Biotechnology Growth Partnership: A Potential Flagship Program in S&T

Abstract

Nepal is a land locked country with very few mineral resources. However, she is vastly rich in her diverse, native, high altitude flora and fauna from the tropical to subalpine region; well known for their high value in medicinal application. These natural resources have not been exploited to their full potential due to the lack of necessary expertise and required technical facilities needed for their full scientific investigation. Nepal is primarily an agricultural country and the Agriculture contributes to approximately 38% of Nepal’s 31 B$ GDP. In the past decade, there were many initiatives by government research agencies, private sectors and foreign agencies such as USAID and Rockefeller foundation to promote biotechnology and natural product research activities in Nepal. However, due to lack of policies and collaborations at an Institutional level, most of the R&D work had remained focused only in the tissue culturing of few plants (medicinal/horticulture/ornamental) and fruits/ vegetables so far. Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and the Ministry of S&T have strongly emphasized the need to promote innovation and collaboration in the above stated priority areas whilst working in partnership with overseas countries. The Nepal government has announced a new national plan for the biotechnology research by focusing on altitude medicinal plants and setting up a national biotechnology research and development centre to speed up research and encourage private sector participation. The plan recommends biotechnology courses and scholarships in Nepal’s universities and provides financial incentives in tissue culture and genetic technologies to select and breed improved crop varieties, usage of microbial cultures to manage industrial waste, biosensors for monitoring soil and air pollutants, and scientific assessment of the country's bio diverse floras for use in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Biotechnology research globally and especially in countries like USA, UK, European Union, Australia, China and India have a proven track record of commercial success. Australia has signed an international Biotechnology growth partnership initiative with a few countries and such collaborations are expected to induce a great benefit to the economy of both countries through sharing of ideas, innovation and resources. Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC) have shown interest in developing such partnerships with Australia and overseas organizations to help Nepal biotechnology Industry in Agriculture and Health sectors. Recently, NRNA and NAST have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in S&T field to work jointly in national priority areas such as Biotechnology and Environment. This will allow NAST, NRNA and other scientific institutions in Nepal to work jointly on collaborative projects and submit proposals, to interested overseas Biotechnology companies and research organizations for funding.

Keywords

• nrna
• biotechnology
• skill development