BT Parks - South

Andhra Pradesh: On Fast Track

The State is one of the first in the country to kickstart the BT parks strategy.

Capital city, Hyderabad provides a unique ecosystem for biotechnology research and manufacturing by being home to some of India's premier scientific and research establishments, bulk drugs manufacturing units, biotech companies, hospitals, and healthcare networks.

Shapoorji Pallonji Biotech Park

Given the state's bountiful bio-resources, the Andhra Pradesh government envisioned the development of India's first state-of-the-art Biotech Park which is now spread over an area of roughly 300 acres. The objective of the park is to be the nerve center of technological innovation for knowledge-based biotechnology enterprises and to provide sustainable linkages among industry, research institutes and academia.

The park is being developed in two phases, which totally cover an area of 300 acres. Besides freehold developed plots for establishing manufacturing or research facilities, the park offers wet labs and also houses a state of art technology incubation center with a pilot plant and analytical equipment, which would be available for clients on rental basis.

Thirty companies, including five US based research units, as well as leading biopharma and contract research organizations have already booked space in the park, which now enjoys full occupancy. The state government has initiated measures for allotting an additional 100 acres of land for the third phase of the project.

A clear advantage for the park tenants is that the state government has set up an administrative mechanism to facilitate single window clearance of proposals. Industries in the park would also enjoy certain fiscal benefits such as nominal sales tax of 1 per cent for the next seven years and waiver of stamp duty and registration charges for their land and building transfers. Besides, for financial support to such units, the state government has set up the biotechnology development fund and is also financially supporting the APIDC Venture Capital Fund.

In order to provide networking opportunities to its clients, the park has forged alliance with leading research institutions in India as well as biotech organizations abroad. The park is a member of International Association of Science Parks as well as Biotechnology Industry Organization, USA and has agreements for mutual collaboration with the Research Triangle Park, USA, Technologie Park Heidelberg, West Germany and the Biotechnologie Park Luckenwalde, New Berlin. Discussions are also underway with Imperial College London, the Indian School of Business and the University of Hyderabad for collaborative programs in entrepreneurship as well as for providing mentoring and business support service to companies incubated in the Park.

ICICI Knowledge Park

Launched by ICICI Bank Ltd, in partnership with the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the ICICI Knowledge Park is committed to facilitating business-driven Research & Development. The park has a Knowledge Network, aimed at facilitating collaborative research and knowledge sharing with key academic and research institutions in the country. This enables the resident companies to take advantage of existing competencies in these organizations thereby reducing time and cost of research. A key component of the knowledge network is a virtual information centre that provides a database of network members, their library catalogs and online access to international and national databases. The park co-ordinates service delivery from the network institutions to park tenants.

The park is a member of the International Association of Science Parks (IASP), head-quartered in Spain and also a member of the Indian Science & Technology Entrepreneurs Parks and Business Incubators Association (ISBA). It is associated with Society for Technology Management (STEM) which provides facilitative environment for smooth technology transfers and technology management. The park also has a tie-up with the Apollo Hospitals Group, , to support companies engaged in clinical research.

ICICI Knowledge Park has also set up a Life Science Incubator (LSI) with an incubation space of around 3,200 sq.ft. for eight incubatees to encourage and nurture startup companies and spin offs in pharmaceutical and biotechnology related areas with the support of National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) of Dept. of Science and Technology (DST) Government of India.

ICICI Knowledge park leases ready-to-use labs for renewable short period (3years - renewable). The park encourages companies to graduate from the park to their own facility or to set up their own facility. So far 11 companies have graduated from park. Optiwave Photonics is the first company to graduate from the park in 2003 and are now developing products at their own facility.