If scientific research is the engine that pushes human and economic development onward, then its commercial and financial viability should be the lubricant greasing its wheels.

But during the investors’ forum, a session designed to attract financial interest in new biotechnology businesses, held at the start of the country’s Fourth National Biotechnology Week, a member of academe involved with the cooperative (co-op) movement in the Philippines said the Department of Science and Technology ( DOST), one of the event organizers, may be missing its mark.

Dr. Virgina Teodosia, University of the Philippines (UP) professor and former administrator of the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), a government agency which includes leading co-ops as members, said the DOST should put more focus in attracting co-ops as sources of investment.

She said there is little effort to target co-ops as the government and the established media organizations always look toward big-ticket investments like multinationals. She spoke to the BusinessMirror in an interview following the investors’ forum.

She said member co-ops with the CDA have an estimated P500 billion in disposable funds. Latest figures from the CDA web site show that there were almost 21,000 operating cooperatives by the end of 2007, and, said Teodosia, their aggregate membership is roughly 4.7 million people.

The UP professor noted that these co-ops are actively seeking out investment opportunities. She narrated how a single co-op recently deposited almost P400 million in a leading Philippine bank, a common practice, she said, among co-ops as they are not aware of these DOST initiatives.

“They don’t know where to put their money and they are not maximizing their funds because they don’t know these programs,” she said.

Science Secretary Estrella Alabastro said her department actively works with both cooperatives and individual entrepreneurs but based on her experience, the latter are more “driven.”

“[Cooperatives] don’t lose their shirts, if they fail,” she said, compared with individual entrepreneurs. She added that she is open to meeting the “right” kinds of cooperatives.

And this is something Dr. Teodosia intends to do, which is to link the top 10,000 co-ops with agencies like the DOST.

“They will welcome these initiatives [by the DOST],” she said.

Technology picks
Some of these initiatives were presented during the investors’ forum and were selected for their commercial viability in the various sectors of biotechnology.

Dealing with health and safety was the DOST Philippine Council on Health Research and Development-based rapid detection kit for identifying E. coli, Salmonella, S. aureus and Listeria strains, which contaminate food, animal feed and water; and can be fatal to humans.

According to Dr. Susana Mercado from UP Los Baños, this technology has many advantages over competition, like its speed in detection, sensitivity, as well as its being a “cheaper” alternative to the conventional cultural method.

She highlighted as potential clients service laboratories, regulatory agencies, feed millers, food processors, pharmaceutical firms and water refillers.

Another product, developed by the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology is a microbial rennet, which the developer claims is an effective milk coagulant. Milk coagulation is a fundamental process in cheese making.

Dr. Mercado said this technology may aid small to medium cheese manufacturers, and is being positioned as the “best quality and most efficient cheese coagulant” in the market.

She noted strategies such as product differentiation, and again, as a low-cost alternative to its multinational competitors.

She said that as an added external benefit, this product may aid the local dairy industry, as there will be more incentive to increase cow-milk production as demand for cheese increases.

Another technology initiative was focused on applications and commercialization of sustainable charcoal briquettes developed by the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources

Engineer Santiago Baconguis, chief research specialist involved in this project, said this approach was sustainable as their charcoal briquettes are made from abandoned biomass, such as used coconut husks, corn cobs, dried banana peelings and even peanut shells. Charcoal is traditionally derived from hardwood trees.

Dr. Teodosia said all these programs, especially with the sustainable charcoal briquettes, creates new livelihood enterprises. She said co-ops are seeking projects that aid communities, and that the projects showed in the National Biotechnology Week present an opportunity both for the DOST and co-ops.

“When they [co-ops] have a surplus, like they do now, they will want to put it in projects for the community,” she said.