From a student looking for the right major to attend.
What is the highest demanding skill in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries?
Applied math and the related CS/modeling skills. And then communication skills- ability to translate dense concepts and jargon into a well written document, ability to present a half hour talk and then handle a Q&A.
thank you
How about genetics and genetics modification?
The skills in highest demand are going to be skills- not specific content knowledge, which becomes obsolete relatively quickly in the sciences. A kid who wants to develop robotic prosthetic devices needs a solid grounding in materials science, CS, cognitive science, and mechanical engineering- not five courses on “how to develop robotic prosthetic devices”. Same with genetic modification- if that’s the interest long term, kid needs a solid foundation in math, biology, chemistry, programming and big data analytics. AND knowing how to write really, really well.
Genetics modification can take many paths- agriculture and agronomy? Virology and epidemiology? Prenatal intervention/infertility? So specializing too early closes doors. If you are talking about a high school student, you can’t predict what the interesting jobs are going to be in 6 years!
Nail the basics!
thanks
To reinforce the above position - what we do know is that biotech companies are drowning in data, and the problem is only going to get worse. Data analysis lends itself to entry level positions and can be a great way to develop additional domain knowledge.
For reference, here is an entry level coop position in the area of Biological Data Science at a leading Biotech firm.
They are looking for bioinformatics or biostatistics majors (which embody the technical skills @blossom mentions) - here is an example:
https://engineering.tufts.edu/cs/current-students/ba-and-bs/focus-area-bioinformatics
A major in Data Science with Biotechnology as the application discipline might be the optimum choice, although blossom might argue for Classics/Digital Humanities as the application discipline (to enhance writing skills). 
https://engineering.tufts.edu/cs/bachelor-science-data-science
One could go as far as also getting a minor, or a second major in Biotechnology, but that is a pretty rigorous course load if you don’t have lots of AP credits.
https://ase.tufts.edu/biology/undergraduate/degreeBioTech.htm