Taipei NanKang: International Biotech Industry Hub

Under the strong promotion and active leadership by the government, Taiwan’s biotech industry has germinated and grown tremendously over the years. During 2010~2014, the number of biotech companies that have gone public grew from 44 to 88, and the total market values grew from 218.8 billion TWD in 2010 to 637.7 billion TWD in 2014, attesting a remarkable performance of the biotech industry of Taiwan over the last few years.

Biotech industry is a typical knowledge-economy industry, which requires long term capital inputs and integration of resources from the industry, government, academic and research sectors for steady growth. The government has been actively developing biotech clusters by building biotech infrastructures and integrating resources, including basic R&D facilities, business incubators, regulatory consulting services etc., to accelerate market entries of R&D outcomes from the medical biotech industry.

The NanKang Biotech Park is the first industrial park in Taiwan specializing on medical biotech. It is located in Building F of the phase-2 NanKang Software Park, and houses biotech firms, research institutes, the NanKang Biotech Incubation Center (NBIC) and the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries Promotion Office, MOEA (BPIPO). Resources for international cooperation, investing and financing, market information, business partnering and commercialization of R&D outcomes, in combination with research capacities of the nearby Academia Sinica, are available to biotech firms in the park.

Since completion of construction in 2003, the NanKang Biotech Park has helped nurture numerous biotech enterprises, and a biotech clustering effect has appeared. Two firms in the park, namely, Taiwan Liposome Company, TLC and Medigen Biotech Corp., have led the way in vibrant growths of local biotech market since 2012, and the park has become a stronghold for developing biotech new drugs in Taiwan.

On May 18, 2015, Taipei city mayor Ko Wen-je and president of Academia Sinica Wong Chi-huey signed an agreement for cooperative development of the Taipei Biotech Cluster, and announced the integration of the National Biotech Research Park directed by Academia Sinica into the Taipei Biotech Cluster Development Plan directed by the city government.

From the viewpoint of biotech value chain, the National Biotech Research Park, which focuses on basic biotech research, is positioned at the upstream of biotech drug development process. The research park encompasses centers for biomedical translation, core subject researches and bio-information, and facilitates the linkage of basic research outputs with animal and clinical testings, as well as incubators for further development of early-stage drug candidates. It also includes the National Laboratory Animal Center (NLAC), the Development Center for Biotechnology (DCB), the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration(TFDA), Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Supra Integration and Incubation Center (Si2C), the Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry and the Research Center for Biotechnology and Medicine Policy, and provides resources for developing biotech new drugs from the discovery to the clinical testing stages.

The Taipei Biotech Cluster Development Plan will aim at bridging current gap in the new drug value chain - clinical testing, for the NanKang Biotech Research Park. In the plan, the land for the center location of the Taipei Biotech Cluster will come from: (a) the old site for the Chung-hsiao Millitary Base, plus a piece of city land to the west, (b) a piece of land as feedback from the Chiao Thai Hsing Flour Mill under the city renewal program, (c) a type-3 business area east of the NanKang Transport Station. Area (a) above is primarily for the development of clinical testing laboratories (wet lab) and small scale pilot plants, while areas (b) and (c) above are for office buildings to house biotech companies and supportive service firms.

Through the cooperation between the Academia Sinica and the Taipei City government, the cluster of biotech enterprises and institutes located in the NanKang district of Taipei, including Academia Sinica (focusing on life sciences and biotechnology research) , the National Biotech Research Park (focusing on new drug discovery and optimization; to be completed in April, 2016), the Taipei Biotech Cluster (focusing on clinical testing), and the NanKang Biotech Park (focusing on incubation and commercialization) will become the main engine for thrusting Taiwan’s biotech drug industry forward. It is estimated this biotech hub in Taipei metropolitan will provide 7000 jobs and generate annual revenues over 50 billion TWD. As the NanKang high-speed train station is opened in 2014, and NanKang becoming a transportation pivot in the tri-rail co-construct, the Taipei biotech hub in NanKang is only 35 minutes away from the Hsinchu Biomedical Research Park. This may pave roads to an international biotech industry hub on Taiwan in the near future.