BiotechCorp intensifies bioeconomy in Malaysia through a collaboration proposal with Belgium’s Ghent Bio-Economy Valley (GBEV).

Kuala Lumpur, 2 March 2015 – Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation Sdn Bhd (BiotechCorp) joined forces with Ghent Bio-Economy Valley (GBEV) from Belgium to strengthen and support the bioeconomy business and research communities in both Belgium and Malaysia through an exchange of a Collaboration Proposal. Held at BiotechCorp’s headquarters in Menara Atlan, Kuala Lumpur, the event was graced by YB Datuk Dr. Abu Bakar Mohamad Diah, the Deputy Minister of Science Technology and Innovation (MOSTI); H.E. Daniel Dargent, the Ambassador of Belgium; Mr. Hendrik-Jan Van Engelen, Member of the GBEV Board; Mr Suken Chu, Advisor to Chief Minister of Melaka and Investment Director of Melaka Biotechnology Corporation; along with representatives of GBEV and members of the BioNexus status and other bio-based companies.

This marks the first collaboration between Malaysia and Belgium in the area of bioeconomy. The proposal seeks to significantly contribute to the bioeconomy by providing opportunities that can benefit private bio-based companies in Malaysia and Belgium. The partnership is hoped to encourage business partnering and expansion opportunities, multi-disciplinary areas of collaborations, innovative funding opportunities, as well as sharing of information, tools and resources for the development of new bio-based products, processes and technologies. The initiative is also aligned with Bioeconomy Transformation Programme’s (BTP) main agenda to cut across various different industries leveraging on bio-based activities, thus driving towards achieving the goals of Vision 2020, which is to transform Malaysia into a high income nation.

YB Datuk Dr. Abu Bakar Mohamad Diah expressed his delight that MOSTI’s working visit to Belgium in May 2014 has materialised into a collaboration with GBEV, thus creating opportunities for Malaysia to cooperate with other global bioeconomic players. “The ministry targets 360 innovative high impact products to be commercialised by 2020, and we hope that today’s international collaboration will be one of the drivers for Malaysia to achieve this aim,” he added.

In his opening remarks, Chief Operating Officer of BiotechCorp, En. Razwin Sulairee Hasnan Termizi said that it was an honour for BiotechCorp to join forces with GBEV, a non-profit organisation which supports the development of bio-based activities for economic growth in the region of Ghent, Belgium. He said the collaboration proposal allows Malaysia to tap into GBEV’s key strengths, which include its integrated flexible ecosystem comprising of the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, a flexible and multi-purpose pilot plant that develops and scales up bio-based products and processes, as well as the easily accessible Port of Ghent, the largest bio port in Europe.

Recognising the value of building a sustainable industry and an efficient management through an integrated cluster models like GBEV, En Razwin added, “BiotechCorp is looking forward to working together with GBEV to learn and implement similar approaches in Malaysia, which can potentially boost the nation’s economy. Furthermore, Malaysia possesses resources and existing platforms to assimilate and possibly improve GBEV’s ecosystem model for Malaysia.” Mr. Hendrik-Jan Van Engelen returned the sentiments, saying in his speech that it is important for GBEV and Belgium to develop a relationship and international partnership with Malaysia by exchanging innovation and technology to fuel the economic growth between the 2 countries.