Union Minister launches BIRAC-BioNEST Incubation Centre at CFTRI

CSIR-CFTRI’s Incubation Ecosystem in Mysuru nurtures many food start-ups and entrepreneurs. Significantly, the incubated companies have filed 12 patents so far.

On Friday, the BIRAC-BioNEST Incubation Centre was launched on the CFTRI campus by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh. He interacted with the representatives of start-ups and also witnessed food innovations implemented with CFTRI’s support.

BIRAC-BioNEST has been developed to nurture entrepreneurial talent in food bioprocessing and biotechnology research. The facility supports advanced research, scale-up, and efficacy studies pertaining to food bioprocessing and biotechnology. It facilitates startups in converting innovative concepts into commercially viable technologies, according to CFTRI.

The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), which functions under the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, has supported the initiative.

The CFTRI’s incubation centre has so far supported 26 start-ups, including 12 physical incubatees, 11 hybrid incubatees, and three graduated ventures. Many of these start-ups have successfully launched and commercialised products, reflecting the Centre’s focus on market readiness.

“The start-ups have been operating in cutting-edge domains like CRISPR technology, nutraceuticals, precision fermentation, probiotics and postbiotics, and botanicals, with emphasis on future-ready, biotech innovations,” a CFTRI release stated.

The CFTRI said that the Indian Army has shown interest in the incubated innovations during some high-profile visits in 2025 and 2026.

With the institute conducting nearly 30-35 training programmes every year, it proposed to upgrade its infrastructure and therefore came up with the proposal of building a hostel facility for the benefit of the participants, including farmers, FPOs, SHGs, cluster representatives, and so on. This project has been taken up under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), which empowers States to develop agriculture and allied sectors by promoting entrepreneurship, the note said.

During his visit, the Minister performed the bhoomi puja for the hostel facility on the M.G. Halli campus, meant for farmers and SHGs sponsored under the Centre’s RKVY project.

The Minister also visited the Centre of Excellence on Millets and took part in a group photo with the CFTRI staff in the backdrop of the iconic palace building.

The proposed hostel complex consists of a classroom (50 participants), twin-sharing accommodation, kitchen and dining facilities, and other amenities. According to CFTRI, “The hostel facility will be ready in a year and is expected to strengthen the institute’s skill development initiatives to support the needs of the Indian food industry, and also the government’s ‘Skill India’ initiatives in the area of food processing.”