Bioeconomy Roadmap By Early 2012, Says PM

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 21 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Mohd Najib Razak said on Monday the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti), along with BiotechCorp and related agencies, will roll out a Bioeconomy roadmap for Malaysia by early next year. The upcoming initiative will complement the National Biotechnology Policy. "Some of the focus areas our Bioeconomy roadmap will be looking at are Extracts, BioFeeds, BioControl, BioFertilisers, Genomics, BioSimilars and BioIndustrials," he said in his keynote at the BioMalaysia 2011 Conference & Exhibition here. The event was also co-organised with the 6th Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy which was held for the first time outside the US. During the event, Najib also unveiled the country's Biomass Strategy, themed "Biomass to Wealth", which will see the creation of new high value industries and 70,000 jobs of which 40,000 will be high-skilled. By 2020 the Biomass Strategy will generate RM30 billion in new income for Malaysia, he said. As the world's largest exporter of palm oil, he added, Malaysia generates a lot of biomass, which holds tremendous potential for high value added applications ranging from biofuels to bioplastics from cellulosic feed stock. With an estimated value of US$11.14 billion in 2015, biomass is targeted to be a vital contributor to the agricultural and industrial biotechnology sectors. The strategy is developed by Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM) in close collaboration with related government agencies, universities and business leaders. -- BERNAMA Malaysia