Biotech goes white and bright
White biotech could become Denmark's next blossoming business area.
As the world tips further into recession and companies tighten their belts and shed staff, any ray of business optimism is welcome news. One such positive piece of news is reported by Danish journal the Engineer, which sees so-called white biotech as a new biotech cluster waiting to blossom in Denmark as sustainability becomes increasingly an important item on the world's agenda.
White biotech essentially means industrial, rather than medical biotechnology, examples being enzymes for the production of biofuel, biochemicals for new kinds of plastics and ingredients for functional foods. Denmark is already in a strong position in industrial biotech with thousands employed in leading companies, for example Novozymes, Danisco and Chr. Hansen, while Danish universities have hundreds of skilled researchers working in this area.
With a strong reputation for collaboration between commerce and academia, Denmark is good at creating spin-off companies to develop promising products, and has the necessary labour pool of relevantly skilled staff. And the investment community is well aware of this fact.