SynbiCITE welcomes yesterday’s announcement by the Government of an additional £2billion investment per year for UK science R&D by the end of this parliament. The promise of support and investment in science and technology innovation through an industrial strategy is also very encouraging and we look forward to hearing more. The UK is already one of the best places in the world for scientific innovation and commercialisation, and an important and growing part of this is synthetic biology, and the many opportunities that this exciting new branch of science and engineering offers to society. Synthetic biology was named by the UK Government in 2013 as one of the 8 great technologies that support UK science strengths and business capabilities.

SynbiCITE Co-Director’s Professors Richard Kitney and Paul Freemont said: ‘The UK aims to achieve a £10bn UK synthetic biology market by 2030, capable of delivering substantial societal and economic impact nationally and internationally. To achieve this, the UK must commercialise cutting-edge science and technology through a healthy innovation pipeline, a highly skilled workforce, and an environment in which innovative businesses can thrive.

Industrial translation is the key message in the UK’s Roadmap for Synthetic Biology “Bio design for the Bioeconomy”, the contents of which have been endorsed by the Government. We look forward to the Autumn Statement on Wednesday and to hearing more about the Government’s continuing support for an industrial strategy with a strong core of science innovation and to working with the Government in the future to support the Bioeconomy.’

For more information, contact:

Richard Anderson
Sciad Communications
E: richard@sciad.com
T: +44 (0)20 7470 8801

Emma Pickup
Sciad Communications
E: emma@sciad.com
T: +44 (0)20 7470 8801