Mohali is set to get the country’s first National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI). To be built in the public-private partnership model on 35 acres, NABI will form part of the Knowledge City coming up in the township, officials said.

The process will be set in motion in a month and more centres of the institute will be opened in the state later, they added.

According to the officials, the institute will focus on agriculture and agro-processing for value addition, using biotechnological innovations. The institute will increase the competitiveness of the agri-food industrial sector through innovation, resource and development support. The institute will also train world-class human resources in food science and technology and nutritional science.

“It will be a part of the biotechnology cluster and comprise a bio-processing unit to be set up by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, at a cost of Rs 380 crore, besides a biotechnology park,” said Dr M K Bhan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology.

Bhan was in Chandigarh on Tuesday, leading a three-member delegation to have talks with Punjab government officials.

All modalities were finalised with project consultants Ernst and Young at the meeting.

Bhan said: “Ernst and Young has submitted its report and we have asked them to float the bids. We expect the biotechnology cluster to start operations in a couple of years.”

The bio-processing unit will be set up because a real-time interface facility is required between the laboratory-level testing and large-scale manufacturing, he said. The unit has been designed to serve as an incubator for the start-up companies. It will not only facilitate the scale-up and process optimisation of new technologies developed by the NABI or acquired from other sources within India and abroad but also provide services, consultancies and support to the start-up companies.

It is envisaged to have the requisite process capacity to support these start-ups for the initial one or two years, till they get the feel of the market and can attain in-house capacity for setting up larger units.

The Biotechnology Park will comprise a business centre, utilities, facilities and a service centre to promote biotech industry in the state. The Punjab Biotechnology Incubator, which has been operating successfully in Mohali, will be shifted to this cluster.

“A society or a company will be set up soon and these facilities will come up in public-private partnership. Also, an advisory board will be constituted comprising prominent people from banking, service sector and science and technology. They will offer advice but not interfere in its day-to-day functioning,” said Bhan.

He said NABI will employ nearly 300 scientists. Its

main aim will be providing support to new companies that are into agri-residue innovation so that they can create more jobs.