1.00pm - By KENT ATKINSON
A Government taskforce says that to create annual biotech exports worth $1 billion, New Zealand needs to triple the size of its biotech sector to 1000 companies over the next decade and boost employment in the sector from 3900 to 18,000.
The core group of biotechnology companies would need to jump from 40 to 200 -- including at least two with market capitalisation over a billion dollars each -- and the sector's total market capitalisation would need to be $10 billion, according to the Biotechnology Taskforce.
The taskforce released its report today, saying that within 10 years the sector could not only help lift New Zealand into the top half of the wealth rankings for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), but win that nation global recognition for biotech excellence.
"Our target for growth in core biotechnology companies, translates into a net gain in the order of 15 new companies a year," the taskforce said today.
Some start-ups and some existing companies would also fail.
Science Minister Pete Hodgson said today that biotechnology would be critical to maintaining the competitiveness of the nation's agricultural sector.
"It doesn't stop with farming, forestry and fishing," Mr Hodgson said in notes for the release of the taskforce report today at the Museum of New Zealand. "Biotechnology applications also have significant benefits for health care, forensics, and biosecurity."
"We will dramatically increase the quality of our research, grow our talent pool, and develop exciting new products for the global market."
The taskforce set out actions need to "grow" the sector, and remove barriers to its growth.
"It has some bold recommendations," he said. "Government and industry have to grab the opportunities presented to ensure that we do not lose momentum.
Mr Hodgson said the biotech sector had been identified by the Government as a key growth sector deserving special attention and developing it was an investment in the nation's future.
"The taskforce has delivered some bold recommendations, which will be tested with the wider biotechnology sector in a series of briefings in the next few months," he said.
The 11-member taskforce which wrote today's 59-page report, Growing the Biotechnology Sector, was chaired by Bill Falconer, chairman of the biotechnology sector's main industry lobby, Biotenz, and included three well-known scientists and other people involved in the agricultural sector.
Mr Falconer, a former chairman of the Government's genetic engineering watchdog, the Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) said the nation's reputation in science related to primary production on land and water "is a firm foundation on which to bring about changes in related industries and the whole primary sector.
"And building on our world-class medical research, we can tap into a huge global market for pharmaceutical and biomedical products," he said.
But to do this, the biotech industry would need extra scientists and funding.
"We need significant growth in this talent pool of scientists, business people, and scientific entrepreneurs," Mr Falconer said.
New Zealand would have to compete with major trading states for these skills, and must do more to value the potential of science-based careers in biotechnology.
The sector's future human resource needs must be evaluated and recruitment targeted to fill the gaps in capability.
"Access to capital is the other major hurdle," Mr Falconer said. Biotechnology had inherently high research and development costs, and took three to four times as along as other hi-tech sectors to commercialise.
In a 28-point action plan recommended by the taskforce, it has called for investment in biotechnology research to be boosted to $300 million a year over the next five years.
That is in addition to the Government immediately helping industry set up a "horizontal" Biotechnology Investment Fund of $200 million to stimulate commercial development of viable research.
The government should also immediately establish a "proof-of-concept" fund to stimulate the pull-through of basic research.
In addition the taskforce wants "rolling action" from the Government to look again at restructuring taxes for the biotech sector.
To find people, industry and Government should immediately target the annual recruitment of five key scientists and entrepreneurs to establish new and innovative research laboratories.
There should also be action to analyse gaps in the skill base, and recommend how universities develop programmes to bridge the identified gaps.
Under infrastructure, the Government should also immediately identify "large asset platform" technology gaps, and ways to fund the filling of those gaps. This should include creating a dedicated "request-for-interest" process to determine what capacity building was needed.
In the long-term, the Government should work with industry on building community understanding of genetic engineering and other biotechnology, including projects that gain support from appropriate Maori authorities.
In a call for changes to regulations to support the sector, the taskforce has sought a biennial review of compliance costs, such as public hearings before Erma on applications to create new organisms.
And it said the Government should immediate change the process for Erma hearings to require stricter compliance with rules of evidence at public hearings, divert all "generic submissions" not specifically related to a genetic engineering application to a body such as the Bioethics Council.
In recommendations to boost global participation, the taskforce said government and industry should actively promote New Zealand biotechnology abroad, and create an operation in the United States to increase access to philanthropic and US government funds.
- NZPA
Full text: Biotechnology report
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