Costa Rica bio-research center pushes for industrial, scientific collaboration

by Bret G. Dudl
25.08.09
12:00 PM GMT+8

Filed in Costa Rica

Author Name: Daniel Shea

A collaborative center that will link industry leaders and scientists in the search for biological innovation in the agro-industrial sector was opened last Tuesday in the western San José district of Pavas.

The facility for the National Center for Biotechnological Innovation (CENIBiot) is meant to provide space and opportunity for companies to work with some of the leading biological researchers in the region, said Patricia Ugalde, a spokeswoman for the center.

“The idea, right now, is that the projects will be pursued through an alliance between the companies and the researchers,” Ugalde said. The agro-industrial sector will team up with researchers to increase productivity or by developing bio-fuels and pharmaceuticals, for example.

President Oscar Arias drew headlines for his appearance at the opening. It was his first public appearance since he secluded himself in his home a week earlier after discovering he had contracted the H1N1 flu virus. The antivirus had done its job and helped him with a swift recovery, he said.

The 1,690 square meter CENIBiot facility contains an administrative center and offices, but more prominent are the five laboratories, each with a separate purpose.

The labs will focus on microorganism research, the cell structure of plants, analytical research, genome and molecular biology experimentation, and digital image analysis.

Twenty-five projects are already lined up to begin work, Ugalde said, and the facility provides more than enough space and equipment.

The facility is the only one of its kind in all of Central America, and rivals Mexican and South American competitors in size and capacity, Ugalde said.

The Science and Technology Ministry and the European Union were the project’s main funders. According to a statement, the European Union is the second largest market for the output of Costa Rica’s agro-industrial sector, which is composed of close to 3,000 companies providing nearly 240,000 jobs across the country.