UK government steps up commitment to industrial biotech

22 Jul 2009 | News
Biotech
The UK government is boosting efforts to build an integrated industrial biotech sector, announcing £12 million for demonstrator facilities.
Science|Business Reporting


The UK government is boosting its efforts to build an integrated industrial biotech sector, announcing a £12 million investment in demonstrator facilities. This will be matched by £2.5 million of grant money to support companies using the demonstrator to develop and prove new processes.

The facility will build on the capabilities of the Centre for Process Innovation, which also houses the National Industrial Biotechnology Facility, on Tesside in north east England.

This funding is part of the government’s response to the independent industry report “IB 2025: Maximising UK Opportunities from Industrial Biotechnology in a Low Carbon Economy” published in May.  

The National Industrial Biotechnology Facility provides testing facilities for new industrial biotechnology products and processes, but the report said larger scale facilities were needed. The new demonstrator will be tailored to the development and testing of the production of alcohols, biodiesel, low-volume speciality and higher value chemicals from renewable biomass feedstocks and through biocatalysis. It is expected to be fully operational by late 2010.

For more information, read the report: IB 2025: Maximising UK Opportunities from Industrial Biotechnology in a Low Carbon Economy.


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