São Paulo – In the state of Minas Gerais, a project is helping to develop the biotechnology industry and fostering its exports. The initiative, which trains companies, takes them on missions and foreign fairs, counts on funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and is managed by Ambiotec (Minas Gerais Association of Biotechnology Companies and Life Sciences). Over 100 companies from the Local Productive Arrangement (LPA) of the Belo Horizonte metropolitan region participate, according to Ambiotec information.
“The industry has high technology and some companies are already exporting,” says Ambiotec president Giana Marcellini. According to her, the main exporters are manufacturers of kits for health diagnosis, but the goal is to encourage companies in other segments to export as well. For instance, the sector comprises companies which make bone graft material, chemical agents, the laboratories themselves, the medical equipment industry, DNA mapping companies, and animal and human healthcare products.
The IBD funds were allocated to the hub last year and should be used up until early 2014. More than R$ 2 million have been provided, and further investment should be made by participating organizations, such as the Federation of Industries of the State of Minas Gerais (Fiemg), the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) and the enterprsies themselves. There are two other similar clusters in the state of Minas Gerais, in the Viçosa and Triângulo Mineiro areas, however the IDB initiative covers only the Belo Horizonte one.
According to the Ambiotec executive coordinator Vanessa Silva, the project encompasses 14 actions, including entrepreneurial training, participation in fairs, missions, among other initiatives. This year, the companies participated in Hospitalar, a healthcare industry exhibition in São Paulo, attended by Brazilian and foreign visitors, and in the United States’ Bio International Convention. They are also going to go to the Medica fair in Germany.
Marcellini believes the European and Arab markets are potential export targets. Some of the companies have even taken part in a mission promoted by Central Exportaminas to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in late September and early October. The initiative, however, was not part of the IDB project. Central Exportaminas is the state government’s export fostering arm.
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Ambiotec
Telephone: +55 31 3331-1625
Email: ambiotec@ambiotec.org.br
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
