Business | Technology
Biotech free zone to create 20,000 jobs
Dubiotech, a free trade zone being developed to attract biotechnology companies and researchers to Dubai, will create 20,000 jobs when completed, said Dubiotech executive director Abdul Qader Al Khayat.
- By Shakir Husain, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 August 28, 2006
Dubai: Dubiotech, a free trade zone being developed to attract biotechnology companies and researchers to Dubai, will create 20,000 jobs when completed, said Dubiotech executive director Abdul Qader Al Khayat.
These will be high-tech positions, which will employ people with specialised skills in both Dubiotech projects and companies operating within the zone, he said.
Set up under the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Authority, Dubiotech facilities will be built in phases on a 300-hectare area close to the Dubailand project. Work on laying the infrastructure has begun and is scheduled for completion by July 2007.
Construction of the four-storey lab building will start in two months and will take about two years to finish.
The headquarters building, which will mainly house offices, is in the final design stage and construction work will start in four months.
Al Khayat said infrastructure development cost is about Dh130 million, while the lab and headquarters buildings will require an investment of Dh600 million.
Dubiotech is also busy developing a regulatory framework to tackle copyright issues and intellectual property rights.
"We will have most of the basic regulations completed by the end of the year. These regulations will be available in both English and Arabic. US-based institute RTI (Research Triangle Institute) is our consultant and advisor on regulation," Al Khayat said.
Dubiotech has already licensed 16 companies and is in the process of welcoming 10 more companies.
The licenced companies are currently operating from temporary locations and will move into the biotech park when it is ready in early 2008. Among Dubiotech's biggest clients is American biotechnology firm Amgen. It will set up its regional office in Dubai to sell cancer and arthritis drugs to patients throughout the Middle East and Africa.
Dubiotech has also signed an agreement with Frankfurt Biotechnology Innovation Centre to jointly conduct life sciences research and collaborate in developing healthcare products.
Al Khayat said Dubiotech has received "a lot of interest from pharmaceutical companies and local investors."
He is optimistic that the project will be successful despite the UAE's own lack of academic work in the biotechnology field.
"These days transfer of knowledge is not a big issue, especially since Dubai is already a business hub. There are already big companies from different sectors present in Dubai and I don't think biotechnology will be different in that sense."
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