Assam to set up technology incubation centre at Guwahati Biotech Park

GUWAHATI: The Assam government has started a process to set up a technology incubation centre at Guwahati Biotech Park, seeking to promote new businesses in biotechnology and allied areas.

The initiative will facilitate faster penetration of biotech industry and accelerate research & development activities in biotechnology and related fields with effective utilisation of the rich natural resources of this region, the government said. It will also help educate and utilise local human resources, it added.

“We have inherent skills in organic farming. Assam and the Northeast are rich in natural resources and its biodiversity holds potential to capture the markets of the entire Southeast Asia through concentration in the organic sector. Biotechnological interventions can immensely help us in becoming an organic hub,” chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal said while speaking at a ceremony to lay the foundation stone for the project.

A judicious mix of biotechnological know-how and conventional farming would immensely gear up the agro-based industry in the state, he said.

According to Assam’s science and technology minister, Keshav Mahanta, 64 bighas of land have already been earmarked for setting up a permanent campus for the Guwahati Biotech Park at Amingaon. The government has sanctioned Rs 35 crore for the construction of the technology incubation centre and work for it is expected to complete in 2019.

The government on Tuesday also rolled out a project to standardise government websites, called “ePrastuti”, primarily to make it easier for common people to access information.