BiotechCorp Annual Report 2007 - Malaysian Biotechnology ...

Building The Biotechnology Business
During the period under review,
BiotechCorp continued to strengthen its
capacity building efforts whilst intensifying
initiatives for commercialisation
across the three sectors of agricultural,
healthcare and industrial biotechnology.
BiotechCorp recorded robust results
in structuring projects and projects
realised.
Agricultural Biotechnology
BiotechCorp nurtured 18 international
and local companies under the agricultural
sector of which 10 were projects
realised.
These include:
Crop
Livestock
Marine & Aquaculture
Natural Products
In agricultural biotechnology, Biotech-
Corp also implemented the following
initiatives:
• Promoted new growth areas in
crop production with the application
of biotechnology tools.
• Identified priority projects in
artificial insemination and embryo
transfer for livestock.
• Promoted Malaysia as a Halal Hub
to capitalise on the Government’s
initiatives and branding mechanisms.
• Created new agricultural bio-
technology FDI initiatives through
international networking.
Healthcare Biotechnology
BiotechCorp nurtured 47 international
and local companies under the healthcare
sector of which 10 were projects
realised.
These include:
Contract Research
Organisation (CRO)
Contract Manufacturing
Organisation (CMO)
Drug Delivery and
Discovery
Medical Devices and
Diagnostics
Vaccines
Therapeutics
Genomics
Stem-cell Therapy
In healthcare biotechnology, Biotech-
Corp also implemented the following
initiatives:
• Leveraged on Malaysia’s capability in
manufacturing and electronic indus-
tries to develop the medical devices
business.
• Capitalised on Malaysia’s biodiversity
for natural products development.
• Continued to position Malaysia’s
value proposition and incentives
internationally.
• Facilitated sourcing of funds for
BioNexus companies by strengthening
relationship with various venture
capitalist and institutional investors.
• Acquired nanotechnology platform to
be made available to the research
community as a means of driving
local research.
• Continuous search and initiatives to
identify valuable technology platform
and convergence technologies that
would add value to R&D and commer-
cialisation efforts in Malaysia.
• Built partnerships with established
biotechnology clusters in Japan, India,
Europe and the US to develop a global
reach with international biotechnology
companies and to create opportunities
for technology acquisition and transfer.
Industrial Biotechnology
BiotechCorp nurtured 24 international
and local companies under the industrial
sector of which 9 were projects realised.
These include:
Biofuel
Biopolymer
Enzyme
Bioremediation
Bioprocessing for Fine
& Specialty Chemicals
In industrial biotechnology, BiotechCorp
also implemented the following
initiatives:
• Facilitated the setting up of inter-
national industrial biotechnology
companies in Malaysia.
• Encouraged domestic direct
investment by identifying potential
projects and realising their commer-
cialisation prospects.
• Developed biofuel projects with
local and international partners.
• Nurtured BioNexus companies
by assisting them to achieve their
technical milestones.
• Developed rural development
programmes by value-adding crop
production into various industrial
biotechnology activities.
• Identified new growth areas utilising
algae as a new source of energy.
• Identified platform technology
acquisition for example the Super
Fluid Extraction system as a critical
bio-processing mechanism to revolu-
tionise the natural product sector.
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