November 2005
Newspaper: Diario de Navarra

Navarre has joined Fundación Genoma España, a project whose aim is to promote business initiatives with a biotechnological base and to develop genome and proteome research. The Government of Navarre has joined the Governing Board of Fundación Genoma España, which is composed of the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Science, the Generalitat of Catalonia, the Regional Minister of Health of the region of Madrid, the Xunta de Galicia and Laboratorios Esteve.

As a member, the Government of Navarre will make a contribution of 300,000 euros per year. It is a long-term agreement that can be extended every two years.

The level of activity in the biotechnology sector in Navarre is well above the national average. For example, the number of contracts between companies and universities in the region in 2000-2003 represents 50% of the total number of contracts in the country as a whole.

The mission of Fundación Genoma España is to encourage the development of the Spanish biotechnology sector, promoting co-operation between institutions, researchers, companies and investors through making the best use of the strengths of the different regions. The ultimate objective is the promotion of genome and proteome research with the aim of improving peoples' health and quality of life.

Within the framework of its own Technological Plan, the Government of Navarre has been working over the last year to make the biotechnology sector in the region more dynamic. Working groups have been set up consisting of representatives from companies, universities and technology centres, and their analyses and results will provide a stable basis for Navarre to become a major ‘bio-region’ within the European Union.

The agreement with Fundación Genoma España will enable Navarre to be present and participate in the creation of State-led technology projects and platforms in the field of biotechnology. For its part, Fundación Genoma España aims to promote business projects that have a technological basis, and it considers that Navarre is a model region in the implementation of initiatives in this field.

According to the Department of Industry and Technology, Trade and Employment of Navarre, Genoma España is the best placed national body to carry out policies to promote biotechnology in fields that are key to the future development of Navarre: agriculture-agrofood, where Navarre already has the Laboratory of the Ebro-CNTA in the town of San Adrián; biomedicine, where the CIMA-DIGNA centre is a benchmark in Spain and Europe; and energy, in collaboration with CENER in the search for new energy generation sources, some of which are biotechnology-based (e.g. the generation of hydrogen from bacteria).

Genoma España projects

Genoma España is currently carrying out six research projects, for which it has allocated a total investment of 30 million euros. New technologies will be developed through these projects to analyse gene and protein expression in flat fish (sole and halibut), grapes and tomatoes; Technological development and that of bioinformatics or services through public and private R&D projects.

The representatives of Fundación Genoma España claim that biotechnology will have an estimated turnover of 2,000 billion pesetas by 2010, creating 5,000,000 million jobs worldwide.

At present, the 367 biotechnology companies in Spain employ over 1,500 people and 6,800 researchers. They invoiced 300 million euros in 2003, and the contribution of the sector to biotechnological scientific production on a world scale was 4.10% of the total in the same year.