Dr. Romain Murenzi, executive director of TWAS, visited the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMCAS) on July 20, 2011. His visit is the prelude to 2011 TWAS-ROESEAP Symposium on Industrial Biotechnology from August 26 to 30.

Dr. Murenzi emphasizes the importance of Science and Technology capacity in the sustained economic growth of a country. For better conditions of living environment, investing more in science, technology and innovation become a necessity. He also stresses the crucial role of scientific cooperation among countries. He hopes that TWAS is a linkage to realize this goal, providing more opportunities for students in poorer countries to study advanced technology in other countries such as China.

CAS-TWAS Fellowship Program serves this purpose. Two new awardees from Nigeria and Pakistan come to study in IMCAS this year. IMCAS is one of the training bases of CAS-TWAS Fellowship Program. Since 2005, 16 awardees of the fellowship from Third World countries have studied or conducted scientific research in IMCAS, including 5 awardees of the Postgraduate Fellowship, 6 winners of the Postdoctoral Fellowship and 5 awardees of the Visiting Scholar Fellowship.

This August will also see 2011 TWAS-ROESEAP Symposium on Industrial Biotechnology in Beijing. 98 attendees from 21 countries have registered the symposium up to now. The objective of this symposium is to review the most recent progress in the area of industrial biotechnology in developing countries. The symposium will provide an opportunity for researches from the developing countries to exchange ideas, to share experience, and to promote international collaboration to accelerate the commercialization of new products or new technologies.

TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world founded in 1983 by a distinguished group of scientists from the developing world under the leadership of Nobel laureate Abdus Salam of Pakistan has the aim of promoting scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable development in the South.

Prof. FANG Rongxiang and Prof. ZHUANG Wenying are TWAS members, and Prof. LI Yin is the TWAS 2010 Young Affiliate from IMCAS.