Umbrella website links biotechnology sector

Almost 400 companies have listed their wares on a new website for "New Zealand Biotech Inc".

Industry New Zealand's new biotech manager, Peter Lennox, a Scotsman who headed the biotech team for Scottish Enterprise in Glasgow until July, said the new site would clear up "a lot of confusion in the marketplace".

"When I came to New Zealand it was very, very difficult to tell the difference between Industry NZ and Trade NZ and Investment NZ," he said.

Apart from Industry, Trade and Investment New Zealand, the group includes other public agencies which support biotechnology, such as the Health Research Council and the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology.

The website also provides basic data on 393 companies, listed under agri-forestry (233 companies), animal bioproducts (64), biomedical and healthcare (50), nutraceuticals (43), molecular pharming (20), bioinformatics and bioprocessing (13 each), forensic (12), waste treatment (9), and bioprospecting and nanotechnology (5 each).

Companies range from Dunedin business Bioinfo Tools, with a staff of one, to Otago University with 5000 staff and the US-based filtration company Pall Corporation with an office in Hamilton and 10,000 staff worldwide.

Biosphere New Zealand