Sep 1, 2007: The government in Taiwan is keen to establish biotech parks with unique features. “Our vision is to create a National Biotechnology Park with a total investment up to $900 million in the building of the park. The Ministry of National Defense will make 25 hectares of its property at the Military 202 Armament Factory in Nankang available for the establishment of a biotech science park,” said Mr Chen Shui-bian, President of Taiwan.
Delivering the key note address at the two-day “BioBusiness Asia 2007” summit at Taipei, the President said, “The National Science Council will invest $400 million to plan the layout for the park’s biomedical compound, and will be in charge of the construction of the park’s basic infrastructure and education center. At the same time, the Academia Sinica, on its part, will invest around $500 million to build the park’s research and development center and clinical laboratories, and introduce research on new pharmaceuticals and special biotech disciplines, such as translational medicine and genomic medicine.”
Urging the international community to support Taiwan’s efforts to participate in the World Health Organization (WHO), the President further pointed out that besides the National Biotechnology Park, “We are planning to build two more communities of leading biotech enterprises. One of these will be located in the Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park, and will aim to attract major biotech companies, vaccine manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, electronic and telecommunications-based medical equipment manufacturers, and animal laboratories to open operations there. The other community will be located in the Kaohsiung Science Park, which is part of the Southern Taiwan Science Park. It will focus on attracting manufacturers of dental and orthopedic equipment, scalpels, and microelectromechanical systems. We believe that only with these three communities of biotech enterprises in place can we lay a solid foundation for the development of Taiwan’s biotech sector, so that Taiwan can become a visible player in the global biotech industry.”
He also observed, that the government and private sector’s efforts in promoting the biotech sector have led investment in the biopharmaceutical industry to increase from less than $300 million-a-year to nearly $700 million-per-year over the past five years. By the end of last year, the number of biotech and biomedical companies in Taiwan exceeded 1,100. These companies had a total business turnover of $6 billion last year and enjoyed an average annual growth rate of 13 percent over the past five years. Development in this sector is indeed gathering speed.
Taiwan broadens its biotech horizon
July is Taiwan’s biotech month. The consensus on the statement is the result of efforts of Taiwan Bio Industry Organization, which has been successfully organizing BioTaiwan for the last four years.
Continuing the tradition of hosting "the biotech exhibition in the Asia Pacific region" and showcasing the developments in Taiwanese biotechnology industry, Taiwan Bio Industry Organization organized the fifth edition of the event BioTaiwan 2007 at Taipei World Trade Center.
Government organizations and institutions like Science & Technology Advisory Group, Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries Program Office, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industrial Technology Research Institute, have joined hands with the associations like Kaohsiung Biotechnology Association, Ching–Kang Foundation for Pharmacy Promotion to support Taiwan Bio Industry Organization in organizing BioTaiwan 2007.
This four-day international exhibition attracted business visitors from India, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, China, USA and other countries.
The idea behind organizing Bio Taiwan—an annual event held during July—is to increase public awareness and interest in biotechnology, build biotech concepts in younger generation, and encourage them to get involved in biotechnology. At the same time, it introduces local biotech industry to overseas state-of-the-art biotech R&D projects and venture capital firms and helps foster co-operation between countries.
Though the exhibition divided into various segments does not attract many of Taiwan’s significant ‘real’ biotechnology companies a good number of healthcare, nutritional, cosmetic and herbal medicine companies were spotted at the event. The universities from Taiwan having biotechnology and life sciences divisions, and incubation centers were seen showcasing the courses on offer. The exhibition attracted students, consumers and professionals. According to organizers, the 2007 edition has attracted tens and thousands of visitors to over 800 booths.
Talking about the exhibition, Mr Andy Ladwig, Managing Director, E2joy, an equipment solutions provider for laboratories, life sciences and pharmaceutical companies in Taiwan said, "Taiwan is witnessing lot of activities in biotechnology, basic research, and CRO space. This exhibition provides a platform to share and exhibit the latest developments happening in Taiwan."
The event had parallel sessions on different topics including symposium on multinational trials in the Asia Pacific region, innovation & regulations for pharmaceutical combination products, biotech investment opportunities, niche market and scientific research of phytomedicine and supplements, cutting edge biomedical technologies in anti-aging and aesthetic medicine, theory of GTP labs construction and maintenance. The symposiums were more in local languages so that the local industry could benefit.
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