Building a bioeconomy to boost green growth

Aug 25, 2024 11:02 PM IST

The unsustainable pattern of material consumption, excessive resource utilisation, and waste generation have led to disasters such as forest fires, melting glaciers, and declining biodiversity across the globe. Keeping in view the national priority of steering India on the path of accelerated green growth, the integrated BioE3 policy is a positive and decisive step towards sustainable growth in the challenging backdrop of the climate crisis, depleting non-renewable resources, and unsustainable waste generation. A major aim of this policy is to stimulate the transition of chemical-based industries to more sustainable bio-based industrial models. It will also promote a circular bioeconomy and provide an impetus to achieving net zero carbon emissions by encouraging the utilisation of waste from biomass, landfills and greenhouse gases by microbial-cell factories to produce bio-based products.

In addition, the BioE3 policy will create novel solutions for fostering the growth of India’s bioeconomy, facilitating scaling up and commercialisation of bio-based products; reducing, reusing, and recycling waste materials; expanding India’s cohort of a highly skilled workforce; driving a surge in job creation; and intensifying entrepreneurial momentum. Salient features of the policy include: 1) encouragement and support to indigenous research-and-development-focused entrepreneurship across thematic sectors such as high-value bio-based chemicals, biopolymers and enzymes; smart proteins and functional foods; precision biotherapeutics; climate-resilient agriculture; carbon capture and its utilisation; and marine and space research; 2) acceleration of technology development and commercialisation by establishing bio-manufacturing facilities, bio-foundry clusters, and bio-Artificial Intelligence (bio-AI) hubs; 3) prioritising regenerative models of economic growth and job creation with an emphasis on ethical and bio-safety consideration; and 4) harmonising regulatory reforms with global standards.

India has demonstrated strong economic growth in the past decade and has tremendous potential to be amongst the global leaders of the fourth industrial revolution. Our bioeconomy has grown 13-fold, from $10 billion in 2014 to over $130 billion in 2024. It is further expected to reach a market value of $300 billion by 2030. The implementation of BioE3 policy across diverse sectors is likely to further boost the country’s bioeconomy, while promoting green growth. The foundation for this will be laid by leveraging emerging technologies and innovations that result from nurturing the country’s high-performance bio-manufacturing initiatives. Bio-manufacturing is primed to become an important pillar of the ‘Make in India’ initiative and will provide a transformative approach to meet the demands of the 21st century. As a multidisciplinary endeavour, it has the power to unlock the potential of microbes, plants, and animal cells, including human cells, to develop bio-based products cost-effectively with a minimal carbon footprint.

It is envisioned that bio-manufacturing hubs will serve as centralised facilities that catalyse the production, development, and commercialisation of bio-based products through advanced manufacturing technologies, and collaborative efforts. This will create a community where resources, expertise, and technology can be shared to drive scalability, sustainability, and innovation of bio-manufacturing processes. These bio-manufacturing hubs will bridge the gap between lab-to-pilot and pre-commercial-scale manufacturing of bio-based products. Start-ups will play a pivotal role in this process by bringing and developing novel ideas and feeding them into small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and established manufacturers.

Bio-foundry refers to the creation of advanced clusters to make biological engineering processes scalable — from the initial design and testing stages to pilot and pre-commercial production. Large-scale manufacturing of mRNA-based vaccines and proteins for a wide variety of applications are some appreciable examples for which bio-foundries could be valuable. These clusters will specialise in designing, constructing, and testing biological systems and organisms using standardised and automated processes.

Bio-AI hubs will serve as a focal point for encouraging and incentivising the integration of AI in research and development. These Bio-AI hubs will provide biotechnological expertise, cutting-edge infrastructure, and logistical support for the integration, storage, and analysis of large-scale biological data using AI and machine learning. Making these resources accessible to experts from various disciplines (biology, epidemiology, computer science, engineering, data science, for example) will facilitate the creation of innovative bio-based end products — be it a new variety of gene therapy or a new food processing alternative.

Through these coordinated initiatives, the BioE3 policy will create a surge in employment, particularly in tier-II and tier-III cities, where bio-manufacturing hubs are proposed to be set up due to their proximity to biomass sources. By investing in India’s economy, environment, and employment, this comprehensive policy will contribute towards the nation’s sankalp of Viksit Bharat. This policy will serve as a benchmark that highlight an effective science policy can actively contribute towards nation-building and development.

Jitendra Singh is the minister of State (independent charge) of science and technology. The views expressed are personal