The Project was launched jointly by Sh. Karan Avtar Singh, IAS, Chief Secretary, Punjab and Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India on 29th June 2018.
About
Punjab is known as the "Food Bowl of India", contributing the largest share of wheat and paddy to the central pool of the country. Agriculture and allied services are the key strengths of Punjab. Apart from abundant resources/raw material base, other driving factors i.e. robust infrastructure and government pro-activeness, makes Punjab ideal state to take lead in secondary agriculture.
Realizing this vision, Govt. of Punjab set up Secondary Agriculture Entrepreneurial Network (SAEN) with the support of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council - Department of Biotechnology (DBT-BIRAC), Govt. of India. SAEN is a strategic initiative launched by BIRAC in collaboration with Govt. of Punjab for Early translation Acceleration from Primary to Secondary Agriculture by supporting industry and promoting start-ups in agri-food sector in Punjab. The network was launched by Honorable Chief Secretary Punjab & Secretary Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India on 29th June 2018. It is being implemented by Punjab State Biotech Corporation (PSBC) as Lead Agency with National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI), Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB) and BIONEST-PU as the Partner Institutes.
Under SAEN, Industry-Institute network has been established with NABI, CIAB, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) as Networking Institutes to address the unmet needs of the Food processing Industry.
Objectives of SAEN
- 1. Assessment of Unmet Needs of Agri/ Food Industry & Development of Technological Solutions to Address the Same.
- 2. Technology Mapping & IP Landscaping of Research Leads from R&D Institutions/Organizations.
- 3. Pre-commercial Validation/Scale Up/ Demonstration/Commercialization of R&D Leads Through Setting Up Early Translations Accelerators.
- 4. Creating Pipeline of Incubatees and Entrepreneurs.
- 5. Capacity Building for Entrepreneurship Development.