BY JOEL WILLIAM
RECALLING my interview question for my first job; “How do you explain Biotechnology to a 5-year-old kid?” My answer was simply; “Using any form of living organism to convert low value products into high value products.”
The simple definition basically means that humans have been practising biotechnology from ancient times when our forefathers made cheese, yogurt and beer through fermentation.
Fast forward to 21st century, we are now able to understand biological sciences in depth and develop technologies to alter genetic and biological processes to improve quality of human life and address the demand to support exponential human population growth while ensuring our natural resources are not depleted.
The Malaysian National Biotechnology Policy (NBP) was launched in 2005 and will reach its full term in 2020 with a projection to create 280,000 jobs in this sector. Without dwelling too much on projects that have failed to see light of day, Biocon in Johor and CJ Arkema in Terengganu stand out as major successes in the Malaysian Biotech scene.
About the Author:
A trained Medical Lab Technologist (Diploma, USM), educated in Biotechnology (Bachelors Degree, USM) and accomplished Project Manager, the author, has executed multimillion $$ Construction Projects for German MNC in Singapore, Malaysia & Indonesia. Without any formal engineering and construction qualification, he was handed down responsibility to manage a large team of engineers to execute complex projects. In 2017, he was appointed as the Director and General Manager for the same organisation in Malaysia. After 15 years in corporate life, he decided to pursue his childhood passion in Information Technology and programming to establish Disruptor Sdn. Bhd., an organisation with an aim to disrupt traditional Project Management processes in the construction sector by integrating Industry 4.0, AI, cloud computing and Software as Service (SaaS). He can be reached at joel.william@disruptor.com.my & https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-william-a1901310/
