MOEA, Austrian Business Agency reach agreement

One office wtithin the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA, 經濟部) has been hard at work preparing Taiwan for its transition to a knowledge-based economy by building biotechnology, trade and research links worldwide -- and adding Austria to its portfolio yesterday.

The economics ministry's Biotechnology Program office (生物技術與製藥工業發展推動小組) and Austrian Business Agency held a biotechnology investment seminar yesterday to build closer trade and investment ties in the areas of gene therapy, research and environmental biotechnology.

Officials from both offices pointed out the advantages of links with Austria and highlighted the development of biotechnology in Taiwan.

At the seminar, officials said it was time Taiwan stopped worrying about its manufacturing sector and focused on research and development. Biotechnology Program Office Director Elan Liao (廖怡蘭) even called the exodus of manufacturing across the Strait to China merely "temporary relief" to facing the fact of a future based on creation and innovation rather than the dead-end of OEM manufacturing.

The joint Austrian-Taiwan biotechnology seminar added the small European nation to a growing list of worldwide strategic partners the Biotechnology Program Office has worked at developing closer biotech relations with, including Sweden, Australia, Canada, France, Japan and the UK.

Although Austria may evoke images of the music and culture of Mozart, Beethoven and the Vienna choir, the nation has also produced its share of inventions. The nation holds the distinction of having the most patents per capita in the world.

In the field of medical technology, Austrian physician Karl Landsteiner won the Nobel prize in 1930 for sorting the blood groups and defining them as A, B and O. Current developments include an artificial liver Austrian company Biotech Systems plans to bring to the market next year.

Wilfried Gunka, international director of the Austrian Business Agency hopes Taiwanese firms will find his country the ideal place to set up their headquarters in order to take advantage of the nation's ties with both Western and Eastern Europe.

A member of the EU, Austria maintained friendly relations with Eastern Europe throughout the century. The nation's cold war neutrality allowed trade with then-communist Russia and Bulgaria and also old Austro-Hungarian Empire nations like Czechoslovakia and Hungary which were stuck behind the iron curtain.

"A number of top multinationals have set up their headquarters in Vienna to take advantage of our East-West ties," said Gunka, including US-Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, tech firms IBM, HP, Siemens and Panasonic.

Officials from both sides said environmental biotechnology and research in gene therapies and pharmaceuticals are areas of mutual benefit. Environmental biotech includes equipment and methods for cleaning hazardous pollutants and waste material to keep air, soil and water pollution under control.

The Biotechnology Program Office's Liao said each country in the global economy must discover and capitalize on what it does best, its niche. For Taiwan, she hopes part of the answer is in biotechnology.