KUCHING: Sarawak Biodiversity Centre (SBC) hosted an online webinar entitled ‘Biotechnology and Biodiversity towards a Sustainable High-Tech Nation, Creating Systemic Change to Deliver Value’ on Thursday (Sept 22).
SBC stated that the webinar was delivered by Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) chief executive officer Hazami Habib.
It said the newly launched National Biotechnology Policy (DBN) 2.0 focused on three major pillars namely Agricultural Biotechnology and Food Security Biotechnology, Health Care and Welfare Biotechnology as well as Industrial Biotechnologies and Circular.
Elaborating further, it said this is in line with Malaysia’s aspiration to be a high-technology country by 2030.
“This policy will strengthen the existing biotechnology ecosystem and become a catalyst in solving the country’s challenges related to food security, pandemic management, and climate change crisis through local biotechnology solution methods.
“To unlock national policies, the ASM developed the 10-10 Malaysia Science, Technology, Innovation and Economy (MySTIE) to create higher value for biodiversity and biotechnology,” it said in a social media post.
According to SBC, the webinar provided an overview on the 10-10 MySTIE,10 technology drivers, 10 socio-economic sectors and the 30 niche areas to be developed in the next five to 10 years.
It added that the webinar also featured pilot projects such as Precision Biodiversity that can be replicated at the state level for managing land and biodiversity.
“Hazami touched on the National Planetary Health Action Plan 2030 to drive new innovations in giving solutions to the challenges towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“She is leading the management of ASM that comprises more than 700 Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) experts in Malaysia.
“In her years at ASM, she was involved in national and international level studies and programmes such as the National Astronaut Programme, National Science Challenge, ASEAN, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Meetings related STI as well as the first, second and third Science and Technology National Policy,” it said.
SBC pointed out that among ASM’s Flagship Studies which Hazami oversees are Mega Science Framework Study, Foreign Study on Malaysia 2050, Science Education Study and Science Outlook.
