Asia BioBusiness Pte. Ltd., the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), and the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) are pleased to announce that they will conduct a workshop on the “Commercialization of Biotech Crops; Learning from Asia” in Los Baños, the Philippines in the final quarter 2012.

The workshop will look at the commercialization pathway from initial target identification all the way through to post commercialization stewardship. A major component of the workshop will be the regulatory environment for both biosafety and food / feed safety and the demand that these put on the product developers. Attendees will also visit field trials in the Los Baños area.

What will be learned?

• Elements of the process to commercialize biotech-seeds: Regulatory frameworks for biosafety, intellectual property protection, and commercial approvals
• Biosafety considerations in early “proof of concept” experiments
• Biosafety-related requirements in contained and open field experiments
• Intellectual property management and technology transfer/exchange mechanisms
• Regulatory approval: Assembling a supporting dossier for biosafety approval – approach and information needs
• Environmental risk assessment for potential release of biotechnology crops
• Food and feed safety assessment: Principles, regulatory and science requirements
• Freedom-to-Operate” (FTO): Harmony between technical, governmental and social acceptance
• Protecting the investment: Product stewardship principles and programs such as resistance management
• Protecting the investment: Key messages and risk communication strategies to create receptive environments in specialized and general constituencies. How to design and conduct public acceptance, support-building activities
• Commercialization of Biotech Crops in the context of International Trade e.g. LLP issues
• Resource and knowledge networks to support biotechnology

Who should attend?

• Public sector scientists, R&D managers, government officials responsible for driving commercialization of biotechnology, and regulators, managers of biotechnology projects.
• Private sector, company personnel who desire a comprehensive understanding of the entire “R&D to product commercialization” chain
• Biotechnology managers of bilateral and multilateral donor organizations who want to gain a full understanding of this industry
• Portfolio managers and directors of investment and commercial banks
• Asia-based diplomatic personnel e.g. economics, commercial or agricultural attaches
• Legislators and their aides in countries with expressed interest to develop strong biotech industries

Resource Personnel

Asia BioBusiness Pte. Ltd.

• Professor Paul Teng
• Dr Andrew Powell
• Dr Margarita Escaler
• Dr Andrew Roberts

Researchers, regulators and private sector players from The Philippines, China, India and Vietnam who have been intimately involved in moving ideas from the laboratory into the field.

Course Format

• This is a 5-day, in-house and hands-on training and learning course;
• All participants are expected to be in residence as course hours will be from 08:30 to 17:30 each day;
• Attendees will be met at Manila International Airport.

Fees: US$ 2300

This includes course materials, all accommodation / meals, and all transfers. Accommodation will be at the SEARCA Guest House (similar to hall of residence type facilities). Hotel accommodation can be arranged for additional cost. This fee does not cover travel to and from The Philippines.

For the full syllabus and more information please contact;

Dr Andrew D Powell at adpowell [at] asiabiobusiness.com or use our contact page