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And Algae Shall Inherit the Earth

And Algae Shall Inherit the Earth

In October, I touched on the promise of biofuels as part of a larger revolution in consumer biology. The recent emergence of biofuels on the political agenda is worthy of note. It is clear that the world’s dependence on fossil fuel is strained on two fronts: the projection that global supplies will eventually run out, and the need to reduce greenhouse emissions and alter the course of global warming.  Read more

GM Plants and 7 billion people

GM Plants and 7 billion people

Beginning in the mid-’70s, Brazil prepared for a gene revolution. Patent, cultivar and biosafety laws were enacted in the ’90s before the commercial release of agricultural biotech products. Brazil has consistently invested in human resources training in science for the last 30 years. Science in Brazil is growing at a rate comparable to or higher than most developed countries. Also, during the past 25 years, Brazil has trained excellent plant cell, molecular and developmental biologists at EMBRAPA research center CENARGEN (the National Research Center for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology), to team up with plant geneticists and breeders to develop the  … Read more

Biotech in Malaysia

Biotech in Malaysia

Malaysia is located in Southeast Asia with two distinct regions, namely Peninsular west Malaysia and East Malaysia. It has a population of approximately 28 million, and is famous for elegant and gigantic “PETRONAS Twin Towers” located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur (pictured above, at night). Malaysia also has one of the best economic records in Asia, with GDP growing an average 6.5% for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by its rich natural resources, mining and agriculture, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce and medical tourism. It is one of the largest  … Read more

India’s Vision 2020 – BioPharma Strategy – R&D

India's Vision 2020 - BioPharma Strategy - R&D

In order for India’s biopharmaceutical players to compete effectively on the global scale for biosimilars market by 2020, the private sector as well as Government of India (GOI) will have to invest a considerable amount of capital in building the manufacturing capacity and skills base to provide the necessary enabling environment. The Department of Pharmaceuticals, GOI in partnership with Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) have attempted to address this opportunity and provided the key recommendations into six broad sections, which you can read about here. The first section is focused on the research & development area  … Read more

Retail biology

Retail biology

The recent sad news about Steve Jobs got me thinking about the evolution of markets. In the early years of “information and communication technologies” (ICT) there was an obvious focus on the mainstays. People like Jobs and Bill Gates focused on the hardware and software that would ultimately drive the nascent industry. Biology is following a similar path, with a natural focus on the development of the main platforms that have gradually improved and been refined much in the same way as ITC. However, like ICT, many (myself included) expect that we are on the brink of an explosion of  … Read more

The Entrepreneur’s Bookshelf

The Entrepreneur's Bookshelf

Joyce’s Ulysses. Huxley’s Brave New World. Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. Some of the most important books ever published in the English language. Or so I’ve heard. I’ve never read them. Of course, I want to read them. I suspect most of us have a reading list we apparently only manage to add to. Well, here a few more candidates. I took note of the titles and authors of every book that came up during presentations or discussions over two years in the Kauffman Fellows Program, which I’m proud to say I recently completed. Somewhere between a mini-MBA course,  … Read more

The Future of Startups in Brazil

The Future of Startups in Brazil

I’ve already written about Brazil as an emerging power in the area of science. A remaining challenge for the country is to move from science to industry in major areas, including biotech. I’ve also written about the laws surrounding biotech, but these laws mostly affect medium and large-size companies, because those can demonstrate incomes from which fiscal incentives can be applied and deducted from income tax. But what happens to small, start-up biotech companies? Do they have a future? Brazil has launched a system called “subvenção economica,” which is inserted in the law previously mentioned. Since 2006, there has been  … Read more

Funding Bioentrepreneurs in South Africa

Funding Bioentrepreneurs in South Africa

Many business-minded individuals and young entrepreneurs who cannot find jobs in the public sector are now creating their own small enterprises. Bioentrepreneurs in South Africa have a vast avenue to seek funds for their innovative projects. Besides commercial banks, there are government agencies such as the Development Bank of South Africa job fund, the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), Industrial Development Cooperation (IDC), Growth Fund and Enablis Khula Loan Fund. South Africa’s ZAR9 billion (US$1.3 billion) Jobs Fund recently announced by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in his budget vote plans to create 150,000 jobs over the next three years. The fund  … Read more