President Ma Ying-jeou on Tuesday urged the continued development of the nation’s biotech industry. He was speaking with the recipients of the 2014 Healthcare Quality Improvement Campaign awards.
Ma said that in the future, biotechnology will become an important industry not only for Taiwan but also for the world as a whole. He said the government has invested a large amount of funds in related fields.
President Ma said he hopes that Taiwan can develop leading corporations in the field of biotechnology.
“The government hopes to increase the market potential of the nation’s biotechnology sector by progress in the areas of research and development, laws and regulations, and market development," said Ma.
"Our goal this year is to invest more than NT$50 billion in the field, and to generate a turnover of NT$500 billion by 2020. We hope to establish five flagship companies with more than NT$10 billion in revenue for each company.”
Ma said that in 2014, Scientific American ranked Taiwan 17th in terms of global competitiveness in biotechnology. That puts Taiwan ahead of Korea and Japan. However, Ma said he hoped the government can encourage more Taiwanese talent to enter the field of biotechnology.