A group composed of government officials and executives of biotechnology businesses will attend this year's annual international convention of the Bio-technology Industry Organization (BIO) to be held at the Philadelphia Convention Center in Philadelphia from Sunday to next Wednesday.
More than 18,000 biotech executives, investors, journalists, policy makers and scientists from more than 60 countries are expected to attend the convention which will feature exhibitions as well as academic sessions and workshops on topics ranging from nanotechnology applications, the mapping of the human genome, and personalized medicine, to pharmacogenomics and other cutting-edge technologies.
Members of the delegation will include Minister without Portfolio Lin Ferng-ching (林逢慶); Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥); Johnsee Lee (李鍾熙), president of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) ; specialists from the Council of Agriculture, the Department of Health, and the National Science Council, as well as executives of several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
Lin, Shih and Lee will give a report on Taiwan's biotechnology development at a briefing luncheon on June 21.
Biotechnology has been a priority sector in this country enjoying government incentives, with more than 1,000 companies engaging in biotechnology research and development, pharmaceutical production, and manufacturing of medical devices.
Government statistics indicate that in 2003, the biotechnology sector's production totalled approximately NT$131.6 billion (US$4.2 billion), with pharmaceutical production accounting for NT$61.4 billion of that total, or 0.4 percent of the global total, and medical device output hitting NT$40.6 billion, or 0.6 percent of the global total.
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