Biotechnology is the application of scientific and engineering principles to the processing of materials by biological agents to provide goods and service. [The organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 1981].
The integrated use of biochemistry, microbiology and engineering sciences in order to achieve technological application of the capabilities of microorganisms, cultured tissue, cells, and parts their of [The European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB), 1981; O'Sullivan, 1981].
The application of biochemistry, biology, microbiology and chemical engineering to industrial process and products and on environment [International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), 1981.]
In the definition given by OECD, "Scientific and engineering principles" refers to microbiology, genetics, biochemistry, etc. and "biological agents" mean microorganisms, enzymes, plant and animal cells. The meaning of these three definitions and others given by many organisations are more or less similar.
A unified definition of genetic engineering has been given by Smith (1996) as "the formation of new combination of heritable material by the insertion of nucleic acid molecules produced by whatever means outside the cell, into any virus, bacterial plasmid or other vector system so as to allow their incorporation into a host organism in which they do not naturally occur by in which they are capable of continued propagation.
If we trace out the origin of biotechnology, it is as old as human civilization. Aryans started preparing curd and alcohol before 2,500 B.C. They used to offer spiritual soma to Gods. Who can forget the story of butter-stealing (makhan chori) by Lord Krishna during Mahabharata period. Since then, the process made in this direction was very slow until the realization of their significance, and the commercialization of products.
Although involvement of yeasts in alcohol production was known since the time of Louis Pasteur, yet detailed studies were made during 1900s. In 1920, for the first time, the Leeds City Council, U.K. established the Institute of Biotechnology. In the late 1960s, OECD was set up to promote policies for second economic growth of the member countries. In 1978, European Federation of Biotechnology was established. Until 1970s, the efforts made by microbiologists, molecular biologists, geneticists, biochemists, medical scientists, biochemical engineers, agriculture scientists, virologists, etc. let to reach their respective disciplines to the zenith.