Public sector support and benefits for the investor
Strong public sector support for the biotechnology industry is channeled through various
public institutions. Law No. 26270 establishes a range of measures designed to foster the
development of biotechnology through incentives related to workforce and expenditure
on capital goods during the different phases of R&D and technology development.
The Argentine government has also implemented different programs and instruments
to facilitate and encourage basic research and technological development, making
biotechnology one of the top priorities. The main financing programs available to investors
in the area of biotechnology are FONARSEC (which fosters the association between public
entities and private companies—with biotechnology as one of its priorities); FONTAR
(which grants non-reimbursable funds, tax credits or direct loans to companies); and PILD
(Work Placement Program for PhDs, which co-finances the wages of doctorate program
graduates who join the private-sector workforce). Furthermore, the Bicentennial Financing
Programs are a highly attractive instrument for productive investments, with financing for
up to AR$ 8 million to be repaid in five years at a fixed annual rate of 9.9%.
Discover the unbeatable investment
opportunities Argentina’s biotechnology
industry offers investors.
The Undersecretariat for Investment Development and
Trade Promotion is your strategic partner for investing
in Argentina
What the Undersecretariat can do for you:
Provide specific information on business sectors and geographical locations in Argentina.
Help identify specific investment opportunities in strategic sectors through the Productive
Investment Opportunities Database (http://bapip.inversiones.gov.ar).
Facilitate the investment process throughout all the stages of the project in a
personalized and professional manner.
Assist in building partnerships between international investors and local companies.
CONTACT US:
info@inversiones.gov.ar – www.inversiones.gov.ar/en
BIOTECHNOLOGY IN ARGENTINA:
INFORMATION SOURCES
GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS
Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive
Innovation
www.mincyt.gob.ar
Ministry of Industry
www.industria.gob.ar
National Institute for Industrial Technology (INTI)
www.inti.gob.ar/biotecnologia
National Institute for Agricultural Technology (INTA)
www.inta.gob.ar
Buenos Aires Biomedicine Research Institute
www.ibioba-conicet.gob.ar
Scientific and Technological Park of the Littoral
Center
www.ptlc.org.ar
Rosario Technological Pole
www.polotecnologico.net
Biotechnology Research Institute, National
University of San Martín
www.iib.unsam.edu.ar
Leloir Institute Foundation
www.leloir.org.ar
Experimental Biology and Medicine Institute
www.ibyme.org.ar
National University of Quilmes
www.unq.edu.ar
PROMOTION CHAMBERS AND INSTITUTIONS
Argentine Chamber of Biotechnology
www.cabiotec.com.ar
Argentine Council for Biotechnology Information
and Development (ArgenBio)
www.argenbio.org
Association of Argentine Seedgrowers
www.asa.org.ar
Argentine Biotechnology Forum
www.foarbi.org.ar
Argentine Chamber of Biotechnology for Artificial
Reproduction and Insemination (CABIA)
www.cabia.org.ar
RedBio (FAO Technical Cooperation Network)
www.fundacionredbio.org
Biotechnology in Argentina
Applied science
for the world
ARGENTINA:
FORMULATING INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS
Why buy and invest in
biotechnology in Argentina?
WORLD-CLASS SCIENTISTS
Argentina: scientific tradition, diversity and
innovation in biotechnology
Argentina’s scientific professionals
are renowned for their outstanding
skills and their capacity for innovation
rooted in a long tradition of scientific
excellence. The qualities they embody
endow the country’s biotechnology
sector with significant advantages for
development. A number of educational
institutions recognized worldwide offer
programs in biotechnology at both
post-graduate and post-doctoral levels.
The country has the highest ratio of
researchers to the economically active
population in Latin America.
DIVERSITY AND SPECIALIZATION
Argentina offers competitive
advantages in various segments
of the biotechnology industry,
particularly in the fields of
agriculture, food, and human and
animal health. These advantages
result from a production pattern
with an export profile and strong
international presence comprised
of more than 120 companies,
8,000 highly qualified workers and
excellent technological institutions
and poles, including Leloir Institute
Foundation, the Experimental
Biology and Medicine Institute and
the Biomedicine Research Institute
of the Scientific and Technological
Pole of Buenos Aires.
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR COOPERATION
Prestigious public institutions—
including the National Institute for
Agricultural Technology (INTA), the
National Institute for Industrial
Technology (INTI) and the National
Agency for Scientific and Technological
Promotion (ANPCYT)—are driving
biotechnology development in
association with the private sector,
contributing to innovation through
research and development projects.
This synergy between public and
private institutions is reflected
by more than 100 biotechnology
projects co-financed by 40 companies,
generating investments of AR$ 150
million, as well as in the successful
association between laboratories and
universities.
A HIGHLY QUALIFIED WORKFORCE AND A SOLID INDUSTRIAL TRADITION
SUPPORT THE INDUSTRY’S PATTERN OF DIVERSIFICATION AND RECONCENTRATION IN PRODUCTION. THE BIOTECHNOLOGY SECTOR IS COMPRISED
OF A CONGLOMERATE OF LOCAL AND MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES, INCLUDING
TOP GLOBAL NAMES SUCH AS BASF, BAYER CROP SCIENCE, DOW AGROSCIENCES,
MONSANTO AND PIONEER, AS WELL AS SUCCESSFUL LOCAL COMPANIES WITH
INTERNATIONAL GROWTH POTENTIAL. MANY OF THESE LOCAL COMPANIES—
AMEGA BIOTECH, BIOCERES, BIOGÉNESIS-BAGÓ, BIOSIDUS, CASSARÁ ,
GADOR, INDEAR, PHARMADN, RIZOBACTER AND WIENER LABORATORIOS—
ARE DEVELOPING BIOTECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS AIMED AT PROMOTING
COMPETITIVENESS THROUGH INNOVATION. THE COMBINATION OF INCREASING
PUBLIC-PRIVATE JOINT EFFORTS, STRONG R&D CAPABILITIES AND A PATTERN
OF DIVERSIFICATION AND RE- CONCENTRATION IN PRODUCTION PLACE THE
COUNTRY AS ONE OF THE LEADERS IN THE BIOTECHNOLOGY SECTOR IN LATIN
AMERICA, WHERE IT EXCELS FOR ITS SCIENTIFIC AND INNOVATIVE POTENTIAL
IN AGRICULTURAL APPLICATION AND HUMAN AND ANIMAL HEALTH.
has one of the highest potential for the application of biotechnology processes.
To date, biotechnological applications for the food and beverage industry are
largely concentrated in the production of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), and
its intermediate product, glucose syrup, among other ingredients for foodstuffs.
Additionally, two of the leading dairy companies have successfully launched probiotic
milk lines.
Applications in agriculture and human and animal health
—
Applications in the food industry
HIGH YIELDS
HUMAN HEALTH AND DIAGNOSIS. OPPORTUNITIES TO EXPLORE
With its vast tracts of fertile land, Argentina was one of the first countries to use
and produce genetically modified (GM) crops, which offer producers considerable
advantages in terms of production and profit levels. Currently, Argentina is the world’s
third-largest producer of GM crops (23.7 million hectares, representing 14.8% of
GM-cultivated land worldwide), producing record yields in soybean, corn and other
byproducts. Argentina is also one of the leading countries in the production of
biotechnological soybean, corn, sunflower and cotton seeds with insect-resistant
and drought and herbicide-tolerant genes and typologies. There are also several
companies based in Argentina that manufacture bioinsecticides and inoculants,
and others that are developing technologies for micropropagation and plant tissue
cultivation.
There is a vast range of opportunities opening up in the area of diagnostics, one of
the fastest-growing fields in human health. Currently, developments and products
using recombinant proteins and monoclonal antibodies to detect infectious diseases
are being made and manufactured locally. Furthermore, cutting-edge research in
molecular oncology, leukocyte differentiation antigens, genetic predisposition for
hereditary diseases, DNA paternity testing and gene therapy are being carried out
locally.
QUALITY FOR WELLBEING
—
Argentina’s highly competitive and integrated food and beverage industry benefits
greatly from first-class locally sourced raw materials. This broad-based sector
Since the late 1970s, Biosidus has
been one of the world leaders in the
biotechnology field thanks to the
synergy between its technological
innovation and business
administration capabilities.
PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY. ADVANCED DEVELOPMENTS
A long tradition in biomedicine has evolved into a developed domestic industry
aligned with the World Health Organization’s strictest standards in terms of
manufacturing quality and medicine control. Argentine pharmaceutical companies
are active at every stage of the production process from research and development
to sales and marketing with exports of high quality medicines worldwide. Most of
the biotechnology developments come from the application of recombinant DNA.
Moreover, Argentina is one of the few countries in the world with pharmaceutical dairy
technology and transgenic cloned animals, along with the U.S., Australia, South Korea
and New Zealand.
—
From Argentina to the world
—
ANIMAL HEALTH. INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION
—
Local advances in livestock genetics place Argentina among the best performing
countries in terms of artificial insemination, bovine vaccines and multi-species cloning
(goats, cows, sheep, bulls, horses and pigs). Local procedures represent the highest
production capacity in Latin America. Argentina offers investment opportunities in
segments specialized in the production of vaccines, animal feed and cloning, as one of
the few countries in the world with the know-how.
Biosidus sells seven recombinant
proteins used in human healthcare
in Argentina as well as in foreign
markets and currently has a number
of bio-similar products at different
stages of development.
The quest for increasingly efficient
production methods has led
the company to build its own
pharmaceutical dairy, comprised
of cloned animals which produce
proteins such as the human growth
hormone and human insulin.