Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili, said the country needed to innovate biotechnology to reap its benefits.
He said for innovation to flourish, the environment had to be optimum.
“This means, building an eco-system that must support and not repress innovation at all the steps in the value chain,” he said at the Sabah Development Corridor’s ‘Seminar on Investment Opportunities In Sabah Biotech Industry: Issues, Policy Response and Prospects’, here today.
His speech was read by Malaysian Biotechnology Corp (BiotechCorp) chief operating officer, Dr Wan Abdul Rahman Wan Yaacob.
Ongkili said Sabah’s bright future in the biotechnology industry and its promising components could be used as a platform to further the agenda.
He said the components were mega-biodiversity; tropical weather; well-developed base industries such as plantations and farming; clear national policy direction for the development of the industry; and, active and purposeful infrastructure and programmes.
Ongkili said a total of 349 biotech companies had been identified since the inception of the National Biotechnology Policy on Apr 6, 2005.
“In the five-year span (2005-2009), the industry recorded a total investment of US$1.3 billion (RM4.5 billion). Out of that amount, 57.8 per cent was funded by the government and the remainder by the private sector.
“The government will continue to invest in and strive to increase collaborations (public-private sector, domestic and regional) and procurement of transactions (sales and distribution channels) for our biotech products, technologies and services,” he said.
Ongkili said as of October 2010, BiotechCorp, a one-stop agency of the ministry, had accorded 177 biotech companies the BioNexus status, which entitled recipients to various fiscal and tax incentives.
