The BioDesign Newsletter

Issue #004

The UK government eye up economic potential of Engineering Biology

Did you know the biotechnology sector offers the possibility to transform sectors including health, agriculture, chemical materials and energy, biofuels and dye alternatives? The UK government does. After recognising engineering biology as a critical technology, for economic prosperity, the UK government outlined a vision in December 2023. This vision sets the UK to lead by creating an engineering biology ecosystem that supports the safe development and commercialisation of science progression.

To keep everyone on the same page, the government defined engineering biology “as the design, scaling and commercialisation of biology-derived products and services that can transform sectors or produce existing products more sustainably”.

So far, DSIT has committed to investing £2b in engineering over ten years and recently announced, in partnership with UKRI, funding for two new doctoral training centres in the engineering biology field. To strengthen private and public and guide the trajectory of the industry to support the 2023 vision, the UK government, with stakeholders, is in the process of establishing an Engineering Biology Steering Group.

The UK government strength relationships with biotech start-ups

On 2 April 2024, the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee opened an inquiry into Engineering Biology. The committee hopes to dive deeper to understand the technologies which fall under the Engineering Biology umbrella and assess where the industry stands economically. They are particularly interested in whether the UK has sufficient expertise and funds to keep up with scientific advances. If not, how can the government best facilitate industry progression?

Signalling ministerial support for the sector, Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation, Andrew Griffith, and Minister of Investment, Dominic Johnson, opened the door of 10 Downing Street to industry leaders for breakfast. A few of those invited included founders across the industry including, Extracellular (Cellular Agriculture), Epoch Biodesign (Biorecycling), Solena (Biomaterials), and Camena Bioscience (DNA synthesis). This meeting, alongside the recent witnesses ( Will Milligan, CEO, Extracellular; Dr Jim Ajioka, CSO, Colorifix; Rosemary Dovos, SVP of Product and Programme Management, Oxford Nanopore Technologies ; Dr Martin Turner, Associate Director, BioIndustry Association (BIA); Mark Bustard, CEO, Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre)  that addressed the House of Lords Committee last week, has opened a dialogue to build an understanding of where the gaps are in UK support for commercialisation. With a strong innovation foundation in R&D in the UK, the weaker links come at the stage of scaling up and developing manufacturing plants. At this point large amounts of funding is required to scale business beyond pilot scale; regulations must support the product market; and the talent for navigating the associated need to be available.

How can the government fix the weak links in the British bioeconomy?

As the government looks at how best to bolster the engineering biology sector, there will likely be brainstorming on how the government can address the temptations for startups to move overseas for better funding, regulation and talent for start-ups. With deep pockets needed in the UK to build manufacturing facilities de-risking activities such as public-private partnerships and subsidies to up-skill homegrown talent may be needed alongside supporting legislation to support SME growth, to compete on a global field and successfully realise the economic potential the UK government is hoping for. Evidence can be submitted up to 7 May 2024.  

How do you think the UK can best support the bioeconomy and stay at the forefront of the biotech revolution?

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