Malacca, 8 September 2014 – Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation (BiotechCorp) today organised its final Bioeconomy Transformation Programme (BTP) workshop in Malacca after successfully conducting a series of similar workshops nationwide. More than 100 shortlisted Trigger Projects were identified since the workshops were conducted with more expected to be identified in Central Region at the Melaka workshop.

The announcement was made at the Holiday Inn, Malacca during the launch of a two-day BTP BioCentral workshop co-organised by Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation (BiotechCorp) with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) and Melaka Biotechnology Corporation (MBC) to identify potential commercial opportunities in bio-based industries in the central region that could be included under the BTP.

The workshop was launched by the Chief Minister of Malacca, YAB Datuk Seri Ir Hj Idris Bin Hj Haron, and attended by the Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, YB Dato’ Dr. Abu Bakar Bin Mohamad Diah and several EXCO members of Malacca state.

YAB Datuk Seri Ir Hj Idris Bin Hj Haron emphasized in his speech the importance of Bioeconomy towards driving the nation’s socio-economy and the Malacca state in particular.

“The Malacca State government is committed to develop bioeconomy in a way which is truly sustainable and beneficial to our local communities and contributing to the state’s economic growth,” he said.

Meanwhile, YB Dato’ Dr Abu Bakar Bin Mohamad Diah highlighted that Bioeconomy is a people-centric agenda, whereby the initiatives are directly benefiting the people through job creation and increasing the income of the people.

“The Bioeconomy Community Development Programme (BCDP) will provide farmers with guaranteed buyback, technical advice, assistance, training and other necessary support to increase the farmers’ income. BCDP is supported by the government as the Prime Minister announced last year during the tabling of Budget 2014,” he added.

Dato’ Dr Mohd Nazlee Kamal, BiotechCorp’s Chief Executive said that he hopes more and more local corporations will seek out and develop cutting edge technology for Malaysia.

“We have shortlisted more than 100 Trigger Projects over a series of successful runs in Sabah, Sarawak, Penang, Johor and Kuantan, and we hope that more will come on board after this final workshop. Ultimately, the BTP aims to contribute RM48 billion to Malaysia’s Gross National Income in year 2020, draw investments worth RM50 billion into Malaysia’s biotechnology industry, while creating 170,000 new high quality job opportunities for Malaysians by year 2020,” he said.

The official launching ceremony also saw the exchanges of two collaboration proposals pertaining to the BTP Trigger Projects. The collaboration proposals exchanged were:

a) Between BiotechCorp and Flora Bee Hive Enterprise Sdn Bhd to develop honeybee farm for the BCDP project in Kuala Linggi, Melaka and other locations in Malaysia by providing farmers with guaranteed buyback, technical advice, assistance, training and other necessary support to increase the farmers’ income to RM3000 per month per farmer.
b) Between Melaka Biotechnology Corporation and Tenaga Jati Bumi Sdn Bhd for pre-clinical and clinical studies which will be conducted by Melaka Biotech Corporation in collaboration with various parties at approved study sites for the sponsor of the study, Tenaga Jati Bumi Sdn Bhd to support bioeconomy value chain.

The two-day BioCentral workshop will focus on the states of Malacca, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Wilayah Persekutuan to formulate a strategic roadmap for developing Bioeconomy in the central region by identifying private sector bio-based projects to be part of BTP project pipeline.

About 150 participants from various sectors and agencies attended the 2-day workshop to identify new projects in BioMedical, AgBiotech and BioIndustrial. Subsequent to this, a detailed action plan and economic impact for each project will be validated further to be considered as part of the BTP.

The participants of the workshop comprises private companies, universities, research institutes and government agencies will provide perspectives and inputs on prioritised projects emphasising on the commercial readiness and economic impact to the nation.