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The Industrial Biotechnology Innovation and Growth Team

The IB-IGT is a joint project between BERR's Bioscience and Chemicals Units

A newsletter setting out the progress that has been made and key issues being considered is available under 'Related Documents'.

What is an Innovation and Growth Team (IGT)?

Innovation and Growth Teams are a BERR mechanism to facilitate the creation of a strategic view collectively from industry on what the innovation & growth challenges are for its future competitiveness. In this case the primary emphasis will be on how industrial biotechnology can improve the competitiveness of the chemicals and chemistry-using sectors as availability of hydrocarbon feedstocks are reduced whilst costs rise.

Why have an IGT in Industrial Biotechnology?

All the major facets of society and economic activity, both in the UK and globally, and including the manufacturing industry, are being challenged to demonstrate their sustainability. Most of the world’s power is fossil fuel based; similarly many chemicals, plastics, pharmaceuticals and healthcare products are manufactured from petrochemical feedstocks. The aim is for a low carbon, knowledge-based, economy that includes the use of sustainable bio-based products, and a future society that is no longer wholly dependent on fossil fuels for energy and industrial raw materials.

It is crucial for all industries to secure sufficient, competitively priced, stable and sustainable resources. As demand increases, rising prices together with environmental and regulatory pressures are focussing industry attention on alternatives. This is timely as significant recent advances in biotechnology and related chemical technologies are resulting in major opportunities for chemical manufactures, commodity processors and energy companies to both generate wealth whilst increasing their sustainability and meeting the wider global green agenda.

The Industrial Biotechnology Innovation and Growth Team (IB-IGT) is aimed at ensuring that the UK continues to builds upon its internationally renowned research and knowledge base (PSA target metrics for the UK research base, BERR March 2007) to develop the full range of technologies and mechanisms required to capitalise on the opportunities Industrial Biotechnology presents. Thereby ensuring that UK companies are better positioned to leverage and generate wealth-creation opportunities on a global scale:

• The estimated¹ value of the novel global market by 2030 is US$300 billion; and;
• It’s predicted² that by 2010, US$125 billion worth of chemical sales will involve the use of biotechnology.

Upon his appointment as Chair, Ian Shott said:

I am delighted to have been invited to Chair this important piece of work there is are major policy, knowledge transfer, commercialisation and societal challenges in ensuring that the UK does not get left behind as the world moves to a more bio-based production of energy, transport fuels, chemicals and materials in order to meet the sustainable development and consumption needs of the 21st Century.

The IB-IGT will help to pull together the various current cross-sector initiatives and policy drivers to provide the coherent strategy that is required to make the UK a significant participant in the emerging global bioeconomy and a world-class home for industrial biotechnology.

Industrial biotechnology is a broad and expanding area with the potential to drive up competitiveness across all sectors, as well as providing business and the consumer with new products, services and processes. Industrial biotechnology has the potential to affect industry in two main ways;

• the use of biomass as either a renewable feedstock or as a renewable source of intermediates as building blocks for specialities and finished goods; and
• through the adoption of biocatalysts into conventional chemical processes, either as a replacement for traditional metal catalysts or by using biological processes and or organisms to replace one or more step in a conventional process, or to develop a new process.

What will the IB-IGT deliver?

A strategic plan, well-aligned with other related policy initiatives, for government and industry, supported by all key stakeholders, that maps how to grow the use of industrial biotechnology in the chemicals sector (and thereby improve the profitability and sustainability of the sector).

Stakeholders from all sides who are motivated and mobilised to implement the recommendations and action plan of the IB–IGT.

How will the IB-IGT work?

The work of the IB-IGT will be delivered through an industry-led Steering Group (chaired by Ian Shott of Excelsyn), that will have overall ownership of the IB-IGT and three sub-groups that will address a series of linked issues in order to identify the innovation & growth challenges for this area.

Industrial Biotechnology Technology & Manufacturing Working Group

This will examine the current developments in industrial biotechnology technology and manufacturing capabilities; and will identify the technological and manufacturing requirements for the future markets and existing barriers to growth.

Finance/Investment Working Group

This will investigate and identify the finance and investment issues around establishing and growing a knowledge-based economy.

Policy Measures Working Group

This will investigate and identify how Government and industry can work to create an encouraging and enabling political and economic framework to catalyse the growth of the market for Industrial Biotechnology produced products, Industrial Biotechnology process solutions for societal needs, and Industrial Biotechnology technologies.

Progress

• The IB-IGT was announced by the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform John Hutton in November 2007 in a speech at the Chemical Industries Association annual dinner.
• The IB-IGT Steering Group has been appointed and has held two meetings.
  • The first meeting in February 2008 focussed on agreeing the overall vision of the IB-IGT and agreeing the structure and remits of the three working groups – the minutes and papers from this meeting are posted on this web site. The site also features a list of biographies for each of the Steering Group members.
  • The second meeting in May 2008 focussed on identifying the opportunities and barriers for IB and then establishing what mechanisms could help achieve and overcome them. The Steering Group also endorsed the work plans of the three Working Groups – the minutes and papers from this meeting can be found in the Related Documents section on the right of this page.
  • The third meeting will take place on 13th of October 2008.
• Three Working Groups (set out above) were recruited during March and have all met three times. The first meeting in April 2008 focussed on agreeing the remits and work plans for each group. The second meeting in June 2008 largely focussed on identifying the key questions and issues the Groups needed to answer; and identifying the mechanisms needed to address them. The third meetings considered the work that had been done on the key issues and began to identify the key recommendations that will be delivered in the final report.

The Future

• The Working Groups’ initial recommendations will be produced in the Autumn of this year.
• These will be validated with the wider stakeholder community towards the end of 2008.
• A formal stakeholder consultation event on the reports initial recommendations will be held in Q1 2009.
• The final IB-IGT report will be published in Q2 2009.

For more information please email: IB-IGT@berr.gsi.gov.uk

[1]McKinsey & Co - White Biotechnology: Gateway to a More Sustainable Future

[2] EuropaBio define industrial or white biotechnology as the application of biotechnology for the processing and production of enzymes, chemicals, materials and bioenergy.