A Brief Report On Workshop on Bio-Entrepreneurship, Grant writing & Funding Opportunities organised by BITS BIRAC
05 February 2018
A full day Workshop was organised by the BITS BIRAC BioNEST, K K Birla Goa Campus on 5th February, 2018. The sixteen participants were addressed by Dr. Srini V Kaveri, Director, CNRS Office in India, Embassy of France, Service for Science and Technology New-Delhi, Dr Sangam A Kurade. Founder, Zuari Foods & Farms Pvt. Ltd, Goa and Ms. Amruta Gore, Assistant Manager – Impact Projects, Venture Center , NCL Innovation Park, Pune along with the Faculty Mentors Prof. Mridula Goel, In-charge , BITS BIRAC BioNEST, Faculty In-Charge, CIIE, BITS, Pilani – K K Birla Goa Campus, Prof. Sunil Bhand he is the Technical Director, BITS BIRAC BioNEST, Dean, Sponsored Research & Consulting Division (University wide), BITS, Pilani – K K Birla Goa Campus, Prof. Srikanth Mutnuri, Technical Director, BITS BIRAC BioNEST Partner, Bactreat Environmental Solutions, Head, Department of Biological Sciences, BITS, Pilani – K K Birla Goa Campus.
Dr. Srini emphasised that “Research grants should be applied for not only money but for the prestige associated with it”. He presented a detailed guideline/basic rules to apply for grants. He stressed that having a person specialised in reading the guidelines regarding the project can also be considered. He introduced the students to different organisations like European Research Council (ERC), National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Sorbonne University, France.
The presentations session started with the presentation of Prof. Srikanth Mutnuri, founder Bactreat Environmental Solutions. His organisation works with the objective of isolation and production of specific microorganisms and development of enzymes from lab scale to large scale production and subsequent application for the decontamination of polluted sites. The company provides solutions for treating contaminated sites and has focused on wastewater treatment. Prof. Srikanth in his presentation drew the 10 steps that every researcher has to pass before reaching to the level were the product can be brought to the consumer.
The presentations during the workshop included current research, ideas and projects which the participants wanted to take to the market. Out of 16 participants 9 participants made their presentations to seek guidance from the experts related to making their researches/projects/ideas more appealing for applying for grants. They looked for advice related to other technical, administrative and management aspects in converting the proposals to entrepreneurial start-ups.
Ms. Amruta Gore from Venture Center, NCL Innovation Park gave a detailed presentation of current grants available for incubation and innovative products. She explained the role of venture center and NCK Innovation Park in supporting the start-ups. She further provided a comprehensive guideline regarding the DBT-BIRAC’s BIOTECHNOLOGY INGNITION GRANT (BIG) which was of great help to the participants.
The sessions were summed up by Dr. Sangam A Kurade who said the failures are the best teachers. He appreciated the efforts of the participants who presented their ideas and commented on the individual requirements of the projects. He also added that research is a great opportunity and research and business may rarely go hand in hand. He motivated the researchers to continue doing research and help the entrepreneurs to make new products available to the market.
The workshop was concluded with vote of thanks by Dr. Dhanya V Ram.