India’s Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises has signed a memorandum of understanding with Canada’s National Biotechnology Association, BIOTECanada, to cooperate more closely in the biotech sector between the two countries.

Both Canada and India are interested in developing “technologies that will benefit our citizens in many different ways, from improved healthcare treatments to healthier foods and a cleaner environment,” said Peter Brenders, President of BIOTECanada. The collaborative opportunities are many, he added.

The biotech industry in the two countries is growing fast. While revenues in the Canadian biotech sector reached nearly $4 billion in 2005, doubling in just five years, India’s biotech industry topped $1.25 billion in revenue in 2005 and is growing at a rate of over 30 percent annually.

The biotech agreement follows a broader science and technology cooperation agreement that the ministers of the two countries signed in November 2005. The two sides agreed to promote regional cooperation in the development of drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines.

Under the agreement, the biotech communities in India and Canada plan to work together to improve and produce selected biomaterials for agriculture and industry. They also intend to collaborate on pilot scale design and computer control of biological reactors.

Last year Canada also announced a $6.75-million investment over five years to promote science and technology collaboration under the new Canada-India R&D and Innovation program. India said it would contribute equally to this program.

India is the seventh-largest country for biotech crops, recording a threefold increase in the biotech cotton area in 2005. The current memorandum of understanding is also intended to forge collaborative research in food, agriculture, and forestry products.

The two countries have also agreed to train and exchange human resources in biotech-associated areas.

“ABLE and BIOTECanada have decided to explore the options and possibilities for a mutual exchange of researchers, academics, or students for a temporary internship for a maximum period of six months in each other’s research and academic institutes,” said Radhika Choudary, executive director of the Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE).

This agreement will also facilitate sharing of non-confidential or publicly available information about products, industrial training, sources of financing, offers and requests for joint ventures and licensing, and identification of possible ways to promote technological cooperation between the two countries.

ABLE has signed similar international agreements with the Irish BioIndustry Association and Australia’s AusBiotech in the past two years.

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