Sydney, Nov 22, 2006: New Zealand is all set to lay the foundations for taking the top slot at the global biotech table but with a careful approach to suit its unique environment, said the country's Minister for Research, Science and Technology, Mr Steve Maharey. "We want to become the biotech king, but with an industry that cares," Mr Maharey told the delegates of the concluding day of the AusBiotech 2006 conference here. He pointed out that his country was no longer a bit player but has been forging regional alliances in this area to promote meaningful and sustainable biotech research in the region.

 

Together with Australia, the region was the world's fifth largest biotech hub, he pointed out. Focused mainly on its bread and butter agri-industry, biotech industry in New Zealand is quickly moving up the value chain. The minister said country's $811 million industry has collectively earned profits of $164 million last year.

 

The industry employs 2,264 people of whom 14 percent were PhDs. Already 10 biotech companies were listed on the New Zealand stock exchange and another four on the Australian stock exchange. There are 126 biotech companies in the country with 87 of them in the private sector, 30 in the public sector and nine run by academic institutions.

 

New investments were going into the healthcare biotech sector and the government had spent nearly $195 million for biotech research. This was one-fourth of all the government allocation for research, Mr Maharey said. The country was focused on developing high value agricultural products. A large number promising technologies and products were under development in the country. The focus areas were clonal propagation, marker assisted breeding, biocontrol agents, enzymes and functional foods. New Zealand has also revamped and put in place an efficient, hassle-free regulatory system and provided a singe-window mechanism to handle regulatory affairs.