SUMMARY
The Indo Swiss Collaboration in Biotechnology (ISCB) was initiated more than thirty years ago, with the overall objective to promote capacity building, research collaboration and technology transfer between Indian and Swiss institutions in different identified areas of biotechnology. Following an external review in 1998, the programme began to focus on agricultural biotechnology and the New ISCB Programme was born in 1999. The first phase of the new ISCB started in Sept 1999 for a period of five years. The main goal of the new ISCB programme is to establish sustainable research partnerships and capacities of economic, social and ecological relevance to India.
A set of guiding principles govern the new ISCB programme. The most important principles include relevance, effectiveness and quality, efficiency of research and development (R&D) work, significance, innovation and freedom of choice, R&D productivity, flexibility, competitiveness and subsidiarity. The exploration of alternatives to genetic engineering forms part of the programme.
Within this context, environment-friendly technologies for increased production and productivity of wheat and pulses are being developed. The results of the collaborative research efforts form the basis for production of seeds with increased resistance against biotic stress and a higher yield and quality potential. Improvement of soil quality, development of biopesticides and tools for biomonitoring (eg. analysis of pesticide residues) and bioremediation (recovery of polluted soils) are among the current programme objectives. Transsectoral aspects such as bio-safety and ethics and technology assessments are the other important components. By integrating these aspects, biotechnology could contribute substantially to food security and to sustainable management of natural resources in India.
In the first phase (1999-2004) of the new ISCB, eight collaborative projects and two large networks were supported. This involved 27 Indian and 20 Swiss institutions and more than 120 researchers. Recently, all ongoing international collaborations in the area of biotechnology in India (more than 30) were evaluated by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of the Government of India in terms of their scientific and management focus. ISCB was ranked as the best performer in both these aspects.
Several of the individual projects in the first phase have reached fairly advanced stages. Most of the projects have shown very good leads and promising prototype products and/or ‘proof of concepts’ forming a solid base for further development towards evolving desirable products and processes, which is the main objective of the second phase.
The costs of the programme are shared according to an agreement between the DBT and SDC. The ISCB Programme Management Unit is currently located at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich. During the second phase, the programme will aim at gradual transfer of research management capacities and responsibilities to the programme management unit to be set up in India.
At the end of year 2 of the proposed phase, an external review is planned, which shall provide elements towards a decision for SDC in India to carry on or not with its involvement in biotechnology.
