In News: The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has launched a National Biomedical Resource Indigenization Consortium (NBRIC) to drive indigenous innovation focused on developing reagents (used in chemical reactions), diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics for Covid-19.
About National Biomedical Resource Indigenisation Consortium (NBRIC)
- It is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) hosted and led by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP).
- National Biomedical Resource Indigenisation Consortium NBRIC was constituted by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India as a Public Private Partnership to drive indigenous innovation focused on developing reagents, diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics for COVID19.
- Hosted and led by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms – C-CAMP, NBRIC aims to be a nation-wide collaborative platform for convergence of research, product resources and services towards developing reagents, diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics across India.
- NBRIC is a ‘A Make in India’ initiative for Biomedical research and innovative products, towards promoting import substitution and exports.
Objectives
- Identify providers/manufacturing enterprises of crucial bio-medical resources
- Assess their current capabilities, capacities and requirements
- Support them by creating a enabling environment and connecting with policy makers and other stakeholders from public and private sectors
- Be the gateway for funding from DBT, BIRAC and DST for development or scaling
C-CAMP
- Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms – C-CAMP a Department of Biotechnology DBT, Government of India initiative, is one of the most exciting centers for technology-based innovation and entrepreneurship in India in the field of life sciences.
- C-CAMP was established with the aim of enabling cutting-edge bio-science research and entrepreneurship
- Developing and making available state-of-the-art technologies and providing training on these technologies to academia and industry,
- Building a thriving ecosystem to stimulate innovation and promote biotech entrepreneurship.
- When the Government of India announced the lockdown for the COVID-19 pandemic, C-CAMP launched the C-CAMP COVID-19 Innovations Deployment Accelerator, to identify and help accelerate near deployment ready solutions that can help fight the COVID 19 infections.
- In 31 days and 1100 applications later, 31 solutions were identified, with 17 of these already in the field
Public-Private Partnership Model: PPP is an arrangement between government and private sector for the provision of public assets and/or public services. Public-private partnerships allow large-scale government projects, such as roads, bridges, or hospitals, to be completed with private funding.
- In this type of partnership, investments are undertaken by the private sector entity, for a specified period of time.
- These partnerships work well when private sector technology and innovation combine with public sector incentives to complete work on time and within budget.
- As PPP involves full retention of responsibility by the government for providing the services, it doesn’t amount to privatization.
- There is a well defined allocation of risk between the private sector and the public entity.
- Private entities are chosen on the basis of open competitive bidding and receive performance linked payments.
- PPP route can be alternative in developing countries where governments face various constraints on borrowing money for important projects.
- It can also give required expertise in planning or executing large projects.
Source: PIB
