The Biologic Revolution

The Biology Revolution

BIOTECHNOLOGY is simply “technology applied on biology”, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine.

Indeed, the modern world went through the “physics revolution” that saw the birth of nuclear power and the “chemical revolution” that lead to the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. And now it is the biology revolution.

Biotechnology now plays a central role in:

>> developing medicine and other therapies
>> understanding diseases
>> forensics
>> improving animal and plant production
>> increasing industry effectiveness
>> environmental monitoring
>> developing alternatives to fossil fuels

Some aspects of biotechnology are very contentious. Genetically modified food, use of animals in research, stem cell development and cloning hog the headlines. These technologies may be unsafe with risks to us or the environment. There are sometimes serious conflicts with society’s beliefs.

Still, biotech is the current buzz and the definite wave of the future. It is seen as the technology to “heal, feed and fuel” the world. There is a huge “biotech war” shaping up globally with much money being poured into this arena.

Malaysia has also plunged into the global marketplace with the launch of the National Biotech Policy on April 28, 2005. The Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation is the facilitator for our biotech ecosystem.

They will also look into creating commercial opportunities; providing funding and industry development services; and advancing research and development and commerce in agriculture biotechnology, healthcare biotechnology and industrial biotechnology. The National Biotechnology Policy is to be implemented in three phases that would eventually see Malaysia as a global biotech player with 20 global icons by 2020.

With India, China and Australia in close proximity as well as Singapore just across the causeway, we have our job cut out for us. For starters, Malaysia is late on the block. That is not necessarily a bad thing. We can learn from the mistakes of others and use it to our advantage.

Focus
Biotech is big. The markets are big. The areas involved stretch from the colours of the rainbow - red biotech (medicine), green biotech (agriculture), blue biotech (marine) and grey biotech (industry). The money involved is big. The rewards are going to be big.

We are a small player moving in late with limited resources. We need to be smart in defining our goals and direction.

Let us use a sport analogy. If Malaysia was aiming for an Olympic gold medal, it certainly would not be in soccer. It should be in badminton or squash. If we are really smart, we should aim to get sepak takraw into the games. It is not sexy but the objective is to hear Negara Ku and see the Jalur Gemilang raised high.

To win in the brutal global marketplace, we will need to ruthlessly focus on our strengths. That would be in agriculture where we can be proud of some successes with palm oil and rubber. If we are focused, we could do a lot more.

Funding
More importantly, we need to develop the needed funding infrastructure – seed finding, debt financing, banks, venture capital, private equity and grants as well as soft loans. Government mandated banks need to get our there and support “green field” projects which are viable. Here we are truly lacking.

It is well known that the gestation period of biotech is longer - certainly longer than in the IT industry. That leads to what is often called the “valley of death”. This refers to the critical period between an inventive idea and an actual product in the market.

Without the necessary funding, many start ups end up dead in the valley. If we are serious about being a global player in biotech, we need to fix financing at home.

Funding entrepreneurs and start ups are very vital in the creation of a new industry. It is companies like these that once created the IT industry in the Silicon Valley.

Malaysia has problems here and needs to strive to solve or minimise it quickly.

Human Capital
To play in the global marketplace and win, we will need world class people to lead world class companies. There is no other way. We have to nurture our best people and be prepared to open our borders to the best biotech brains in research and product development. We will need to collaborate with the best wherever possible anywhere in the world.

Be Efficient
Biotech runs across many different areas. In Malaysia, biotech would involve working with and through half the ministries in the cabinet. This can be a true bureaucracy trap. Many ideas and plans could get unnecessarily stalled (and they do!). We need to be able to rise above that.

Be Accountable
All of us - stakeholders in the industry - need to get together and honestly appraise ourselves. Otherwise, the future of biotech may happen without us.

We have already made a start on April 28, 2005. It is a worthy one.

Let us make it work for future generations, and biotechnology will provide us with a vehicle for wealth generation that will take Malaysia to new heights. If we do it right, future generations will be proud of us.