BIRAC-BioNEST Incubation Centre Inaugurated

On 4th April 2026, Union Minister for Science and Technology inaugurated the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC)-BioNEST Incubation Centre at Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) in Mysuru to boost food biotechnology startups.

The facility provides advanced incubation support, including research infrastructure, scale-up validation, and regulatory facilitation in food bioprocessing and biotechnology.
As of March 2026, the BioNEST centre has supported 26 startups, with several achieving commercialisation and collectively filing 12 patents.
Startups are working in emerging areas like nutraceuticals, probiotics, precision fermentation, CRISPR-based technologies, and botanicals.
The event saw the signing of four MoUs and the launch of two CFTRI-developed products, promoting industry collaboration and technology transfer.
The BioNEST ecosystem is gaining national and international attention, with startups expanding into strategic sectors such as defence.