Also, now a lot of food companies and a lot of traders claim their companies are biotech companies. They purchase some hardware or some products to sell in Taiwan and call themselves a biotech company. They do manufacturing and purchase the materials in the US and package it in Taiwan and call this a biotech company, or make milk and call it a biotech product -- or even soy sauce!
TT: Are companies like that getting government money?
Tzeng: Yes. Actually, I'm a reviewer for research grants and the government will say, "Look that company is a big company so if we invest in them then it's not like throwing money down a black hole."
That's why sometimes I feel very lonely, very powerless, because the real start-up biotech companies need money, they need help from the government.
I remem0ber in 1997 when Chiu and I were at Stanford University. I saw the signs that said the Taiwan government was planning to invest US$5.9 billion to jump-start Taiwan's biotech industry. Up to now they have only spent about 20 percent of that money, and of this 20 percent, about 80 percent goes to venture capitalists.
TT: But aren't those venture capital companies supposed to find good biotech start-ups to invest in?
Tzeng: Yes, but they don't have very good project managers or reviewers. A lot of venture capital reviewers know nothing [about biotechnology]. I remember the first venture capitalists I met -- one-and-a-half years back -- and they just asked me about the kind of chip that can be put into a PC. He meant a chip, a silicon chip, he didn't even take the time to review [before the meeting] to understand more about biotechnology.
TT: So do you think most of the government money being made available is not going to biotech companies?
Tzeng: No, it's not really going to biotech companies. Most of the money goes to food companies or it goes to pharmaceutical companies, but they are manufacturing companies -- no research and development. So, sometimes I feel very lonely. But we are very stubborn. We think we can do it with a small amount of money. It is slowing us down, but it won't stop us.
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