Tuesday
May 27, 2008
RM120mil spent on
biotech
KUALA LUMPUR: At least RM120mil out of a RM300
million allocation has been utilised for
biotechnology programmes in agriculture, healthcare,
industrial and bio-informatics sectors between 2005
and 2007.
The Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation (BiotechCorp)
received the RM300mil out of the RM2bil set aside
for private sector funding to promote biotechnology
from 2006 to 2010 under the Ninth Malaysia Plan
(9MP).
BiotechCorp chief executive officer Datuk Iskandar
Mizal Mahmood said that of the RM300mil, RM100mil
each was allocated for commercial grant and
technology acquisition, and RM50mil each was for
entrepreneur development and regulatory or
Intellectual Property (IP) framework.
“We have utilised RM120mil for our programmes.
Suffice to say, we still have sufficient funds to
develop our focus,” he told reporters after the
launch of the Biotech Review 2005-2007 here
yesterday.
BiotechCorp is the lead agency for biotechnology
collaborations and partnerships with the relevant
ministries, government agencies, universities and
research institutions, private and funding sectors,
as well as local and international companies.
He said there were currently 56 BioNexus status
companies, including 15 in agriculture
biotechnology, 19 in healthcare biotechnology, six
in industrial biotechnology and two in
bio-informatics.
BioNexus status is a recognition awarded by the
Government through BiotechCorp to qualify companies
that participated in and undertook value-added
biotechnology businesses.
Earlier, Iskandar read out a speech by Science,
Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Maximus
Ongkili, who said BiotechCorp needed to intensify
public-private sector collaborations even further to
ensure more achievements in biotechnology.
He said public-private sector collaborations had to
be improved with greater involvement from
multinational companies. Ongkili said there must be
more private sector financing and the capital market
to expand on funding from government and venture
capital resources. |
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