UK Synthetic Biology Leadership Council, London, U.K.
Department of BioEngineering, Imperial College London, London, U.K.
Biochem Soc Trans. 2020 Feb 28;48(1):113-122. doi: 10.1042/BST20190349.
Since the beginning of the 21st Century, synthetic biology has established itself as an effective technological approach to design and engineer biological systems. Whilst research and investment continues to develop the understanding, control and engineering infrastructural platforms necessary to tackle ever more challenging systems - and to increase the precision, robustness, speed and affordability of existing solutions - hundreds of start-up companies, predominantly in the US and UK, are already translating learnings and potential applications into commercially viable tools, services and products. Start-ups and SMEs have been the predominant channel for synthetic biology commercialisation to date, facilitating rapid response to changing societal interests and market pull arising from increasing awareness of health and global sustainability issues. Private investment in start-ups across the US and UK is increasing rapidly and now totals over $12bn. Health-related biotechnology applications have dominated the commercialisation of products to date, but significant opportunities for the production of bio-derived materials and chemicals, including consumer products, are now being developed. Synthetic biology start-ups developing tools and services account for between 10% (in the UK) and ∼25% (in the US) of private investment activity. Around 20% of synthetic biology start-ups address industrial biotechnology targets, but currently, only attract ∼11% private investment. Adopting a more networked approach - linking specialists, infrastructure and ongoing research to de-risk the economic challenges of scale-up and supported by an effective long-term funding strategy - is set to transform the impact of synthetic biology and industrial biotechnology in the bioeconomy.
自 21 世纪初以来，合成生物学已成为设计和工程生物系统的有效技术方法。虽然研究和投资仍在继续发展必要的理解、控制和工程基础设施平台，以应对越来越具有挑战性的系统，并提高现有解决方案的精度、稳健性、速度和可负担性，但数以百计的初创公司，主要在美国和英国，已经将学习成果和潜在应用转化为商业上可行的工具、服务和产品。迄今为止，初创企业和中小企业一直是合成生物学商业化的主要渠道，它们能够迅速响应不断变化的社会利益和市场需求，这是由于人们对健康和全球可持续性问题的认识不断提高。美国和英国的私人对初创企业的投资正在迅速增加，现已超过 120 亿美元。与健康相关的生物技术应用迄今为止一直主导着产品的商业化，但现在正在开发生物衍生材料和化学品（包括消费产品）的生产的重大机会。开发工具和服务的合成生物学初创企业占私人投资活动的 10%（英国）至 25%（美国）之间。约 20%的合成生物学初创企业针对工业生物技术目标，但目前仅吸引了约 11%的私人投资。采用更具网络性的方法——将专家、基础设施和正在进行的研究联系起来，以降低规模经济的经济风险，并得到有效的长期资金战略的支持——有望改变合成生物学和工业生物技术在生物经济中的影响。
