Imphal : Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD) organized a seminar on “Bioeconomy from Bioresources-Exploring traditional resources of the North Eastern Region” at its campus at Upper Shillong on Monday. This seminar was organized by IBSD under the ongoing programme on bioeconomy from bioresources.

During the programme, Prof. Pulok Kumar Mukherjee, Director, IBSD highlighted various outreach activities of IBSD including webinar series, traditional healers meet, programmes for development of women entrepreneurs, training for farmers, industry-connect programmes for the promotion of bio-entrepreneurs in NER. He mentioned that this programme was inaugurated by the Vice President of India in 2021 and now executed as a major programme of IBSD where all the research areas are focused towards bioeconomy from bioresources. 

During the programme, Dr. Ramanuj Narayan, Director, CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology, Bhubaneshwar highlighted various opportunities for boosting the bioeconomy of Meghalaya in particular and NER as a whole. He highlighted various bioresources of NER which can be explored for the development of products/ processes/ technologies.

Dr. S. R. Joshi, Professor from NEHU, Shillong highlighted micro-fungal resources of NER which can be exploited from economic perspectives. He highlighted various research initiatives of NEHU where IBSD can collaborate for the development of bioresources. Inderneel Das, Vice President, Society for Ethnopharmacology and MD, Declibac Technologies Pvt Ltd, Kolkata mentioned various examples for the development of bioeconomy from bioresources of NER and highlighted the development of drinking water testing kit by IBSD. Dr. Junie Pearl Lyngdoh, Senior Scientist, Bio Resources Development Centre (BRDC), Upper Shillong highlighted the activities for documentation of traditional medicines of Meghalaya and their scientific validation in collaboration with IBSD.

Dr Junie also highlighted the collaborative activities for the development of women bio-entrepreneurs through floriculture under BioNEST programme.

 Dr. Albert Chiang, Officer on Special Duty, MBDA, Govt. of Meghalaya highlighted various initiatives of the department for economic development and livelihood generation. O. Bishan Singh, SAO, IBSD appreciated the initiatives taken by the institute for the development of bioeconomy. The programme was attended by all the scientists, scholars of IBSD, BRDC and other institutes.