The BioE3 (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment & Employment) policy pushed by the central government prioritising the Northeast region can open the door to a thriving bioeconomy in the region. Earmarking 10% of the Union budget for the ‘Biomanufacturing and Biofoundry Component’ of the Biotechnology Research Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development (Bio-RIDE) scheme for the region is a strategic push to promote biotechnology startups and industry-led innovation to realise its potential in the sector. As the Bio-RIDE scheme is aimed at transforming the country’s biotechnology landscape and contributing towards achieving a 300 billion-dollar bioeconomy in the country by 2030, it brings an opportunity for the region to play a crucial role in achieving the national goals while positioning itself as a key global hub for bio startups. Official data highlights that India’s bioeconomy has surpassed 195 billion dollars in 2025, up from 165 billion dollars in 2024, which reflects an 18% annual growth rate. The ‘India Bioeconomy Report 2026’ published by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) indicates a promising trend in India’s biotechnology startup ecosystem. The cumulative number of registered biotech startups rising to 11,855 from 10,075 in 2024 reflects “sustained entrepreneurial activity across therapeutics, diagnostics, agricultural biotechnology, industrial biotechnology, and digital life sciences”, it adds. The report further highlights that biotechnology startup formation remained concentrated in leading innovation hubs such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Telangana, while Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu also played important roles in nurturing new ventures. This puts into perspective the significance of biotechnological startups in the northeast region. As the region is a biodiversity hotspot, bio-tech-based growth driving its economy is not unfamiliar to farmers and entrepreneurs. The main bottlenecks in unlocking the potential are lack of commercial and industry-scale innovation and research. BIRAC being mandated to implement a range of programmes to support research, technology development, and commercialisation through incubation, funding, mentoring, and industry partnerships, this public sector undertaking under the Department of Biotechnology can play the most crucial role in pushing biomanufacturing and biofoundry in the region under the BioE3 policy. A network of biotech hubs established across the region for providing necessary infrastructure in universities, colleges and institutions and imparting training in sophisticated technologies to support and promote biological science, education and research has laid the required foundational base for promoting biotechnology startups in a big way. Traditional knowledge of the indigenous communities on forests, ecology, biomedicines, etc., is very rich, which is an added advantage. Compilation of People’s Biodiversity Registers in the region is a visionary initiative to document these traditional knowledges in addition to documenting the rich biodiversity and how the indigenous communities, who are the guardians of the biodiversity, apply their traditional knowledge for sustainable growth. The challenge remains formalisation of the traditional knowledge through formal education so that they are not lost. In the traditional way of life in the region, traditional knowledge such as traditional medicine, preservation of climate-resilient seeds, and carbon-neutral practices are passed on from one generation to the next orally and by making those integral to their customary practices, traditional farming and other daily activities. The spread of modern education has led to the shrinking of the space for the continuance of traditional knowledge, as the syllabus and course curriculum are not aligned with traditional knowledge. The persistence of this gap calls for reviewing the syllabuses at the school, college and university levels in the region to ensure that traditional knowledge, which can play a crucial role in the strengthening of bioeconomy and biotechnological innovation and research, continues to be passed from one generation to the next even through the formal education system. Encouraging students right from their school days to make use of their traditional knowledge and their application for natural resource and biodiversity use in their daily life can motivate them to explore the larger economic potential and nurture the entrepreneurial ambition to leverage the opportunities created by central government initiatives like the Bio-RIDE scheme or similar schemes adopted by state governments in the region. Supporting the educational institutions to establish biodiversity laboratories, providing adequate grants to academic and research institutions to undertake research in a big way and roping in pharmaceutical and other biotechnological companies to impart skill training for industrial innovation in the biodiversity sector is crucial to give a big push to the formalisation of traditional knowledge. Educational and research-based activities on biodiversity knowledge enhancement can be meaningful only when they are taken to the next level of commercial-scale economic activities to augment the income of farm households and generate employment avenues and new livelihood opportunities around sustainable use of biodiversity resources of the region. Creating the forward linkage for biotechnological products from start-ups in the region is central to turning laboratory inventions and industry-driven biotech ideas from prototypes to industrial products. Judicious and timely utilisation of the earmarked budget is essential for biotech startups to thrive beyond incubation.