Centre for industrial biotechnology opened

Islamabad : COMSATS Joint Centre for Industrial Biotechnology (CCIB) was inaugurated today in Tianjin, China. The Centre is to become the regional hub for research and development, capacity building and technology transfer in the areas of industrial biotechnology for COMSATS’ 27 Member Countries including Pakistan. The Centre has come to existence with the joint efforts of the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) and the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology (TIB), China, the latter being affiliated with COMSATS as its Centre of Excellence.

Pakistan’s Federal Minister, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain in his inaugural speech appreciated the role being played by COMSATS in facilitating collaborations among the developing countries in S&T domains. He noted that scientific prowess in industrial biotechnology will go a long way in improving our agriculture, healthcare, environment, and other areas of importance, and that humanity will be able to fight the challenges of hunger, poverty, diseases and environmental degradation in an effective manner. He also thanked and acknowledged the financial support and patronage provided by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), and the Tianjin Government for the establishment of CCIB under the framework of National Center of Technology Innovation for Synthetic Biology (NC SynBio).

Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Linhao Chen, Deputy Director-General, Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology noted that COMSATS’ Member Countries, among other things, are rich in biomass and that R&D collaboration in industrial biotechnology will bring great deal of benefits to them.

Highlight of the meeting was the signing of agreement to establish CCIB by Dr. Arshad Mahmood, the Executive Director of COMSATS, who is also Pakistan’s Federal Secretary for Science and Technology, and Prof. Dr. Yanhe Ma, Director General TIB. During his remarks, Dr. Arshad Mahmood noted that the Joint Centre will have far-reaching benefits at both regional and global scale by potentially contributing to the solutions to some of the grand challenges of our time. Prof. Yanhe Ma hoped that CCIB will help strengthen TIB’s ongoing collaboration with other S&T centers in COMSATS’ Member States.

During the meeting, the appointed Director of CCIB, Prof. Dr. Jibin Sun, gave a brief on development plans, programs and activities of the Centre. Subsequently a consultative meeting was held among the members of CCIB’s Consultative Committee and TAC. The meeting discussed means to promoting high-level joint R&D; furthering innovative ways for capacity building; promoting technology transfer among the member countries; and building the Joint Center into a high-end think tank.