Swiss drug firm Novartis this summer opened a generics and production facility costing €70 million in Strykow, Poland, adding to the company's pharmaceutical and consumer health production sites, which employ more than 1500 people in the new EU member state.

The plant, operated by Novartis subsidiary Lek, is the latest sign of new life in Poland's biosciences industry. Novartis is one of many multinational companies that have already capitalized on the expertise of Poland's former state-owned drug companies by setting up facilities in the country. Now, the Polish government has plans to develop the country's own tiny biotech research industry, in a bid to start catching up with its western European peers.

"Biotechnology is a priority for the Polish government because it has a strong influence on the economy and quality of life both now and in the long term," Jan Krzysztof Frackowiak from the Polish science ministry told The Scientist. Medicine, the application of genomics, food production and processing, plus environmental protection are key areas.

The first few Polish biotech start-ups have already been launched. So far, there are about 30 Polish biotech companies, most of them spin-offs of universities and research institutes. They include DNA II Gdansk and Biomed-Warszawa.

For example, Beata Jodel, project manager at the Pomeranian Science and Technology Park, in Gdynia, said that two of the 18 companies at the park were local biotech firms employing five people each.

"This is small, but it is only the start. With the help of European Union funding, I believe we will have more and more biotech start-up companies in Poland," Jodel told The Scientist.

The country also has some centers where world-class basic research in biotechnology is being conducted, said Stanislaw Bielecki, director of the Institute of Technical Biochemistry at the Technical University of Lodz.

"Regarding basic science, we have reached a critical mass in some areas, including the Polish Academy of Science, Institute of Biochemistry, Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, and Technical University of Lodz," Bielecki told The Scientist.

Bielecki also said that there had been an explosion in biotechnology at universities and research institutes. The subject is now taught at 21 universities, including 5 technical universities, and 5 agriculture universities in Poland, and often in English.

"We have very well educated young people. When it comes to human resources, we are very optimistic. But to play at a global level, we will need much more funding," Bielecki said.

But Poland still has a long haul before biotechnology research will be comparable with western European countries. The overall state of biotechnology research in the former Soviet bloc state is weak, mainly because of the low level of government spending, currently running at only 0.4% of gross domestic product.

With the government struggling with a big budget deficit, scientists in Poland will have to compete for funds from the European Union to find extra money, although the recent accession of Poland to the European Union in May of this year should make this easier.

The low level of government funding is exacerbated by a lack of venture capital, and many young scientists leave Poland to work in the United States or elsewhere in Europe because of low salaries.

Furthermore, Bielecki identified lack of contact between science and industry in Poland as a major problem. "The attitude of scientists to the commercialization of their research needs to change. Our scientists are often excellent, but they are focused on basic science and not on the exploitation of the results," he said.

In spite of these setbacks, both Bielecki and Frackowiak are optimistic that Polish biotechnology will flourish in the long-term.

"The development will depend on the state of the Polish economy, European cooperation, and the amount of money that the government spends," Frackowiak said.