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JOHOR BAHARU: The National Biotechnology Talent Development Centre will be set up in Johor to address competency gaps in human capital requirement for the biotechnology industry.

Established through collaboration between the Malaysian Biotechnology Corporations (BiotechCorp) Industry Centre of Excellence for Biotechnology, Johor Biotechnology and Biodiversity Corporation (J-Biotech), and Universiti Malaysia Pahang, the centre is set to begin operation early next year.

Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the centre would help produce competent human capital for the biotechnology industry and woo foreign companies to invest in the sector in the state.

Companies could provide opportunities to students to undergo industrial internship to prepare them for the biotechnology industry, he told a news conference after opening the Johor Bio Conference & Exhibition 2014 here yesterday.

J-Biotechs chief executive officer Wan Amir Jeffery Wan Abdul Majid said the centre would be located at the J-Biotech premise at the outset.

We are not going to build big buildings or infrastructure. We will coordinate with the industry and use their equipment or premise to provide training to students, he said.

BiotechCorp chief executive officer Datuk Dr Mohd Nazlee Kamal said the training modules and trainers would be provided through public-private partnership in order to develop talent pool to drive the nations bioeconomy agenda.

BiotechCorp has also announced four key initiatives under the Bioeconomy Community Development Programme at Bio Johor 2014 Conference & Exhibition here today.

The collaboration proposals were signed by BiotechCorp, Johor Biotechnology and Biodiversity Corp (J-Biotech) and Koperasi Pemuafakatan Kota Tinggi involving four bio-based companies on Bioeconomy Community Development projects.

The companies are PureCircle Sdn Bhd (to develop stevia plantation); The Holstein Milk Co Sdn Bhd (to develop dairy farm); BioAlpha (Johor Herbal) Sdn Bhd (to develop herbs farm); and, Flora Hive Enterprise Sdn Bhd (to develop honeybee farm).

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Site Last Updated 10:57 pm, Monday