An expanding bioscience sector generated $351 million income in 2009, according to a Statistics New Zealand survey.The Bioscience Survey 2009 found 108 core bioscience companies generated $351 million income in 2009 – about half of which came from e
An expanding bioscience sector generated $351 million income in 2009, according to a Statistics New Zealand survey.
The Bioscience Survey 2009 found 108 core bioscience companies generated $351 million income in 2009 – about half of which came from export goods.
The core group had an expenditure of $246 million.
But access to capital was the main constraint across the sector in both research and development (R&D) and commercialisation. Most bioscience partnerships and alliances were worth $5 million or less.
The re-vamped survey (formerly the Biotechnology Survey) found a total of 267 organisations were involved in the sector, which includes aquaculture, medical testing, microbes, and horticulture that have applications in the fields of health foods, wine and beer manufacturing, and animal and plant breeding, as well as biotechnology.
Besides the 108 core groups, the survey identified 123 active organisations (which use bioscience processes for the manufacturing of products) and 36 research organisations (including tertiary educators and Crown research institutes).
The main areas of work were in food and human nutrition, along with human biomedical science and drug discovery.
Auckland and Northland were home to the most bioscience organisations (22%), followed by the upper South Island – Marlborough, Tasmna, Canterbury and the West Coast (19%). Similar values (around 9% to 13% were recorded in remaining regions.
Over the next two years, 156 organisations expected to introduce at least one new or improved bioscience product to market.
Government statistician Geoff Bascand said the expanded survey reflected increasing interest in bioscience technologies because they played an important part in underpinning New Zealand’s most important economic sectors.
Bioscience – the development and applied knowledge of the way plants, animals and humans function to develop products and services – includes:
• Agriculture, feedstock and chemicals
• Aquaculture, horticulture and forestry
• Human and animal therapeutics and diagnostics (including clinical trials)
• Medical devices and equipment
• Research testing and medical laboratories
• Microbes
• Biotechnology
