Taipei, July 27, 2007: Sharing the government’s eagerness to develop world-class infrastructure for the biotechnology industry in Taiwan Mr Chen Shui-bian, President of Taiwan said, “The government 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.”

 

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 each 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.

 

Sharing the advantages of Taiwan in offering medical care and its manufacturing abilities in the electronics and information industries Dr Johnsee Lee, President, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) said, “The biotechnology industry can take advantage of Taiwan’s fundamental advantages to create added value. Systems integration and a clearly thought out division of labor will be used in uniting biotechnology and information communications technology, forming a model for the knowledge-based service industry. This will not only address the thin margins faced by electronics and information products manufacturers, but will also generate new employment opportunities.”

 

Renowned international biotech experts, venture capitalists gathered at BioBusiness Asia event at Taipei discussed many issues including how to integrate the advantages Taiwan has accumulated over the years to underpin the development of the biotech industry. Dr Paul H Smit, Senior Vice President of Philips Medical Systems, shared his experience in the medical care industry and analyze the next generation of diagnostics and monitoring technologies. Meanwhile, Ms Elka Nir, Managing Director of Israel’s Giza Venture Capital, Dr Helmut Schuhsler, Managing Partner of Germany’s TVM Capital, and Mr Joe Hsieh, Vice President of Asustek Computer’s Motherboard Product Marketing Division, shared their views on leveraging multi-disciplinary capability to develop innovative biotech business.

 

Representatives from the industrial, academic and research sectors from France, Germany, Holland, Israel, Taiwan and many other nations also participated in the two-day event to analyze the latest trends in the global biotech industry and to discuss innovative business models for the sector.