Bernama,
April 03, 2008
40,000 Biotech Knowledge Workers Needed By 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 -- While there is a balance
between supply and demand for knowledge workforce in
the biotech industry, the need will rise to 40,000
by 2011 and double this number by 2015.
"Currently, the country has about 1,000 knowledge
workers in the biotech field, working in 66
companies. However these are start-up companies that
will continue to grow and expand. By 2011, we expect
these companies to be the prime champions of
Malaysia's biotech industry," said BiotechCorp chief
executive officer Datuk Iskandar Mizal Mahmood.
"Thus, there is greater need for a competitive
workforce in the industry. We want to ensure that
supply will be on hand because we do not want a
situation where we will have to bring in foreigners
to meet the industry's needs," he told a press
conference on "BiotechCorp Human Capital Development
Results", here Thursday.
"To ensure the workforce would meet the industry's
needs, BiotechCorp has laid out training programmes
and strategies for 2008 to develop the necessary
human capital in the Ninth Malaysia Plan.
"These include improving the curriculum at the
higher learning institutions and strengthening the
industry's linkages to develop multi-disciplinary
individuals, competent not only in science but also
in business, entrepreneurship and communication.
"Many people have the wrong impression when it comes
to biotechnology product development. It is not only
about science, as we must be able to sell the
product and ensure its commercialisation prospects.
Thus, our focus is also on intellectual property
rights and laws and to speed up the patent process.
"We have attached four biotech patent examiners with
the Australian Patent Office and secured agreements
from European and Korean patent offices where each
patent office received four Malaysian patent
examiners for attachment and training in 2007. Our
target is to develop 60 certified IP managers by the
year end," Iskandar said.
Another of BiotechCorp's strategy is the
Biotechnology Entrepreneurship Special Training (BeST)
Programme, which is an extensive and structured
programme to enhance the employability of graduates.
BeST has trained 206 people so far, and 25 percent
of the graduates found employment immediately while
the rest managed to obtain placements at
biotechnology-related companies or agencies for
industrial training.
"BiotechCorp is also in a five-year partnership with
the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical
Research (qb3) to collaborate in research, human
capital and bio-entrepreneurship development," said
Iskandar.
Under the qb3 partnership, a Global Bio
Entrepreneurship Course was conducted for 20
Malaysian senior talents from research universities.
The course content also covered life sciences,
entrepreneurship and venture financing, conducted by
leading biotechnology experts worldwide.
Added to this, is BiotechCorp's
Executive-In-Residence Mentorship Programme which
focuses on providing Malaysian scientific talents
and biotechnology entrepreneurs with the resources
and experience of acknowledged and established
biotechnology experts.
Already, BiotechCorp has provided its first
Executive-In-Residence mentor who has begun
mentoring participating BioNexus companies and is in
the midst of signing up another. |
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