Deep Biotech: Disruptive innovation for global sustainability

There is no longer any doubt that the climate crisis requires mobilisation from every section of the economy. Modern industrial biotechnology allows us to leverage the power of biology to live more harmoniously with nature. Our newfound abilities to gain insights from AI, edit genomes, and industrialise biological processes mean we are in an era of truly disruptive biological innovation. The UK is in a position to harness these breakthroughs and deploy them at scale, to mitigate threats to global sustainability.

The BIA has coined the term ‘Deep Biotech’ to capture companies working in this biotech space. This report aims to shine a light on some of the innovative companies using engineering biology to positively disrupt the environmentally damaging industries that modern society relies on. Five case studies showcase how innovative Deep Biotech companies use the power of biology to protect crops and help ensure food security, create sources of energy without the need for fossil fuels, make textiles and packaging from enzymes instead of harmful petrochemicals or resource-intensive cotton, cultivate meat without farming animals, and develop enzymes to turn plastic waste into everyday chemicals. Together, these companies are creating the innovations today that will form the backbone of our economy tomorrow.