Opportunities
In addition to being a key contributor to economic growth, the bioeconomy benefits the society and nation through breakthroughs in agricultural productivity, discoveries in healthcare and the adoption of sustainable industrial processes, while helping to meet the most pressing global challenges, such as the increasing global population, depletion of fossil fuel and natural resources, and increasing environmental pressures and climate change.
Below are the benefits of investing in Bioeconomy in Malaysia :-
The Malaysian Government has provided strong support and commitment to bio-based industries through pro-business policies, infrastructure building and Human Resource Development (HRD). Besides providing attractive commercial incentives, the Government has also invested extensively in building infrastructure, logistics and technology to bring the industry on par with advanced economies.
Incentive packages include BioNexus status, which offers qualifying companies 10 years’ tax exemption on statutory income, maintenance of 100% company ownership and assistance in the navigation of local procedures.
In support of the government’s efforts and commitment in recognising IP collateralisation, Bioeconomy Corporation continues to work closely with the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) and Malaysia Debt Ventures Berhad (MDV) towards the realisation of this commendable initiative which includes:
Training of Local IP Valuers: The pilot IP valuation training and certification course was introduced in March 2013 to train and develop a pool of local IP Valuers. To-date, there are a total of 22 certified IP valuers in Malaysia, of which 1 personnel from BiotechCorp (now Bioeconomy Corporation).
The IP Valuation Model (IPVM) was launched in November 2013 with the aim of providing the much needed clarity and standards for various stakeholders and key players in supporting the acceptance of IP rights as collateral by lenders and financiers. The launch of the IPVM marks an important milestone for moving the monetisation of IP rights to the next level.
Intellectual Property Financing Scheme (IPFS) was launched in December 2013 by MDV and Bioeconomy Corporation works closely with MDV to bring greater access to funding for BioNexus status companies. The creation of the IPFS is expected to provide funding alternatives for companies through monetisation of their valuable IPs.
One key attraction is the logistical convenience offered by Malaysia’s bioparks, a set-up that has become popular in many countries and is seen increasingly as a fixture of the global bioscience supply chain.
There are certain advantages to locating your business in one of the strategically located plug-and-play concept bioparks: ready offices, auditoriums, shared laboratory spaces and centralised utilities, for example, help reduce capital expenditure.
Facilitation of joint ventures between potential stakeholders, local and international technology providers, feed stock supplier and other relevant partnership build that could bring investment to be realised much easier.
Malaysia’s pool of young, educated and productive professionals are rapidly emerging as one of Southeast Asia’s most competitive workforce. The Government’s emphasis on human resource development ensures the continuous supply of manpower to meet the needs of the expanding manufacturing and services sectors.
Bioeconomy Corporation’s strong relationship with all the regional clusters such as NCIA, ECERDC, IRDA, SEDIA, SKOR could facilitate investors further at their convenience.
Bioeconomy Corporation’s strong role that promise symbiotic value chain among all the stakeholders ranging from upstream to downstream sectors would benefit investors as they can get the assistance needed.
As Malaysia is blessed with abundance of natural resources and other biomass feed-stocks, setting up a plant in Malaysia will certainly benefit investors where they can reduce the cost of importing raw materials for their production. In addition, salary cap in Malaysia is fairly reasonable as compared to Europe or USA and therefore, having their business at this corner of the world would save their cost in paying workers salary.
Malaysia is a provisional adherence member to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Mutual Acceptance of Data (MAD) Agreement. Aside from the adoption and implementation of international standards such as GMP, GLP and GCP, Malaysia is also actively involved in ASEAN regulatory harmonization initiatives which will enhance cooperation between countries and boost trade.