In February, Brazilian president Lula da Silva launched a policy for the development of biotechnology that could make the country a biotech leader within 15 years. The policy is designed to foster collaboration between industry and scientists and to create incentives for biotech scientists. This plan will add support to preexisting innovation initiatives (see IBO 10/15/06). According to the Brazilian government, there are 1,700 research groups in Brazil involved in biotechnology. By the government’s estimation, public and private investment in the biotechnology industry should be BRL 10 billion ($4.8 billion) over the next 10 years. To implement the policy, the government has formed a National Biotechnology Committee made up of members from various government ministries and public organizations. A specific area marked for improvement in the biotechnology industry is production methods.

Source: SciDev