The sixth edition of "Vibrant Gujarat 2013: Global Investor Summit" organized by the government of Gujarat received good response from the biotech industry, as it witnessed a gathering of over 45 companies to the Round Table Meet of biotechnology investors, at the day long meet held on January 11, 2013 at Ahmedabad and was organized by the Gujarat State Biotechnology Mission (GSBTM), a nodal agency for biotechnology, to provide a networking opportunity to biotech industry from Gujarat.

Mr Akshay Kumar Saxena, mission director, GSBTM, in his presentation on the status of biotechnology in Gujarat pointed out the achievements of the mission in creating public awareness about the biotechnology applications and support offered to the industry and about building good public-private partnerships between industry and academia.

Since the inception of GSBTM in 2004, the government has helped around 75-80 new biotech companies to set up operations in the state, and completed investment of around ₹1,600 crore and about ₹2,500 crore is till under implementation stage. Besides providing venture support to many 'start-up' companies and technologies, the mission has supported over 700-800 beneficiaries under Entrepreneurship Development Programs.

In addition to creating scientific assets worth ₹14 crore, around 50 major instruments and 200 minor instruments (worth ₹8 crore at GSBTM centre and ₹6 crore at different university departments/colleges), the mission has established 3-4 science based institutes/centres. Through these initiatives, the mission was able to support 38 research projects in 11 universities to 64 faculties and 63 research fellows worth ₹7.5 crore, the results of which were published as 27 research papers and 42 conference presentations.

Sharing his thoughts at a discussion on the topic, "Government Initiatives and Investors Perspective," Mr Saxena suggested the biotech companies of Gujarat to create a forum for interaction and advised them to take advantage of various schemes of the government of India and state government programs for skill development, entrepreneurship, and technology transfer.

Earlier, Mr Ravi saxena, additional chief secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat, stressed upon the need for strong participation of industries in holistic development of biotechnology. This was followed by distribution of investment intention certificates to those companies who have committed their investment in Gujarat during Vibrant Gujarat event 2013. Around 53 biotech companies have committed ₹1,800 crore for the next five years in Gujarat. Around 17 different companies, institutes, and organizations have also entered into strategic partnership with GSBTM, which include, National Innovation Council, Griffith university, Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Genetic Research Institute and Birla Institute of Research.

The event was attended by over 100 participants representing 45 biotechnology companies. These included Concord Biotech, Hester Bioscience, Human Biosciences, Anil BioPlus, Maps Enzymes, Axio Biosolutions, Aura Herbal, Alexandria, and Gujarat Eco Microbial Technologies.