In August 2004, ISAAA launched the Biotech Information Center (BIC) co-hosted by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) during the three days International Conference on Agricultural Biotechnology: Ushering in the Second Green Revolution organised in collaboration with the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in New Delhi, India. India BIC becomes the part of a growing network of Biotechnology Information Centres (BICs) of ISAAA’s Global Knowledge Centre on Crop Biotechnology popularly known as KC – a unique initiative on crop biotechnology established way back in 2000 to meet the growing need for biotech crops related credible information in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In last six years, India BIC has become a hub of credible information on biotech crops and serves the need to provide reliable and most authentic information on biotech crops to various government agencies, state government departments, policy makers, officials, regulators, academicians, research institutions, researchers, students, media, NGOs and general public at large.

Mandate

India BIC is represented by a very small group of dedicated professionals and supported by different philanthropic foundations, small Indian seed companies and international and national organizations to disseminate information through publications, video documentaries and scientific and media outreach programs. With the limited funding support, all programs are designed and executed in collaboration with existing national and international public sector institutions and not-for-profit organizations.

Impact

ISAAA programs in India have successfully built and very effectively spearheaded knowledge sharing and biotech capacity building programs for diverse stakeholders ranging from policymakers, scientists, regulators, journalists to farmers. It has effectively engaged print and electronic media practitioners in a constructive dialogue and received enormous media mileage on new cutting edge crop technology that has potential to directly benefit small and marginal farmers in India. Extensive outreach media programs in different languages resulted in getting an unprecedented amount of positive media exposure and coverage for crop biotechnology through various activities including media workshops, interviews, articles and regular briefings.