Sri Lanka wants Rs100mn Biotechnology Park in Homagama

Mar 16, 2017 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s cabinet has agreed to establish the Biotechnology Innovation Park in the Nanotechnology Park in Pitipana, Homagama as a public-private partnership project.

This year’s budget allocated 100 million rupees for the establishment of this facility which will provide facilities mainly for companies engaged in the pharmaceutical industry and genomics. Apart from the land, the government will also allocate utilities such as electricity and water for the proposed facility. Global market for biotechnology is estimated at over 453 billion US dollars in 2016 with an annual growth of over 10 percent. In 2013, Sri Lanka’s first ever Nanotechnology and Science Park was commissioned in Homagama with the government investing over 2 billion rupees and six private companies cumulatively investing 310 million rupees.

Potential Sectors for Sri Lankan Biotechnology Industry Development Enzyme: food, detergent, garment etc. Synthetic biology Pharmaceutical: Vaccines( including recombinant), anti-venom, antibiotics, herbal product drug delivery mechanisms etc. Medical diagnostics : Genomics, regenerative medicine etc. Tissue engineering : production of cell lines Bioinformatics Clinical trails Bioenergy Neutraceuticals and therapeutics Bio-products : bio-fertilizer, bio-pesticides etc Marine biotechnology : medicinal, food, chemical Environmental biotechnology : waste management Agriculture Biotechnology : crop improvement - molecular breeding, biotech crops etc.