Officials from the Vienna Biocenter plan to visit Taiwan next week to seek manufacturers for their biomedical products and cooperate with the Academia Sinica (中央研究院) on scholarly and research exchange between the two organizations, the Austrian Business Agency said yesterday.
Karl Kuchler from the Vienna Biocenter in Austria will head the delegation to Taiwan, and his itinerary calls for meetings with the nation's top research center, Academia Sinica, and a few of its biotech spin-offs.
In addition, the delegation plans to meet with officials from the Industrial Technology Research Institute's Biomedical Engineering Center (工研院生醫中心) in Hsinchu and an undisclosed number of biotech firms in the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (新竹科學園區).
"This is a big step in the biotech collaboration between Taiwan and Austria," said Paul Hsia (
"Austria has one of the highest patent rates in the world -- per capita -- and biotechnology is one of their focuses," he added.
The Vienna Biocenter was formed in Austria to promote biotechnology research cooperation between academia and private firms.
Originally, seven university research institutes, including one from the University of Vienna, set up facilities there to work together with private companies and institutions like the Institute of Molecular Pathology, which belongs to the Boehringer Ingelheim group of companies, one of the world's 20 leading pharmaceutical corporations.
Along with providing teaching and opportunities for educational advancement, the Biocenter has incubated a number of biotech start-ups. Over 700 scientists from throughout Eastern and Western Europe conduct research and teach at the Vienna Biocenter.
The Taiwan government has promoted the development of biotechnology related industries in Taiwan through a number of incentive programs including NT$20 billion in direct investment funds and NT$78 billion in incentives, cheap land costs in new science-based industrial parks throughout Taiwan, in combination with grants and other tax breaks.
The meeting with officials from the Vienna Biocenter should help move that plan forward, especially since part of Kuchler's plan is to visit manufacturers for possible OEM contract manufacturing work.
A meeting with Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tse (李遠哲) is also in the cards for the visiting delegation, and is expected to focus on academic exchanges.
A Nobel Prize winner for chemistry in 1986, Lee was chosen to lead Academia Sinica in part for his ability to garner researchers from around the world to work in the biotechnology department of the research organization.
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