Bio.Com ends on optimistic note

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, APRIL 18. Official figures given out on the last day of BangaloreBio.Com indicated that 12,000 general visitors and an equal number of business visitors visited the trade show. With experts from the private sector painting an optimistic picture of Bangalore as a future bio-destination, the event seems to have fulfilled its brief of creating awareness about biotechnology.

"I see biotechnology (particularly in areas such as bio- informatics), taking root and flourishing in Bangalore," Mr. Norman Prouty, Managing Director, ICF Ventures, said. He was delivering the keynote address at the last day of event here on Tuesday.

Mr. Prouty was of the opinion that a sizable portion of the millions of dollars of venture money that have come into India would be available for biotechnology ventures. With the availability of high-quality IT talent, India offered significant cost advantages over the U.S. and Europe in bio-informatics, he added.

There was an urgent need to set up standards for global competitiveness, and to enforce clinical trials that were necessary, Mr. Ranajit Sen from Shanta Biotech, said. The upgradation of infrastructure for clinical trials should also be undertaken in an expeditious manner.

The need for transparency in research was stressed by Mr. Praveen Anand, Chairman, IPR Promotion Advisory Committee, Government of India.

At the end of the trade show, it was too early to obtain figures of the actual business done. Mr. Vivek Kulkarni, IT Secretary, however claimed that the BangaloreBio.Com 2001 had paved the way for a number of strategic alliances. TFCI, the trade show organisers, also expected to up the scale of the event three-fold at the next Bio.Com.

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