SynBioBeta 2024: Engineered biology, outer space, and the brave new world of AI

In early May, IBioIC co-hosted a UK pavilion at the world’s largest synthetic biology event in San Jose, California to showcase the best of UK’s engineering biology capability. 

IBioIC joined forces with the BioIndustry Association (BiA), National Physics Lab, SynbiCITE and UK Government Dept of Science and Technology, during this 3-day event and hosted 4 great UK success stories for UK biotech including Green Bioactives, an Edinburgh company using plant cells to make high value natural actives. Innovate UK also supported a Global Business Innovation Programme supporting a delegation of 15 UK SMEs to the event and local investors, several of which are IBioIC members, and two based in Scotland (Roslin Technologies and Sonichem Technologies). 

SynBioBeta is the largest focused engineering biology event for industry and investors and been running now for over a decade. Today, it is a huge event of over 2,000 attendees, with some noteworthy keynote speakers (my favourite being genome sequencer Craig Venter and investor Vinod Khosla), topical panel sessions, pitches from startups and a vast array of parallel sessions. 

The conference, and indeed engineered biology, has come a long way in just over a decade. This is perhaps reflected in the topics of debate and deliberation today – how to overcome scale up challenges, finding later stage finance, and how to exit. Something companies could only have dreamt of just a decade ago. Perhaps not surprisingly, there was a lot of discussion about AI, and its possible impacts, but we still seem some way off this being realised. 

There’s still otherworldly magic at SynBioBeta. A fireside chat with an astronaut and tracked sessions around the applications of engineered biology for space travel and colonisation of planets. Plus all the amazing things we can learn simply by putting living things in space. The synbio dream goes on. 

Thanks to Linda Bedeneck and George Caterer at the BiA for coordinating the event and being such great hosts.