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A comprehensive analysis of 2165 projects funded by India's Department of Biotechnology since 2005 through private-public partnerships, and as of 2012 through the 'Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC)' until BIRAC's tenth anniversary at the end of March 2022 reveals details of the science and technology underpinning past and current biotechnology research and development projects in the country. They are led by human healthcare projects (74.9 % overall), of which medical technology (58.7 %) and therapeutics (24.5 %) are the main drivers, ahead of vaccines (4.3 %), regenerative medicine (3.9 %), public health (3.5 %) and others (5.1 %). Agricultural projects (15.2 % overall) have mainly been driven by plant breeding and cloning (24.6 %), animal biotechnology (20.4 %), agri-informatics (13.4 %), aquaculture (6.1 %), and (bio)fertilizers (4.3 %). The key components of industrial biotechnology (9.9 % overall) have been fine chemicals (44.7 %), environmental projects (23.3 %), clean energy (18.1 %) and industrial enzymes (12.1 %). Analysis of the projects funded pre- versus post-2017, compared to the distribution of equity funding as of early 2022 identifies trends in terms of growth areas and locations of industrial biotechnology projects and activities in India., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

This paper analyses 6451 research publications in the field of Biotechnology by Indian researchers in collaboration with other countries indexed in the web of Science core collections from 1975 to 2021. These 6451 publications received 228989 citations with 181 h-index. During the period the total number of publications from India are 33236 out of which 6451(19.40%) are in international collaboration. There were only 2 publications in 1973 which rose to 825 in the year 2021. Ashok Pandey from CSIR-IITR is the most productive author while CSIR is the leading organization in collaborating with international partners. Microalgae is the most frequent keyword, Journal Bioresource technology is the most preferred journal for publication. The United States, South Korea, and Peoples Republic of China is the most preferred country for collaboration by an Indian scholar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that the patents of the first high cost and complex biopharmaceuticals have started to expire, biotechnology offers opportunities for developing countries to pursue an upgrading process by entering the sector as early imitators. In the case of biotechnology applied to the health sector, the characteristics of the innovation process and the specificity of the regulatory process for biopharmaceuticals raises new questions as to the learning path open to the developing countries that intend to build an industrial promotion strategy on the basis of early entry as imitators. Given those specific characteristics, it is worth asking how far creative imitation strategies could constitute an opportunity for late late industrializing countries to undertake rapid industrial upgrading processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-1960s, methylotrophic yeast Komagataella phaffii (previously described as Pichia pastoris) has received increasing scientific attention. The interest for the industrial production of proteins for different applications (e.g., feed, food additives, detergent, waste treatment processes, and textile) is a well-consolidated scientific topic, and the importance for this approach is rising in the current era of environmental transition in human societies. This review aims to summarize fundamental and specific information in this scientific field. Additionally, an updated description of the relevant products produced with K. phaffii at industrial levels by a variety of companies—describing how the industry has leveraged its key features, from products for the ingredients of meat-free burgers (e.g., IMPOSSIBLE™ FOODS, USA) to diabetes therapeutics (e.g., Biocon, India)—is provided. Furthermore, active patents and the typical workflow for industrial protein production with this strain are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After genetically engineered Bt cotton lost its effectiveness in central and southern Indian states, pink bollworm infestations have recently returned to farmers' fields and have substantially shifted their vulnerability context. We conceive Bt cotton as a neoliberal technology that is built to protect farmers only temporarily from Lepidopteran pests while ultimately driving the further concentration of capital. Based on data from a representative survey of the three major cotton-producing districts of the state of Telangana (n = 457), we find that pink bollworm pest infestations are a shock to farmers that lead to severe losses in yield and income. Using the vulnerability concept as a framework, we embed our findings in a political-economic context by drawing on Harvey's notion of accumulation by dispossession. We argue that Bt cotton includes an inherent sociobiological obsolescence that results in a systematic dispossession of resource-poor households while providing appropriation opportunities for other actors. Finally, reproduced hegemonic structures facilitate the accumulation of capital through a redistribution of assets from the bottom to the top of the agricultural sector. Claims that considered Bt cotton as a pro-poor technology were thus flawed from the outset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]