INDUSTRIAL biotechnology (IB) can reinvent how entire industries work more sustainably, yet its contribution to Scotland’s net zero ambitions is not widely discussed.
Now Mark Bustard, CEO at the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC), is aiming to change that as Glasgow prepares to host the COP26 climate conference later this year.
Bustard said the number of companies under the IB banner in Scotland is rising: “In 2012, there were just 24 businesses in the field producing associated annual revenues of £189 million,” he said.
“But by the end of 2019 that had reached 130 companies with associated turnover of £747m – well ahead of expectations.”
He has highlighted five of the top companies keeping Scotland ahead of the pack in IB – using natural materials to create chemicals and other substances, instead of from unsustainable sources, such as petrochemicals.
Dundee-based Ten Bio is proving that animal testing is not a necessity in pharma and skin research, using its patented human skin culture system that closely mimics intact living skin on the body.
Its TenSkin allows researchers to generate more reliable and realistic data before testing in humans.
Biotech start-up Oceanium, in Oban, has developed a “green and clean” biorefinery technology to process sustainably-farmed seaweed into high-demand products – creating demand for farmed seaweed and catalysing the sustainable seaweed farming industry.
From its Edinburgh base, IndiNature is helping tackle the built environment’s carbon footprint by creating building insulation – IndiTherm – from biotech materials and traditional local crops.
Argent Energy is looking at decarbonising the transport system with biodiesel created from waste fats and oils and ScotBio aims to use algal biomass to reduce waste while producing a natural plant-based protein that can boost the nutritional content of meat-alternative products.
Bustard added: “Many of these businesses are making a significant contribution to how we build back greener and better from the Covid-19 crisis – not only in Scotland, but across the UK and further afield.”
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