Union Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh has inaugurated the BIRAC-BioNEST Incubation Centre at the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), marking a major step in strengthening India’s food and biotechnology startup ecosystem. The launch reflects the government’s push to translate scientific research into market-ready innovations.
The state-of-the-art BioNEST facility, supported by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), offers advanced labs, shared research infrastructure, and dedicated startup spaces. It aims to support early- and growth-stage startups in food technology and biotechnology by enabling product validation, scaling, and commercialization.
As of March 2026, the centre has already supported 26 startups across physical, hybrid, and graduate incubation models. These ventures have collectively filed around 12 patents and published multiple research papers, highlighting strong innovation outcomes.
The incubated startups are working on cutting-edge areas such as nutraceuticals, precision fermentation, probiotics and postbiotics, CRISPR-based applications, and plant-based products. The BioNEST centre at CFTRI is expected to play a key role in driving lab-to-market solutions and strengthening India’s food processing and biotech innovation landscape.
