Taiwan and the UK signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the field of biotechnology.
The memorandum was signed by British Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) chief executive Douglas Kell and Taiwan’s National Science Council (NSC) Chairman Chen Cheng-hong (陳正宏) at Taiwan’s representative office in London.
Taiwan’s representative to the UK Katharine Chang (張小月) said bilateral scientific cooperation between Taiwan and the UK was a good way to enhance the well--being of the public in both countries, and the memorandum was a milestone in such efforts.
Under the memorandum, Taiwan and the UK will exchange visits by scientists, sponsor joint seminars and launch cooperative research projects in three major areas — food security, biomass energy and industrial biotechnology, as well as health bioscience.
Chen described the memorandum as a launching pad to the development of biotechnologies and products that will help address imminent global challenges, such as food security, the energy crisis and aging populations.
Cooperating with the BBSRC — the leading funding agency for bioscience research in the UK — can also help Taiwan’s biotechnology research become more familiar with research taking place in the international community, he said.
Kell said the BBSRC hoped to join with the NSC and research institutes in other countries to facilitate cooperation among biologists from around the world so they can come up with a series of solutions to global problems, Kell said.
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