Three-year project looks to inject millions into Scotland's ‘bioeconomy’

An initiative aimed at boosting Scotland’s “bioeconomy” and leveraging millions of pounds in funding launches this week.

The three-year project is being delivered by Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC), in partnership with the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), and is being funded by the European Regional Development Fund (EDRF).

The “Bioeconomy Cluster Builder” hopes to play a key role in driving the nation’s green recovery and contribute to the delivery of the national plan for industrial biotechnology.

The three-year project is being delivered by Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC), in partnership with the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), and is being funded by the European Regional Development Fund (EDRF).

The aim is to increase the number of businesses involved in industrial biotechnology north of the Border by 100 and to leverage £8 million in funding by March 2023.

Mark Bustard, chief executive of the IBioIC, said: “The Bioeconomy Cluster Builder will really help to drive innovation in the sector and will also boost industry engagement outside of the current bioeconomy community.

“We want to encourage companies, start-ups and spin-outs to look at value chains and other opportunities for the production of renewable biological resources, and their conversion into everyday products, that will help to contribute to a cleaner, greener and more sustainable future for all.”

Dana Heldt, knowledge transfer manager – synthetic biology, at KTN, added: “This project will bring academia and industry together to research, develop and deploy novel high-tech approaches to the conversion of biomass and waste streams into value-added products and applications.”

The project will focus on six “value chains” that will play a key role in the growth of the bioeconomy, including whisky co-products, marine biomass and carbon capture.

A launch event was due to take place on Thursday at 2pm – the first in a series of collaborative events that will explore the benefits of industrial biotechnology.

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