Biomedical alliance strengthens industry's training value chain

MOC amongst four training partners aimed to foster good working ties and facilitate sharing of resources.

To meet the growing biomedical manufacturing industry's needs for skilled manpower, the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), in collaboration with Singapore Polytechnic (SP), Millipore Singapore Pte Ltd (Millipore) and DPS Engineering (Singapore) Pte Ltd (DPS), has developed the WSQ Higher Certificate in Process Technology (Biologics Manufacturing) and WSQ Higher Certificate in Process Technology (Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing), according to a press release by Singapore Workforce Development Agency.

The partnership is formally sealed with the inking of the Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) on 20 April which aims to provide full certification training, as well as strengthen good working ties among the training partners and facilitate sharing of resources. An alliance that is formed by SP, Millipore and DPS, the Biomedical Manufacturing Implementation Committee (BMIC) has trained about 300 people in five biologics manufacturing modules to date and is set to offer 1,040 places in the next 2 years.

With the MOC signing, more platforms have been opened to coordinate and speed up implementation efforts of WSQ training and facilitate sharing of specialised skills training and knowledge exchange among training providers and companies. Mr. Brian Yau, Vice President of Asia Bioprocess Division, Millipore Singapore Pte Ltd, said, "In this spirit, we have developed training courses which are designed to teach the best practice techniques for robust and consistent operations and optimisation of process steps. Our facility has pilot equipment to cater to real-life, hands-on training on process operations and we believe all this can be translated into effective partnership with Singapore Polytechnic and DPS Engineering Pte Ltd to support both current and future requirements of the biomedical manufacturing industry in Singapore."

Official Launch of PACE Academy

In conjunction with the MOC signing, Singapore Polytechnic (SP) also officially launched its Professional & Adult Continuing Education (PACE) Academy, previously known as the Department of Continuing Education. The Academy is set up to increase SP's training capacity in and sharpen its focus for Continuing Education and Training (CET). SP has also started construction of its new Biologics Manufacturing Training Centre.