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Review
. 2020 Feb 28;48(1):113-122.
doi: 10.1042/BST20190349.

Developing synthetic biology for industrial biotechnology applications

Lionel Clarke  1   2   3   4 , Richard Kitney  1   2   5   6
Affiliations
Review

Developing synthetic biology for industrial biotechnology applications

Lionel Clarke et al. Biochem Soc Trans. .

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 21st Century, synthetic biology has established itself as an effective technological approach to design and engineer biological systems. Whilst research and investment continues to develop the understanding, control and engineering infrastructural platforms necessary to tackle ever more challenging systems - and to increase the precision, robustness, speed and affordability of existing solutions - hundreds of start-up companies, predominantly in the US and UK, are already translating learnings and potential applications into commercially viable tools, services and products. Start-ups and SMEs have been the predominant channel for synthetic biology commercialisation to date, facilitating rapid response to changing societal interests and market pull arising from increasing awareness of health and global sustainability issues. Private investment in start-ups across the US and UK is increasing rapidly and now totals over $12bn. Health-related biotechnology applications have dominated the commercialisation of products to date, but significant opportunities for the production of bio-derived materials and chemicals, including consumer products, are now being developed. Synthetic biology start-ups developing tools and services account for between 10% (in the UK) and ∼25% (in the US) of private investment activity. Around 20% of synthetic biology start-ups address industrial biotechnology targets, but currently, only attract ∼11% private investment. Adopting a more networked approach - linking specialists, infrastructure and ongoing research to de-risk the economic challenges of scale-up and supported by an effective long-term funding strategy - is set to transform the impact of synthetic biology and industrial biotechnology in the bioeconomy.

Keywords: bioeconomy; industrial biotechnology; synthetic biology.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
(a) top 50 start-up companies funded in each year 2015–mid-2019 (projected to year-end by doubling mid-year data) and (b) growth three tranches — top 10, next, 20, remaining 30 companies. Analysis drawn from SynBioBETA online data.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Synthetic iology start-up investments, segmented (from SynBioBeta online data).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. IPCC (2018) ‘Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5°C’; https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/ (accessed 6 Nov 2019)

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