Currently the manufacturing and production industry accounts for one-fifth of the world’s carbon emissions, with most of the emissions coming from a heavy reliance on energy and feedstocks derived from petrochemical sources

With the UK government’s 2050 net zero carbon goal fast approaching, it is imperative that industry finds more sustainable ways to manufacture the chemicals and materials needed for everyday products.

This is what the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Catalyst (IBIC) is working to do. Launched in May 2024, the IBIC is a collaborative initiative led by The University of Manchester, in partnership with the University of Liverpool, that is harnessing the north-west’s scientific and research expertise in industrial biotechnology. The IBIC brings together the region’s universities, civic authorities, research parks, and businesses to accelerate knowledge exchange, impact, and innovation.

Industrial biotechnology uses nature’s own mechanisms to find alternative biological routes to manufacturing. These biological routes are often more efficient, safe, and sustainable by reducing reliance on harmful reagents, divesting processes from petrochemicals and closing the loop by using anthropogenic waste as a feedstock.

With a market potential exceeding £34 billion in the UK alone, industrial biotechnology is poised to transform industry and put the UK at the front of the biotechnological revolution. The North West of England already has a nexus of expertise in industrial biotechnology with several exceptional universities and a world-leading institute dedicated to biotechnology research – the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology – which was awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2019 for its pioneering work.

Backed by £5 million from the EPSRC Place-Based Impact Acceleration Account, the IBIC aims to be a roadmap for translation, bringing current and emerging industrial biotechnological processes out of the lab and into the real world. This is expected to stimulate significant investments, create numerous job opportunities, foster collaborative projects, and drive economic growth across the region. Building upon the region’s current credentials of a workforce of 25,000 people and a more than £6 billion turnover each year, the cluster is predicted to directly stimulate £2.5 million cash and £4 million in-kind co-investment, establish 150 collaborative projects, train 200+ students, create up to 100 green jobs, and establish 20+ new commercial ventures which could attract a further £10 million in investment. This would see the cluster delivering a minimum 3:1 economic return on public investment over the medium term, with long-term plans to become an independent, business-led cluster of excellence.

The IBIC will unite industry, academia, and local government to produce a complete pipeline of industrial biotechnology innovation that can be used to address imperative global challenges such as climate change and meeting net zero targets, while creating a more sustainable society.

Facts & Figures

• The field of industrial biotechnology is poised for dramatic growth and has the potential to disrupt markets worth more than £34 billion in the UK alone.

• Industrial biotechnology is a growth area, with a compound annual growth rate of 13%, and a predicted global market worth £2.78 trillion by 2030.

• 60% of all physical inputs into the global economy could be produced via biological means.

• By 2028 the IBIC will achieve:

• • 25 early-stage companies supported to scale-up

• • 80 proof of concept studies with industry

• • 36 secondments and staff exchanges between academia

• • 20 development projects with early-stage companies

• • 200+ students trained to enter careers in IB R&D

• • 20 commercial development awards

• • 10 new IB spin-out or start-up companies

Links

• Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Catalyst