The Edge Financial Daily, October 19, 2007

BiotechCorp QB3 in RM5m entrepreneurship scheme

by Lim Shie Lynn
FD@bizedge com

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation Son Bhd (BiotechCorp) is investing RM5 million in its global bioentrepreneurship programme with the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3) to train bioentrepreneurs and biotechnology companies towards developing the country’s human capital and cultivating successful ventures.

The global bioentrepreneurship programme, beginning Oct 20, will see 20 local participants from BioNexus enterprises, universities, government agencies and public listed companies attending workshops and mentoring programmes at the institute in San Francisco, US.

Another 15 delegates from South America and US will also participate in the week long workshops.

BiotechCorp launched a RM40 million mentoring/executive-in-residence (EIR) programme on Oct 9 to train entrepreneurs on managing new business ventures in the biotech industry for the next five years.

The programme is part of the RM2 billion government biotech development grant under the Ninth Malaysia Plan where a panel of mentors will be appointed to provide BioNexus companies and individuals with operational financial and marketing advisory services to assist them in setting up or expanding operations in BiotechCorp focus areas.

BioNexus companies are those accorded the BioNexus status making them eligible for certain privileges. These companies leverage on existing facilities infrastructure and capabilities of universities and research institutions throughout Malaysia for biotechnology development.

Speaking to reporters at a media conference to announce the global bio-entrepreneurship programme yesterday, BiotechCorp chief executive officer Datuk Iskandar Mizal Mahmood said local participants were selected based on their capabilities, suitability and development needs of the BioNexus companies.

Iskandar said the partnership was an opportunity for Malaysian and foreign entrepreneurs to carry out research, human capital and bioentrepreneurship development.

“QB3 provides a content-rich training enabling participants to strengthen existing capabilities in life sciences, entrepreneurship and venture financing in biotechnology.

“A significant part of this programme is a panel of international experts who will provide much sought-after sharing of experience and networking,” Iskandar said.

Speakers at the workshops would include QB3’s director Regis B Kelly, Steven Burril of Burrill & Co, and Chiron Corporation founder Pablo Valenzuela.

BiotechCorp is expecting to launch four more bio-entrepreneurship programmes with QB3 to train about 120 entrepreneurs over the next three years.

Iskandar said the programmes would be tweaked and based on the requirements of the biotechnology industry and inputs from BioNexus companies.

BiotechCorp entered into an agreement with QB3 last December to collaborate on research projects and equipping Malaysian scientists with the latest multi-disciplinary tools towards excelling in biotechnology entrepreneurship.

The partnership covered three aspects – research and postgraduate training, post doctoral training and bio-entrepreneurship programme.