Business Potential for Agricultural Biotechnology - Asian Productivity ...

Business Potential for Agricultural Biotechnology Products
resistance, proteinase inhibitor2 for stemborer resistance, Hva1 for drought and salinity tolerance,
and chitinase/glucanase for fungal disease resistance; and DNA marker tagging and cloning
of genes involved in aroma, tungro resistance, fertility restoration, and salinity tolerance.
Business Potential for Agricultural Biotechnology in Singapore
The agriculture biotechnology or agri-biotechnology industry in Singapore is focused on
both food (leafy vegetables, rice, marine foodfish) and nonfood-based products (diagnostic kits,
vaccines, ornamental fish, and plants). Several products have been commercialized to date, such
as nonfood ornamental fish (trademarked GloFish), while many potential products are in the
pipeline awaiting approval from the relevant authority.
The government has adopted an active approach in coordinating biotechnology strategies
and funding programs and establishing supporting infrastructures to kick-start agri-biotech R&D
and commercialization. The Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) has 15 research groups
working in the areas of cell biology, developmental biology, pathogenesis, and bioinformatics.
Since 2003, the AVA has been working closely with TLL, NUS, and other tertiary research institutes
on agri-biotechnology to develop key applied upstream farming technology in specific
areas of food crop research, plant biotechnology, animal and fish health research, fish biotechnology,
and aquaculture in the following agri-food areas:
• Vegetable: identification of genes for abiotic and biotic stress resistance in Asian leaf
vegetables, downstream field testing, molecular diagnostics for leafy vegetable diseases,
and GMO testing for food crops.
• Rice biotechnology: disease resistance.
• Aquaculture biotechnology: molecular selective breeding of fish, molecular diagnostics
and vaccines for food fish and shrimps, genetic transformation of indigenous foodfish for
improved traits.
• Animal biotechnology: molecular diagnostics and vaccines against zoonotic diseases or
those of food safety concern.
The Science Park, established in 1981, together with incubators designed by the government,
provides the high-quality infrastructure essential for industrial R&D, as well as an environment
conducive to interaction between industry, academia, and research groups. The Technopreneur
Assistance Center established within the park provides a range of technical, business,
training, and shared facilities. Other support for early-stage companies includes financing for innovators,
venture capital, and a patent application fund, as well as state agencies providing productivity,
quality, and design services. Today, the Science Park houses some 180 local and MNC
tenants within the 270,000 sq m gross floor space and an Innovation Center of 2,000 sq m with
29 start-up companies from the different industrial sectors, i.e., information technology, electronics,
chemicals, materials, and biotechnology. AVA and EDB have also developed the Agri-
Bio Park (APB) located next to the Lim Chu Kang Agrotechnology Park in northwest Singapore.
In addition, Agri-food and Technologies Pte. Ltd. (ATP), a private arm of AVA, was incorporated
in October 2000 to further support regional developing agribusiness, including the agribiotechnology
business. In support of a large-scale financial commitment to the life sciences and
biotechnology sector, the government has created a number of mechanisms—Pharmbio Growth
Fund, Singapore Bio-Innovations and Life Sciences Investments—to provide funds to the private
sector to upgrade technologies and form joint ventures with leading international biotechnology
and pharmaceutical companies. It has channeled more than SGD1.7 billion into biotech
funds and has allocated SGD1.5 billion for biotech R&D and SGD2 billion to attract local and
foreign investment in biotech start-ups. This risk-sharing environment also includes numerous
investment and start-up assistance schemes—SEEDS, Patent Application Fund PLUS, Enterprise
Investment (Technopreneur) Scheme, Venture Capital—and programs—Growth Financing
Program—for innovation, R&D, and intellectual property managed by EDB. The Patents Act of
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