The Industrial Biotechnology Leadership Forum (IBLF) has launched a new National Industrial Biotechnology Strategy to 2030, which will be promoted in partnership with the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA).
Strategy
This strategy is aimed at ensuring the UK becomes a leader in the global shift towards clean growth by fostering the development of industrial biotech SMEs.
It was launched at an event in parliament today (Wednesday 6 June), which was organised by the BIA and hosted by Daniel Ziechner, MP for Cambridge. Industry, academia and policymakers are attending the event who will discuss how the UK industrial biotech sector can solve environmental problems by promoting clean growth and reducing waste.
The strategy will be implemented in three phases with actions across seven themes:
1. External environment — to achieve consensus on a consistent long-term policy landscape that supports industrial biotech
2. Funding and access to finance — leading to a supportive financial environment that recognises the potential of IB for driving growth and innovation
3. Infrastructure and regional footprint — ensuring that industrial biotech is a major contributor to clean economic growth across all of the UK
4. Trade, investment and commercialisation — positioning the UK as an international industrial biotech innovation and commercialisation hub
5. Regulations and standards — making certain that UK frameworks are recognised as robust and support risk aware innovation
6. Skills — fostering the skills required by industry to make sure that the industrial biotech sector is recognised as an attractive career option
7. Communication — promoting one IB community voice, with consistent clear messages, where wider society is well informed and supportive of Responsible Research and Innovation in industrial biotech.
These actions aim to place industrial biotech at the core of the UK Industrial Strategy and the Bioeconomy Strategy, embedding industrial biotech products and processes at the heart of a future high technology economy, driving clean growth and national prosperity.
“The Strategy describes the vision of the UK industrial biotech community, driven by the IBLF; in harnessing the world-class science we have in the UK in order to enable industrial biotech to become a mainstream part of UK industry,” explained Steve Bagshaw, CEO of Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies and Chair of the IBLF. “Through industrial biotech we can find sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels for the production of everyday chemicals, materials and energy, as well as delivering new functionalities and benefits. Industrial biotech is the only way to manufacture unique biopharmaceuticals. These help tackle serious illness such as cancer and infectious diseases. Industrial biotech can mitigate climate change through the development of greener, cleaner manufacturing processes, as well as offering opportunities for waste utilisation and new products that benefit society that cannot be made any other way.”
“It is fantastic to see the publication of the Strategy, which will act as a catalyst for the growth of UK’s industrial biotech sector,” added Dr Tim Fell, CEO of Synthace and chair of BIA’s Engineering Biology Advisory Committee. “Synthetic biology is a key enabler of industrial biotech and the two share many of the same opportunities and challenges. The BIA’s Engineering Biology Advisory Committee is at the heart of the UK’s thriving sector, bringing together companies working at the interface of synthetic biology and industrial biotech to develop innovative technologies for a healthier and environmentally sustainable society. The Strategy highlights the importance of industry and government working together to achieve this common goal.”
Steve Bates OBE, CEO of BIA, commented: “Industrial biotech plays a key role in societal goals like helping eliminate avoidable plastic waste which David Attenborough’s TV programme Blue Planet 2 has brought to recent public attention. The BIA is delighted that today’s strategy showcases UK entrepreneurs unleashing the innovation that will provide not only a cleaner, greener Britain but also prosperity for the next generation. This sector is key to developing the technologically and economically practical innovation needed to deliver the environmental objectives of the UK government.”
“It is crucial that as we plan for the future, we make sure that clean growth is at the heart of our development strategies,” said Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge. “Clean growth is central to making an industry or business sustainable, so it is excellent that industrial biotech has focused on this. My constituency, Cambridge, is an international innovation hub for this sector and has fantastic clean tech; local bioindustry recognises the importance of reducing waste. I look forward to seeing how we can become cleaner and greener in the future.”
“The current scale of oil-based plastic waste is no longer acceptable to UK consumers. Bioplastics offer a viable and responsible alternative, however, they only account for a fraction of today’s plastic production. Industrial biotechnology provides the underpinning science that will unlock improved material performance and use of bio-based inputs leading to widespread use of the next generation of bio-based and biodegradable plastics,” stated Paul Mines, CEO of Biome Bioplastics. “The Strategy announced today provides a framework for industrial biotechnology in the UK that will allow SME’s, like Biome Bioplastics, to play their part in the clean growth agenda by growing fast whilst reducing waste.”