same time the institutionalizing of
funding system is highly required.
As per Dr Renu Swarup, Senior
Advisor, DBT and Managing
Director, BIRAC, “We are today
ready to take the next leap. Today
with over 500 Start ups and
SME’s, 100 Entrepreneurs being a
part of this ecosystem, we have
nearly 50 products in different
stages of development and
commercialization. Our target is
scaling this 10 times in the next 5
years. We are confident that with
the enthusiasm we see in the
community we can do this.”
Learnings from Israel
“We are a nation of small
startups,” says Mr Yigal Elrich,
Founder, Chairman and
Managing Partner, Yozma Group,
Israel, “During 1985-92, the
situation was different and there
was market failure in Israel.
Companies failed to take off.
Government took few steps such
as the appointment of Chief
Scientist who was not directly
involved with companies but
“
Our job is to be present at
every stage of the
innovation ecosystem so that we
are in a position to support
innovators by helping take their
idea and proof-of-concept to the
market.
Prof K VijayRaghavan, Secretary, DBT
helped streamline operations. The
immigration from Russia opened
up new knowledge opportunity.
We created 24 incubators within a
year. Since it thought that
startups won’t make it due to
shortage of funds, 85 percent of
the cost was borne by Israeli
government. The result of course
was outstanding.” Mr Elrich, who
is the founding father of the
Israeli venture capital industry
and one of the most prominent
figures in the Israeli high-tech
arena interacted with the
investors and other participants
in Indian biotech sector recently.
Mr Elrich believes that India is
poised to become a major
biotechnology hub in the world
and sustained support is crucial.
“The world changed after India
gave it the zero,” he says, “India is
known for its contribution to
invention and innovation. There
is a lot that Israel and India can
learn from each other. After
overseeing an entrepreneurial and
innovation revolution in Israel, I
am glad to be able to share our
learnings and interact with
budding entrepreneurs and
innovators of India.”
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