Biotechnology Center of Excellence Corporation 

The Biotechnology Center of Excellence Corporation (BCEC) provides technical assistance and public policy guidance to public agencies and universities in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Its development project activities are in the areas of human and animal health care, agriculture and environmental protection.

Through its BioAmericas program, BCEC advises selected government agencies and universities in Latin America in technology development policy and related projects. In the area of biodiversity, BCEC completed a major study for the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) on Biotechnology for the Sustainable Use of Biodiversity. This study relates to global markets for biodiversity-based resources in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. BCEC staff was also engaged by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (www.eclac.cl) for an empirical analysis of Commercial Bioprospecting in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the marine biotechnology area, BCEC served as the founding Secretariat for the Pan American Marine Biotechnology Association.

A private non-profit organization since 1991, BCEC is a successor entity of the Massachusetts Centers of Excellence Corporation, created by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1985 to facilitate technology transfer and commercialization of emerging technologies through university/industry collaboration. In this capacity, its support enabled the establishment of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Institute, now the Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives (MBI) in Worcester, MA, providing the initial administrative funds to set up the incubation and venture capital instruments originally associated with that effort.