Kiwis hire former IMB chief to ID trans-Tasman opps

One of the fathers of Queensland's biotech industry, Prof Peter Andrews, has been hired by New Zealand to pinpoint promising opportunities for colloboration between the two regions.

His appointment is the most recent initiative in a year-long series of moves to harness the mutual strengths of Queensland and New Zealand in the biotech sphere.

Andrews, who helped found Queensland's premier biotech research institution, the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, is expected to identify prospective participants in collaborative ventures both at government-to-government and company-to-company levels.

On a macro level that would involve government resources, Queensland and New Zealand deploy complementary skills in areas such as marine systems (tropical versus temperate), livestock (beef cattle versus dairy cattle) and forestry (hardwood versus softwood).

"There are also opportunities at a company-to-company level and I hope to identify quite a lot of those over the next month," Andrews said.

He is working through New Zealand's Economic Development Agency, which falls partly under the aegis of Science Minister, Pete Hodgson, a strong supporter of biotech collaboration between Australia and New Zealand.

Hodgson headed an initial trade mission to Queensland and other eastern States last June which opened the door to collaborative ventures. In return, Queensland Innovation and Information Economy Minister Paul Lucas led a mission to New Zealand during the recent Pac Rim Conference. Building on that, a New Zealand biotech trade mission arrived in Queensland last month headed by Industry New Zealand director of biotechnology Peter Lennox.

Lennox said Andrews' brief was to examining synergies between the New Zealand and Queensland's biotech resources and developing relationships between different types of companies: "We need to be smart about how we get companies together."

The Lennox-led mission was accompanied by representatives from half a dozen New Zealand organisations and private companies with biotech strengths, including AgResearch (contract R&D), Virionyx Corp (drug development), Reel Two (bioinformatics) and HortResearch (horticulture, life sciences).

"We have 10 [joint venture] deals that are in progress at the moment, some of which are near completion and some which just started on this trip," Lennox said.

He cited two as being a project being developed between HortResearch and Queensland's Dept of Primary Industry and another between Griffith University and Anzo Pharmaceuticals.

"This is not pie in the sky... there are another four or five happening and this is just with a couple of visits."

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie is expected to follow up the issue when he heads a trade delegation to New Zealand in the next few weeks which will involve several dozen Queensland companies, including some biotechs.