The UK government has published a new Industrial Strategy that pledges £184 million to boost the country’s engineering biology industry by building and upgrading pilot and scale-up facilities.
The pledge has been made under the strategy’s Digital and Technologies Sector Plan, and could benefit producers of cultivated meat, cultivated ingredients, and fermentation-based foods. The plan specifically highlights London-based cultivated meat startup Multus to illustrate how clusters of engineering biology expertise already exist in different regions.
Additionally, it explains how the UK’s cultivated meat regulatory sandbox could help to boost engineering biology. Designed to improve regulators’ scientific knowledge of cultivated meat, the sandbox is described as the first of its kind in Europe and has received £1.6 million in government funding. The plan pledges to partner with the newly formed Regulatory Innovation Office to build on the sandbox’s success and aid the responsible adoption of engineering biology products and services.
A world leader in alternative proteins?
Research published by GFI Europe earlier this year found that the UK government had invested £75 million in alternative protein innovation. Four alt protein innovation centres have also opened in the country in recent years. However, more progress is needed; according to GFI, a lack of infrastructure means that British businesses have faced barriers to commercialising researchers’ findings.
In 2023, research by Green Alliance claimed that with regulatory reforms and sufficient public investment, alternative proteins could add £6.8 billion per year to the UK’s economy and create 25,000 jobs by 2035.
“It’s positive to see the government recognise the UK’s many strengths in engineering biology and commit to boost this sector through a new Industrial Strategy,” said Linus Pardoe, senior UK policy manager at GFI Europe. “The UK has everything it takes to become a world leader in developing and commercialising alternative proteins, and initiatives like the new infrastructure funding promised today could be an excellent way of unlocking new opportunities, boosting our food security, helping grow the economy and creating future-proof jobs.”
