Malaysian
Business, April 24, 2008
Towards the first
40,000 k-workers
By: Cynthia Ann Peterson
THE BIOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY seems geared towards a
knowledge worker (k-worker) explosion, with 40,000
multidisciplinary experts expected to be required by
2011. This ambitious human capital growth envisioned
by the Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation (BiotechCorp)
is in the line with the next phase of growth in the
industry here.
As the commercialization phase is expected to take
place in three years, the requirement for more
k-workers is looming large now.
At present, it is difficult to estimate how many
biotechnology k-workers there are here, but the 56
BioNexus-status companies have a total employment of
about 1,000 staff.
It looks like the industry will have to take a
quantum leap to increase the human capital pool, but
BiotechCorp’s CEO Datuk Iskandar Mizal Mahmood says
the agency is looking at the supply and demand
issue.
“Now we can sustain the industry as the equilibrium
is still there. But the number of the companies and
FDI which are coming in are on target if not ahead,
so there will be a constrain on capacity,” he says.
BiotechCorp had run some human capital development
programmes last year and shared some of the results
so far. Among them is the Biotechnology
Entrepreneurship Special Training (BeST) Programme
which aimed at enhancing the employability of
graduates. The programme trained 206 graduates, of
which 25% were snapped up by biotech companies
thereafter.
An entrepreneur programme with various courses and
workshops was also held including the Biotechnology
Entrepreneur Workshop which trained 75 participants.
Of these, 25% created new ventures with five at the
pre-application stage of BioNexus.
Among the programmes on for this year include an
industry report on occupational and competency
profiles to get a clearer picture of the current
biotech k-worker scenario.
A BioCareer Fair and other awareness programmes are
also scheduled to take place in 2008.
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