Singapore, though a non-agricultural country, should exploit the opportunities brought about by biotech crops. The country is a knowledge hub, generating biotechnology intellectual property (IP), and exploiting economic gains from technology licensing and provision of reliable support services. It is also a net importer, sourcing reliable, quality-assured supplies. This was forwarded by Dr. Paul Teng, Dean of the Graduate Programs and Research, Nanyang Institute of Education, Singapore during a public forum on the commercialization of biotech crops 1996-2006 and future prospects held at the Matrix, Biopolis, Singapore.

Dr. Teng enumerated several opportunities for Singapore. These include:

• Capability development through specialized professional development courses, seminars and conferences; workshops; and on-the-job assignments
• Intellectual property generation/product development through IP audits, public-private IP brokering/technology transfer
• Incubator support (support infrastructure)
• Financing (public/private equity development)
• Services (food/feed safety testing for regulatory compliance)

The forum highlighted the gains of biotech crops in the world through a presentation by Dr. Clive James, chair of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA). An executive summary of the global status of commercialized biotech/GM crops in 2006 is available online at http://www.isaaa.org..