facts:
• Inception Year: 2015
• Location: Bengaluru

Offerings:
• Central Instrumentation Facility by DBT, Govt. of India
• Infrastructure (Lab Suites/Bench Spaces)
• Funding (BIRAC SEED Fund & Elevate 100)
• MedTech Centre by BIRAC under BioNEST
• Branding & Networking

Awards & Recognition:
• Top Innovation Enabler – Bengaluru
• Dr. Jitendra Kumar received Ecosystem Builder Award
• Signed MoU with Japanese Trade Organization (JETRO), ICAR-IIHR and nearly 10 educational institutes
• Developed many national linkages
• Biospectrum award for the top bioincubator in the country