Guwahati Biotech Park

How applications work

There is no open cohort to wait for. The incubation centre takes in founders through a written research proposal for the lease of laboratory space, which you submit to the park's Chief Executive Officer. Use the park's own Request For Proposal format, which lays out the eligibility criteria and how proposals are judged.

What to put in your proposal

The proposal is expected to cover:

• The laboratory space you need and the lease period you want
• A broad business plan for the venture
• Details of the promoter institution or company behind the proposal
• How the work will be funded and the number of staff involved
• The major R&D facilities you will need
• How you will meet effluent, bio-risk and gene-containment requirements

What reviewers look for

Selection is made on three things: the innovation merit of the idea, its sustainability, and the marketability of the product or service. Proposals are strongest when the R&D need is clear and the path from research to a sellable product is spelled out. The park is set up for biotechnology and related areas and for founders building in or for Northeast India, so make the fit with both plain.

Guwahati Biotech Park is a science and technology park for biotechnology in Northeast India, run by an autonomous society under the Government of Assam. It sits in the Technology Complex at IIT Guwahati, and describes itself as a project launched by an autonomous society under the Government of Assam, with the Science and Technology Department of the state behind it.

The park's work for founders runs through its incubation centre, the Guwahati Biotech Park Incubation Centre (GBPIC). GBPIC offers ready-to-use modular laboratory space, shared office services, technology support and on-site business and management support, so that a researcher or entrepreneur can take an R&D idea towards a business without first building a lab of their own.

What they support

GBPIC is aimed at researchers at universities and research bodies, young professionals with an innovative business idea, and entrepreneurs who want to set up a new company in the Northeast region of India, working in biotechnology and related areas. It is open to firms, societies, partnerships, companies, scientists and students pursuing R&D in those fields. The framing throughout is regional: the park presents itself as the Northeast's biotechnology science park, and the incubation centre as the route in for founders based in or building for that region.

Programmes

The incubation centre runs on a proposal-based route rather than fixed cohorts. A scientist or entrepreneur with a commercialisable idea that needs further R&D submits a research proposal to lease laboratory space, and selection is made on the innovation merit, sustainability and marketability of the product or service. The proposal is expected to cover the space required and the lease period, a broad business plan, details of the promoter institution or company, the means of funding, the number of staff, the major R&D facilities needed, and compliance with effluent, bio-risk and gene-containment requirements.

For founders admitted this way, the park provides laboratory and R&D space on lease together with its shared services, and states that it keeps client data confidential and secure. Because intake is by proposal rather than by a dated call, a founder approaches the park directly when their idea is ready rather than waiting for an application window to open.

How to apply

Applications take the form of a research proposal, submitted in the park's Request For Proposal format, addressed to the Chief Executive Officer at Guwahati Biotech Park, Technology Complex, IIT Guwahati, Guwahati-781039. The proposal format and its annexures are available from the park, and the office can be reached by phone or at its general enquiry inbox. The proposal document itself sets out the eligibility criteria and the selection methodology, so a prospective applicant should read it before writing in.

Who runs it

Guwahati Biotech Park is run by the Guwahati Biotech Park Society, an autonomous society under the Government of Assam, and the website's content is owned by Guwahati Biotech Park, Government of Assam. The park operates under the state's Science and Technology Department.