The UK’s Fermentation Challenge: An Interview with Jen Vanderhoven
As the UK looks to strengthen its position in engineering biology, one of the biggest questions facing the sector is how promising innovation can move beyond the lab and into commercial production. In April 2026, the BBIA (https://bbia.org.uk/) published UK Fermentation & Downstream Processing Capacity, a timely report examining the UK’s current capability, scale-up gaps and investment needs for engineering biology in non-human health applications.
To explore what the report reveals about the UK’s scale-up challenge, and what needs to happen next to keep more innovation, infrastructure and long-term value in the UK, we spoke to Dr Jen Vanderhoven, FRSC, CEO of the BBIA, about its findings and the wider implications for the UK’s bioeconomy.
Why did you do this report?
Honestly, the starting point was that everyone in the sector talks about the UK having a “scale-up problem”, but there wasn’t really a clear picture of what that actually meant in practice. People would say, “we don’t have enough fermentation capacity,” but we wanted to dig deeper and understand whether the issue was total capacity, access to facilities, downstream processing, or something more structural.
What became really interesting was that the UK actually does have a significant amount of fermentation capacity overall, but most of it is concentrated in a very small number of commercial sites, while the majority of companies are still operating at lab scale. So there’s this huge gap between brilliant science and actually getting products manufactured at scale in the UK.
The report was really about understanding that missing middle and giving industry and government a more realistic, evidence-based view of where the bottlenecks are. Because if we want the UK to lead in engineering biology, it’s not enough to just be good at research — we also need to be good at commercialisation and manufacturing.
And I think there’s also a bigger economic story here. The UK is fantastic at creating innovation, but too often companies end up scaling overseas because the infrastructure or support pathway here isn’t quite there yet. That means we lose jobs, investment, manufacturing, and long-term value creation. So the report was really about identifying how we stop that happening.
What were the key insights from the report, and what do they mean for the UK bioeconomy?
One of the biggest takeaways was that the problem isn’t simply “we need more fermenters.” It’s much more nuanced than that.
The UK has strong early-stage innovation – loads of SMEs, universities, really exciting engineering biology companies – but there’s a disconnect when companies try to move from the lab into pilot and demonstration scale. That’s where things start getting difficult.
We identified this really important “missing middle,” especially in the 10-litre to 10,000-litre range, and then again before commercial manufacturing. Companies can prove something scientifically in the lab, but then they hit this point where they can’t easily access the right facilities to generate the data, product volumes, or investor confidence needed to scale.
Another really important insight was around downstream processing. A lot of people focus on fermentation, but actually downstream processing – purification, separation, product finishing – is often the bigger bottleneck. You can make something biologically, but if you can’t process it efficiently at scale, you don’t really have a commercially viable product.
And I think what this means for the UK bioeconomy is actually quite significant. The UK already has the talent, the science base, and a really strong innovation ecosystem. But if we don’t solve the scale-up challenge, we risk becoming a country that invents technologies but doesn’t manufacture them.
The positive side is that the opportunity is huge. If the UK can build more connected, accessible scale-up infrastructure and create smoother pathways from research to manufacturing, we could genuinely become a global leader in sustainable biomanufacturing and engineering biology.
How do you see organisations like SynbiCITE and the wider industry contributing, and why is collaboration important?
I think organisations like SynbiCITE are incredibly important because this isn’t something one company, one university, or even one government programme can solve on its own.
One of the clearest things from the report was how fragmented the ecosystem can feel. Companies often struggle to figure out where facilities are, how to access them, who to partner with, or how to move from one scale to the next. That creates delays and adds risk, especially for startups and SMEs.
What organisations like SynbiCITE do really well is bring people together – researchers, startups, investors, infrastructure providers, manufacturers, policymakers – and help create those connections that are needed to actually translate innovation into commercial reality.
I also think collaboration matters because scale-up in engineering biology is incredibly interdisciplinary. It’s not just biology. You need process engineering, manufacturing expertise, downstream processing knowledge, commercial strategy, investment, regulation – all of those things have to align. And no single organisation has all of that capability internally.
So the future really depends on building a more connected ecosystem where facilities are easier to access, knowledge is shared more effectively, and companies don’t feel like they’re trying to navigate the scale-up journey alone. The encouraging thing is that the UK already has many of the right pieces – strong science, innovative companies, organisations like SynbiCITE, Catapults, universities, industrial clusters. The next step is connecting those pieces in a much more coordinated way so we can keep more innovation, manufacturing, and economic value here in the UK.
Jen’s answers make clear that the UK’s scale-up challenge is about far more than simply adding more fermentation capacity. From the ‘missing middle’ in pilot and demonstration infrastructure to the critical role of downstream processing and ecosystem coordination, the report offers a timely, evidence-based view of what it will take to keep innovation, manufacturing and long-term value creation in the UK. To explore the findings and recommendations in full, read the report here.
There’s less than one week to go until the Industry Club evening on 28 May, 5–7pm, hosted at 170 Queen’s Gate, South Kensington. Bringing together companies from across the UK engineering biology sector, the event is designed for meaningful networking, idea-sharing and new collaborations. You’ll also hear short presentations from selected companies sharing their journeys, key challenges and lessons learned, followed by opportunities to connect with peers, partners and investors. Don’t miss out – secure your place by RSVPing to l.mckay@imperial.ac.uk.
The countdown to SynbiTECH 2026 is on. Join us on 1–2 December in London for the UK’s leading international forum for engineering biology, bringing together leaders from business, investment, policymaking, science and research.
Now in its seventh edition, SynbiTECH has established itself as a flagship gathering for the sector, with more than 400 delegates, 60 speakers and over 80 startups expected. Across two days, attendees will gain valuable insight into the trends, technologies and partnerships shaping the future of engineering biology, sustainability, investment and innovation.
🎟️ Secure your Super Early Bird ticket by 30 June to take advantage of limited availability and the lowest available rate.
