New plan aims to develop $ 3.28t bioeconomy sector

From developing therapeutic vaccines to biotechnology breeding, China has mapped out measures to boost the country’s bioeconomy to reach an estimated scale of 22 trillion yuan ($ 3.28 trillion) by the end of the 14th Five- Year Plan ( 2021- 25) period, according to a new development plan.

The plan will be crucial in bringing leaps in development in products and services in multiple sectors of the real economy ranging from healthcare to agriculture, experts noted.

According to the development plan, which was rolled out by the National Development and Reform Commission ( NDRC), China’s top economic planner, China made significant achievements in the bioeconomy in recent years, and the 14th Five- Year Plan period is an important window of opportunity for the sector.

The NDRC listed the development targets of China’s bioeconomy industries to be achieved by 2025. For example, the total scale of the bioeconomy will “reach a new stage,” while the proportion of the bioeconomy’s added value in GDP will experience stable growth.

The country should also see an “evident increase” in bioeconomy companies with annual revenue of over 10 billion yuan ($ 1.488 billion).

Bai Jingyu, director of the Center of Innovation- driven Development under the NDRC, noted that China is aiming to achieve 22 trillion yuan of total bioeconomy output by the end of 2025, with core industries amounting to more than 7.5 trillion yuan.

Tao Lina, a Shanghai- based medical observer, told the Global Times on Tuesday that it shows China’s policy direction to search for “new technological routes” for vaccines, particularly those for novel infectious diseases like the herpes virus.

But he stressed that for the coronavirus, the market still tends toward traditional inactivated vaccines instead of new recombinant protein vaccines, which means that the promotion and use of new vaccines won’t be easy.