While the economic development agencies in many states are trying to do more with less money, Chinese officials have mapped out ambitious plans to generate a million new biotech jobs by the end of 2015. And they're backing those ambitious plans with $308 billion of hard cash for science and technology.
To be sure, China has an agenda in mind for every segment of the biotech industry, including agricultural biotech, as it goes about the business of making biotechnology into an economic "pillar." Ma Hongjian, the deputy director of the China National Center for Biotechnology Development, says that the government intends to reserve 20 billion yuan for new drug development and control of disease.
"The development priorities of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015)--biopharmacy, bio-engineering, bio-agriculture and biomanufacturing--will bring benefits to Chinese people," declared Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong. And there are specific goals in mind, including an extra year of life expectancy and a lower infant mortality rate.
- here's the story from China Daily