C-CAMP announces 2nd edition of Indo-Israel Innovation Bridge in health & agriculture

New Delhi: Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms or C-CAMP, one of India’s most exciting bio innovation hubs focusing on core domains of health, agriculture and domain has announced the second edition of its 2021-launched Indo-Israel Innovation Bridge with Bengaluru Consulate General of Israel.

The kick-off was done by Naor Gilon, Ambassador of Israel to India, and Dr Taslimarif Saiyed, C-CAMP CEO & Director in the presence of Jonathan Zadka, Consul General (CG) of Israel to South India, Bengaluru.

The Indo Israel Innovation Bridge Edition II aims to take the current, largely exploratory C-CAMP- CG, Israel partnership a notch higher by creating synergistic ecosystem-to-ecosystem tie-ups specifically in the agriculture and medtech sectors, a strong suit of both C-CAMP and the Israeli innovation Ecosystem.

Ambassador of Israel to India, H.E. Naor Gilon Said “In Israel we see strong potential in the speed & dynamism of India’s growing innovation ecosystem. Also unique in Indo-Israel relations is the very tangible people-to-people connectivity.  It is now up to us and efforts like Indo Israel Innovation Bridge to create avenues to enhance this natural partnership & steer it towards mutual benefit and growth.”

The Bridge 2.0 will provide for a strong collaborative platform between Indian and Israeli innovation ecosystems especially in the medtech sector. It also opens up provisions for the C-CAMP Govt of Karnataka’s Centre of Excellence for Agri Innovations launched Grand Challenges in Agriculture program to accept Israel startups/innovators. The Grand Challenge launched by Minister Dr Ashwathnarayan CN in 2021 is looking for innovations addressing pest-control in coffee cultivation, soil quality detection and conservation and increased shelf life of produce. A prominent hurdle in such partnerships is often the internationally variable regulatory pathways and clearance systems.

By this agreement, C-CAMP will bring agency to this potential hurdle through its deep ecosystem networks. This apart networking opportunities, incubation access to C-CAMP’s high-end technology platforms, stakeholder connects and a rich, cross-disciplinary academic environment are on offer for technology validation and scale up needs of interested Israeli parties.

The success of Phase I in which 38 Indian companies and 11 Israeli counterparts evinced interest followed by this current call for Phase II of the Indo-Israel Innovation Bridge demonstrate the potential nation-wide impact of such micro-level, domain-specific Indo-Israel collaborations in context of the close alliance between Govt of India and the State of Israel.

Consular General of the State of Israel to South India in Bengaluru, Jonathan Zadka said “It is a privilege to inaugurate the Phase II of Indo Israel Innovation Bridge. We found a strong and agile partner in C-CAMP to help create a platform from scratch for Indo-Israel ecosystems to engage. The Phase I showed how quickly the platform is evolving to initiate meaningful dialogues. Phase II will be about cementing those.”

Dr Taslimarif Saiyed, C-CAMP CEO & Director said “What we have built with the Indo Israel Innovation Bridge are the first rungs of a ladder that will enable the emerging deep-science culture in Bangalore and India largely, to broaden their horizons towards one of the world’s top innovation countries.”