With their economies now clearly launched on the IT revolution, countries in east Asia see biotech as the logical next step, reports Japan's Nikkei Weekly. New research institutions are being established, private/public reseaerch projects are being launched, and some biotech ventures have begun to appear on the scene.

In April, Singapore announced a program that put more biology into its school curricula, endowed more science scholarships and showered tax breaks on pharma firms to promote human resources development in the life sciences. It also offered help to students doing research at foreign universities and promised research positions for them on their return, reports the Far Eastern Economic Review. Over the next five years, the government intends to provide funding of S$60 m (US $35 m) to nurture 250 biotech researchers.

Through government initiative, Singapore has already established itself as the premier research center of Asia. The National University of Singapore boasts not only the world-renowned Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, but now the Institute of Molecular Agrobiology - set up in 1995, - and the Bio-Informatics Centre established the following year. Singapore's National Science Technology Board has also shown keen interest in promoting the Indian Institute of Biotechnology proposed to be set up by the SM Krishna Ministry in Bangalore. The Taiwan government wants to ensure the same success with biotech as it did with IT. It is attracting biology-related companies to land acquired near the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park, which fueled the growth of Taiwan's IT industry.

The National Health Research Institute, established in 1996 and modeled on the US National Institutes of Health, will guide biotech research; it has launched several projects in collaboration with universities.The government is also promoting a plan to bring school science teachers up to date with the latest developments in genomics. Venture-capital firms that specialize in biotech start-ups have emerged in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Taiwanese venture capital is flowing into promising new US biotechs and mediating technology transfers. In South Korea, the number of bio-ventures has grown to 300 from 80 last year.

For South Korea, this year marks the start of a new era in growth of a domestic biotechnology industry, and eight government agencies involved in biology research are jointly promoting research and development projects. In June this year, the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) for the first time officially judged as safe a genetically improved seed - herbicide- tolerant soyabeans.

China is accelerating the commercialisation of Bt maize/com soy and rice seeds. Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, reported that China has begun construction of a US $36 million facility in north east Jilin province to produce pest-resistant crops. Production of 270 tons of Bt com seed, 30 tons of Bt soy seed and 200 tons of Bt rice seed will begin 2001. Worried about falling behind the West in biotechnology and given what is happening in the rest of the Asia-Pacific, the Japanese government is also gearing up support for biotechnology. About 10 years ago, Japanese researchers first sowed the ground in genetic research on rice. In 1998 an international consortium led by Japan began its sequencing project. The consortium's stated target date for competition was a distant 2008. But now, Japan is racing to stay for enough ahead of foreign rivals to reap a payoff.

The most startling call to combat came from US company Celera Genomics, which announced last year that it intended to complete sequencing of the rice genome within two years. Just after the announcement Japan increased the annual budget for research on the rice genome from yen 2 billion ($19 million) to yen 5 billion. The Japanese agriculture ministry is to register its very first domestically developed genetically improved rice variety this year and apply to the health ministry for approval.

The Japanese health ministry has so far approved 29 biotech varieties including seven of crops: corn, soybeans, rapeseed, potatoes, cotton, sugar beet and tomatoes. The agriculture ministry plans to provide $10.3 million to fund private sector R&D in biotech crops in 2000.

India is not far behind. In February this year, RS Paroda, director general of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), announced the launch of a major project to develop genetically improved pest-resistant cotton, rice and pigeon pea (known as Arhar or Tuvar). This is part of a Rs 90 crore World Bank aided National Agriculture Technology Project. The Karnataka, AP and WB governments have recently set up biotechnology missions. While Karnataka plans to set up an Institute of Biotechnology, HPis thinking on similar lines, APwill have a biotechnology center for horticulture, with a tissue-culture bank of a million strains of crops, functioning from September this year. The Nikkei Weekly/June5 , 2000. Far Eastern Economic Review /2000 and other media sources.

(Excerpted from `Biotechnology Global Update')