Representatives of major biotechnology research houses in southern Taiwan plan to submit a proposal asking Academia Sinica to establish an agricultural biotechnology research center in southern Taiwan, officials said yesterday.
The proposed research center would act as a unifying mechanism to bring together organizations, universities and research centers that are focused on using biotechnology to develop new kinds of seeds, foods and livestock. According to the proposal, the center would be located in the Tainan Science-based Industrial Park (台南科學園區), where there are plenty of room for expansion and the possible construction of a new university, if all goes well.
"The potential of agricultural biotechnology is huge ... If we could combine northern and southern agricultural biotechnology research and resources, that would be very powerful," said Su Huan-Chih (蘇煥智), commissioner of Tainan County Government.
He said the local government and peripheral research institutes want to work with Academia Sinica due to its extensive technology and research talent in the area of agricultural biotech.
Su added that the county government had pledged to support a new center by constructing at least one research facility, which the research groups could then fill with scientific instruments and staff.
Southern Taiwan is the perfect location for such a center, Su said, due to the prominence of agriculture there, as well as a plethora of research centers. These include the Taiwan Livestock Research Institute (畜產試驗所), where Taiwan's first cloned animal was born, and the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC, 亞蔬中心), Taiwan's only international agricultural research center.
"Now that we have entered the WTO, the greatest challenge to local farmers is whether or not they can compete and survive. Unless we work together, [farming in Taiwan] is finished," he added.
Professor Yang Huey-lang (楊惠郎), director of the Institute of Biotechnology at National Cheng Kung University, said a single center that brings together all of Taiwan's agriculture-focused biotech research would also enable the government to focus its funds -- instead of spreading public research dollars too thinly on too many projects.
The research houses believe support from Academia Sinica would be paramount in gaining support for the bio-agricultural center, and therefore solicited the former vice-president of the Academia Sinica, Yang Hsiang-fa (
Yang Hsiang-fa said that he had already brought the idea to current Academia president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), who was very positive about the idea of setting up an agricultural center in southern Taiwan.
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