European Circular Bioeconomy Forum – Amsterdam
The meeting was organised and run by the European Secular Bioeconomy Fund. The fund is a venture capital impact fund dedicated to the circular Bioeconomy. The meeting brought together financiers and visionary entrepreneurs.
Prof Richard Kitney of Imperial College London, Co-Director of the U.K.’s National Industrial Translation Centre for Engineering Biology/Synthetic Biology (SynbiCITE) presented a plenary talk at the meeting. The subject of his presentation was growing an Engineering Biology/Synthetic Biology (EB/SB) Industry in the UK to support Sustainability and the Bioeconomy. In the presentation KItney described the need to develop and apply EB/SB for sustainable Bio-manufacturing. EB/SB is being shown internationally to have the potential to make a major contribution to sustainability and net zero. EB/SB has been the subject of a number of National Academy and Government Reports in the UK. The reports have been the basis for the development of a national strategy for growing the EB/SB industry.
Kitney went on to describe the formation of SynbiCITE and its work (scientific and technical support of start-ups and SMEs through advice and facilities, as well as business support). The centre works with around 80 companies in terms of general interaction and support. Since the Centre’s creation in 2013, it has worked closely with 27 companies (the founding of a significant number of these companies was assisted by SynbiCITE). Recent analysis has shown that these companies now have a collective Market Cap of around £1.3 billion.
Recent SynbiCITE developments include the establishment of a new Proof of Concept Programme for early-stage start-ups and the development of a venture fund. The venture fund (SynBioVen, or SBV), specifically for EB/SB, was established in 2022. SBV and SynbiCITE are part of an official partnership agreement between SBV and Imperial College. To date SBV has invested in 10 companies. Kitney said that the business model for the SynbiCITE/SBV partnership provides scientific, technical and business support on the one hand and investment on the other.