BIOTECH Plan On Track

KUALA LUMPUR: The first phase of the Biotech Master Plan (2005-2020) is on track, according to Science Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili.

He said that currently there were 56 BioNexus-status companies, and about 70 more companies were being targeted to achieve the status by year-end.

“The total investment to date is RM1bil from the 56 companies and we are targeting RM20bil by 2010.

“There is now a network of 15 universities and 11 research institutes throughout Malaysia linked to BioNexus and biotech companies,” he told reporters after his first working visit to Malaysian Biotechnology Corp Sdn Bhd (BiotechCorp) near here yesterday.

Dr Ongkili said they were targeting 40,000 knowledge workers by 2010, which at the moment stood at slightly over 1,000.

He said one key sector that they were looking at was the development of bio-fuel from non-food sources.

“I will fine-tune the plans with Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui,” he said, adding that he hoped to meet Chin in the next few weeks.
BiotechCorp chief executive officer Datuk Iskandar Mizal Mahmood said 75% of the 206 recruits in the 2007 training programme had obtained placements in biotechnology-related companies and agencies for industrial training.

He said that 25% of them had already been employed by these companies.

Iskandar said BiotechCorp, which was established in 2005 under the National Biotechnology Policy, was confident it would be able to achieve the goals of the Biotech Master Plan after acquiring an exclusive worldwide licence to a nanotechnology platform from France last year.