SynbiCITE awarded £3m EPSRC grant to expand engineering biology proof-of-concept programme

Imperial College, London, 14th November 2024 / SynbiCITE, the U.K.’s National Industrial Translation Centre for Engineering Biology, has been awarded a grant of £3m to expand its Proof-of-Concept (PoC) programme for start-up engineering biology companies.  

The new programme comprises three stages: i) an ideation and basic PoC stage, ii) a six-month extension project which will be evaluated by a panel of scientific/engineering and commercial experts and iii) for teams which pass evaluation, further development of their projects/products over a longer period, supported by significant development funds. 

Professor Richard Kitney, Co-Director of SynbiCITE said, “We’re grateful to EPSRC for this grant which will play an important role in creating industrial translation opportunities for founders of engineering biology companies in this fast growing and vital sector. To date, SynbiCITE has run around 30 PoC projects and we have a well-defined process for vetting, monitoring and funding. The new funding will enable us to expand our programme over the next two years. Beyond the grant funding, EPSRC will play an important collaborative role.”

Throughout the programme, projects will be supervised by SynbiCITE’s scientific and technical staff, as well as external experts and the teams will have access to SynbiCITE’s technical facilities, including the biofoundry. Following successful completion of the development stage, SynbiCITE will be able to connect teams and companies to external investors, including its own partner SynBioVen1.  

To date, around 80 UK start-ups have participated in the SynbiCITE basic business courses, with over 300 graduates from these courses and its PoC programme. 27 of the companies have received significant support from SynbiCITE in all areas of activity. In a review using Beauhurst figures, the core group of 27 companies are currently valued at around £1 billion. 

The SynbiCITE business model comprises the support of UK based start-ups and SMEs using its three Hubs of activity.  

SynbiCITE will be running Europe’s leading conference on industrial translation for engineering biology this December: https://www.synbitech.com 

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

SynbiCITE: 
Professor Richard Kitney 
E: r.kitney@imperial.ac.uk 
T: +44 (0)20 7594-6226 

Media Relations, Sciad Communications:  
Maria Taylor, Account Executive 
E: maria.taylor@sciad.com 
T: +44 (0)20 3405 7892 

About SynbiCITE 

SynbiCITE is the UK’s national centre for the commercialisation of Engineering Biology/Synthetic Biology. The prime objective of SynbiCITE is to accelerate and promote the commercial exploitation of Engineering Biology research and technology long-term. SynbiCITE’s role as nucleating point for this rapidly emerging industry is designed, to deliver sustained and substantial benefits to the UK economy and particularly the BioEconomy and sustainability. SynbiCITE is a unique collaboration of the UK’s leading academic institutions and industrial partners, ranging from start-ups to large multinational companies, and supporting organisations, including Regional Governments.