State must gear up
By Pat Omandam
to compete in biotech
boom, experts say
Star-BulletinBiotechnology is a booming field that by the year 2020 could be a $500 billion industry that employs 3.5 million people in the United States.
And if Hawaii wants to be a leader, the state must make changes now, according to a panel of Hawaii biotechnology experts and University of Hawaii officials.
"The 21st century will be the biotech century," said Dr. Alan T. Teramura, UH senior vice president for research.
Teramura told the Senate Education and Technology Committee yesterday that biotechnology locally could become a $7.5 billion industry that employs 9,000 people in 20 years or so, based on conservative estimates.
But before that can happen, he and other panelists say the state must loosen regulations and provide incentives to these types of businesses.
Among the suggested changes are fewer restrictions on importing micro-organisms -- with Hawaii currently one of the most restrictive states -- and a fast-track permitting process for bio-tech companies so they are not discouraged by red tape.
Laith R. Reynolds, executive chairman of ProBio Inc., said the 4 percent state general excise tax makes biotech companies think twice about relocating to Hawaii.
Reynolds, whose company has bought the rights to market UH animal-cloning intellectual property, said a number of biotech companies have been spawned from UH research.
The key now is to take that research into broad production in areas such as forestry, marine biology, aquaculture and agriculture.
Dr. Mark E. Huntley, chairman and chief executive officer of Aquasearch Inc., says the state must provide incentives to stimulate investment. Lawmakers need to ask why a company might want to start a business, or move to Hawaii to stay.
While the UH is involved in the local biotech industry, it can't do it all, he said.
"Just because we have UH doesn't mean we're going to have a Silicon Valley," Huntley said.
