Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre Annual Report … IBioIC Annual Report.pdf · IBioIC launches its first Exemplar Project competition Highlights ... Industrial Biotechnology

Industrial BiotechnologyInnovation CentreAnnual Report 2014

Vision

Vision

Our vision is to create a truly distinctive world-leading Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC). We will accelerate and de-risk the development of commercially viable, sustainable solutions for high-value (speciality & commodity) manufacturing in chemistry-using and life science sectors. In doing so, we will establish an innovation and growth engine, yielding substantial economic impact and delivering increasing and sustainable wealth creation, prosperity and employment in Scotland.

By 2030 our target is to generate 1 to 1.5 Bn pounds of Gross Value Added contribution annually to the Scottish economy, this represents a growth of revenue from today’s estimated value of £190M, to between £2 and 3Bn.

“Innovation Centres offer game-changing opportunities for collaboration between our academic and business base. The investment and partnership model is unique and their potential for growth is huge.”

Alex Salmond, Former First Minister

“IBioIC has delivered an excellent launch year and built momentum in its research and knowledge exchange activities. This has been reflected in public acknowledgement of IBioIC’s relevance and value by industry, academia and our public sector agency partners and funders SFC and Scottish Enterprise - IBioIC is a ‘triple-helix’ exemplar. This promises the establishment of Scotland as an international powerhouse in industrial biotechnology and I look forward to the acceleration of IBioIC’s successes and outcomes.”

Professor Sir Jim McDonaldPrincipal, University of Strathclyde

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Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre Annual Report 2014

Foreword

The Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) finally came to life, with funding secured, on the 1st

January 2014.

This has been a momentous first year under the leadership of Roger Kilburn who has rapidly assembled a highly competent and very industrious team of enthusiasts committed to our ambitious vision of adding two to three billion pounds sterling to the Scottish economy by 2030.

The year has been characterised by a number of significant milestones and achievements which include a highly successful Launch Event in early February with over a hundred attendees including the principals of Edinburgh and Strathclyde universities as well as Cabinet Secretary, John Swinney.

This has been followed by a large number of pivotal industry/academia events that have helped shape our strategy and plans for the future.

The launch of both Masters and Doctoral training programmes involving eleven Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) was achieved in record time and is particularly noteworthy.

Targeted missions to visit Norway and China demonstrate our international reach and eagerness to identify real opportunities, from the global industry base, that may benefit the Scottish economy.

Members of the team have attended international showcases, conferences and trade events across the UK, Europe and the United States and the profile of IBioIC is rapidly gaining ground with increasing industry recognition.

These events provide invaluable insights into how the global industry is developing and help shape our strategy.

We have initiated six exemplar projects involving several businesses of all sizes and scales together with a number of our HEIs.

Over 100 companies have been engaged in events or discussions and we are now signing up companies as members on an accelerating rate to meet all our business plan targets. We remain highly focussed on bringing real value to member companies and HEIs and will continue to strengthen the team and organise events, delegations, conferences and meetings to further this aim.

The innovation centre has benefited substantially from the very active participation of all members of the governing, commercial and technical boards who have separately and collectively provided great inputs, insight, wisdom, advice and guidance for which we are extremely grateful.

I close by giving our heartfelt thanks to all the engaged companies, higher education institutes, the Scottish Funding Council, Scottish Enterprise and all our diverse and valuable stakeholders for their invaluable support and hope we will continue to realise value in return.

Ian Shott, CBE, FREngIBioIC Chairman

Table of Contents

Highlights 2

Overview of IBioIC 4

Governance 8

Meet the Team 10

Industrial Engagement 12

Academic Partners 14

Skills Programme 16

The Exemplar Programme 18

Equipment Centres 22

Events 24

Looking Forward 28

Closing Remarks 29

31st January 2014: IBioIC launches its first Exemplar Project competition

Highlights

Highlights

02

12th December 2013 Graphic Design student from Glasgow Caledonian University, Kieran Frew, wins award for design of IBioIC logo

2013

12th-16th May 2014IBioIC attend and exhibit at the World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology, Philadelphia

20th November 2013Scotland’s National Plan for Industrial Biotechnology is published

20th August 2014 Announcement of £1.8M capital investment from SFC to establish two equipment centres.

13th December 2013: Funding letter received from Scottish Funding Council

5th February 2014Official launch day for the Innovation Centre, opened by John Swinney MSP

1st July 2014 IBioIC launches its second Exemplar Project competition

3rd April 2014 IBioIC hold a ‘Skills for Industry’ day at INEOS, Grangemouth

03Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre Annual Report 2014

4th-5th September 2014 Borregaard Refinery site visit, Norway

2015

1st October 2014 Eight students commence their IBioIC sponsored PhD studentships and IBioIC opens its 2nd call for the PhD programme

12th September 2014 Launch of Scotland’s first collaborative MSc in Industrial Biotechnology

18th-20th November 2014 IBioIC sponsor, present and exhibit at the ‘Natural Product Biotechnology’ conference, Inverness

10th September 2014 IBioIC commits £700,000 to its first three Exemplar Projects

30th October 2014IBioIC invites all Boards to meet and inform/shape the national strategy/IBioIC strategy

9th September 2014 IBioIC hosts a ‘Making Connections, Accelerating IB in Scotland’ event at BioCity, Newhouse

22nd January 2015 IBioIC host their firstannual conference– The Journey’s Started

30th September – 2nd October 2014IBioIC attend, present and exhibit at the 7th European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology, Reims

Commercialisation activity Outreach activities Skills activities Encompassing activities

Scope of Centre

The scope of IBioIC was defined jointly by our founding industrial partners and the Governing Board. The identification of five major themes defines the scientific research of the Centre in all four colours of biotechnology; white – industrial applications;red – human health and cell therapies; green – plant and agriculture and blue – marine materials and organisms.

Fermentation

Biomass (carbohydrate) Waste/recycle (mix) Unconventional Gases

Hydrocarbon or CO2

Pre-treatmentFeedstocks DSP Bio trans DSP Products

Organism Chassis: yeasts e.g. S. cerevisiae, P. pastoris; bacteria e.g. E. coli, Clostridium, Streptomyces; algae;

engineering ‘cell factory’

OMICS

INDUSTRIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY

SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY

GENOMICS, PROTEOMICS, METABOLOMICS

SYSTEMS BIOLOGY

IB Petro

Chemical tree Materials etc

Diagnostics Med tech Stratified

medicines etc

LIFE SCIENCES /PHYSICAL SCIENCES

Biosciences Chemistry Sciences Computational Sciences Engineering

Thermal Chemical Biological Mechanical

Figure 1 Integrated Industrial Biotechnology Process Chart

Overview of IBioIC

Overview of IBioIC

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The Five Major IBioIC Themes are:

• Sustainable Feedstocks (including unconventional gases)• Enzymes and Biocatalysis/Biotransformation• Cell Factory Construction and Process Physiology• Downstream Processing• Integrated Bioprocessing

IBioIC covers the entire integrated bioprocess plan from feedstocks to products, Figure 1. Through the implantation of process-ready organism chassis, process competence for a range of sustainable feedstocks and the combined power of the Higher Education Institution (HEI) partners, IBioIC can leverage a large cassette of tools from ‘Omics’, Systems Biology and Synthetic Biology. As a result IBioIC has the ability to transform exciting novel technology at low Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) up into high TRL outcomes – creating a multitude of new products and processes for many industry sectors.


OUTREACH

Professional Forums

Public Engagement

International Events

International Company Engagement

e.g. BBSRC networks, KTN, SE, HIE, EPSRC, IBFL, EuropaBio,

HEI networks, Catalyst Programmes and Catapults

SKILLS & KE

Next generation of IB- skilled practitioners

Collaborative MSc in IB

CSS Skills Group, Sector Skills Council etc

HND programme in IB

Modern Apprenticeshipsin IB

e.g. Industrial Members,HEI’s, Further Education Colleges,

SFC, Cogent and SDS

The Operational Model

IBioIC is an industry led national Centre with a model to develop a highly attractive, resource leveraging and easy to engage with open innovation culture. The industry leadership ensures a strong market pull and the Centre’s core team consists of industrially experienced experts providing the best support and project management capability for company members. Through the use of technology and innovation from the academic partners, IBioIC drives forward solutions to industrial problems.

The operational strategy of IBioIC is to operate within the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 to 7, i.e. primary research on business issues and research application, and then develop the technology through to small pilot scale technical demonstration, to produce robust technical

transfer packages. These packages can be scaled up in the companies themselves or through working in collaboration with Innovate UK High Value Manufacturing Catapult and CPI to fully demonstrate commercial viability.

To achieve the Centre Vision, IBioIC has a breadth of activities in three key areas; commercialisation, outreach and skills & knowledge exchange, Figure 2. Our mission is to accelerate industrial biotechnology (IB) developments across all of these key areas to provide a world-leading Centre of Excellence with the ability to tackle the IB challenges of the future. In order to enhance these activities the Centre is engaging with a range of stakeholders including industry; EU and UK funding bodies; collaborative Centres; professional groups and the public.

Figure 2 An illustration of the breadth of activities within IBioIC and the range of stakeholders IBioIC is engaging

COMMERCIALISATION

Core-funded programmes

Jointly-funded programmes

Studentships

Secondments

Fee-for service programmes

Consultancy

e.g. Innovate UK, Horizon 2020 and UKRC’s

Overview of IBioIC

Overview of IBioIC06

“Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is a world leader in the life sciences tools industry. Our Paisley site employs more than 600 people. As an investor in enabling technologies such as synthetic biology, which underpin many processes within the Industrial Biotechnology sector, we are keen to partner with the world leading expertise of Scotland’s Universities to accelerate our research. IBioIC enables and supports these key commercial/academic partnerships, within a structure of robust governance, that will stimulate growth and jobs within the Scottish Industrial Biotechnology sector.”

Linda Brooks, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

Uniqueness of IBioIC

The map shows the location of the fourteen IBioIC Higher Education Institution (HEI) partners, HEI collaborators and all current and potential industry members showing the breadth and range of institutes and companies involved in the innovation centre.

AberdeenNCIMBRobert Gordon UniversityUniversity of Aberdeen AyrMarine Biopolymers

BurntislandCelluComp DundeeCellexusCypex Dundee Cell ProductsThe James Hutton Institute University of DundeeUniversity of Abertay

EdinburghAMT BioDetectors Celtic Renewables Diageo FIOS Genmonics Forestry Commission IngenzaJohnson Matthey M Power WorldEdinburgh Napier UniversityHeriot Watt UniversityQueen Margaret UniversityThe University of Edinburgh

GlasgowBluTest BioFilm Sistemic Scottish Leather Group Scottish RenewablesThermo Fisher Scientific William TraceyUniversity of Glasgow University of StrathclydeUniversity of the West of Scotland

GrangemouthFujifilmINEOS Syngenta

Inverness Cells UnitedUniversity of the Highlands and Islands

IrvineDSM GSKIrvine BayUPM Caledonia

LewisBASF

LinlithgowAlba gaia

LockerbieE.ON

MontroseGSK

North UistUist Asco

Oban GlycoMarXanthellaUniversity of the Highlands and Islands

PerthGenabler

St AndrewsSasolUniversity of St Andrews

StirlingKerry Ingredients Zero Waste Scotland

Outside ScotlandAkzo Nobel Applikon Aurozymes Bioline Croda Enzmatics EppendorfGenialis Invista Lonza LuciteNovozymes Sartorius Stedim Biotech SeafarmacyShasunTCI UnileverImperial College London University College LondonUniversity of Cambridge University of ManchesterUniversity of Nottingham


Inverness

Lockerbie

Grangemouth

Stirling

Linlithgow

Aberdeen

Dundee

Perth

Montrose

St Andrews

Burntisland

Edinburgh

Glasgow

Ayr

Irvine

Oban

Lewis

North Uist

Governing Board

This Board governs IBioIC activities, sets the strategic and commercial direction and is responsible for the compliance, financial oversight and risk management. Through the Governing Board, IBioIC has been able to shape the overall structure and content of the Centre ensuring all activities contribute to its overall vision.

“IBioIC has ambitious targets, and to deliver on these, governance of IBioIC has to be effective, clear, responsive and flexible. IBioIC’s first year has seen significant achievement, facilitated by a highly effective Board consisting of a balanced industry/academic partnership, which receives guidance from a Commercial and a Scientific Advisory Board.”Prof Brian McNeil, University of Strathclyde

“The GB has strong industrial membership and that bodes well for the future strategic direction of IBioIC as well as providing strong governance of its early development. I have been impressed by the speed at which this new Innovation Centre has established itself as a key player in the UK’s IB landscape.” Dr Sandy Dobbie, Chairman, Marine Biopolymers

Governance

Governance

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Governing Board and VIP guests at IBioIC Launch event. From left to right: Donald Fowler (HIE), Prof Gary Loake (The University of Edinburgh), Dr Dave Tudor (GSK), Prof Alice Brown (SFC), Roger Kilburn (IBioIC), John Swinney MSP and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth, Dr Stewart Fancy (SFC), James Cameron (HIE), Caroline Strain (SE), Keith McDonald (SFC), Dr Ian Archer (Ingenza),Prof Sir Jim McDonald (University of Strathclyde), Dr Ian Little (INEOS), Prof Brian McNeil (University of Strathclyde).

Members:Mr Ian Shott CBE, FREng - Chair, IBioICMr Roger Kilburn - CEO, IBioICDr Ian Fotheringham - Managing Director, IngenzaDr Ian Little - New Technology Manager, INEOSDr Dave Tudor - VP Primary Supply Chain, GSKDr Sandy Dobbie - Chairman, Marine BiopolymersProf Brian McNeil - Professor of Microbiology,University of StrathclydeProf Gary Loake - Professor of Molecular Plant Sciences, University of EdinburghProf Marcel Jaspars - Professor of Organic Chemistry,University of Aberdeen

Observers:Ms Sophie Lowry - Senior Policy Officer,Scottish Funding CouncilMs Caroline Strain – Head of Chemical Sciences,Scottish EnterpriseMr James Cameron – Head of Life Sciences,Highlands and Islands Enterprise

Chairman of IBioIC Ian Shott

Scientific Advisory Board

The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) reports to the Governing Board. The Board’s role includes overseeing scientific content of all projects for Exemplar and PhD competitions and advising the Centre on technical issues and capital spend ensuring the Centre’s advances in the five key thematic areas.

‘The SAB is now working well as a team. We have established robust protocols for reviewing both studentship and exemplar project proposals. We are enjoying rotating our meetings around our different contributor locations, both the academic and industrial ones, and are looking forward to the next few years with considerable optimism.”

Prof Richard Cogdell, Chair of the SAB

Members:Prof Richard Cogdell - Director of Institute,University of Glasgow (Chair)Mr Roger Kilburn - CEO, IBioICMr Ted Chapman - BESS Director, GSK Dr Ian Archer - Head of Process Development, IngenzaMr Douglas Macinnes - Co-Director, Marine BiopolymersDr Michele Stanley - PI in Microalgal Molecular Phycology, SAMSProf Derek Stewart - Crop Productivity & Utilisation Research Theme Leader, James Hutton InstituteDr Dominic Campopiano - Reader in Organic Chemistry, University of EdinburghProf Linda Harvey - Professor of Applied Microbiology,University of StrathclydeDr Nik Willoughby - Senior Lecturer, Heriot Watt UniversityDr John Liddell - Head of Process Science, Fujifilm


Commercial Advisory Board

The Commercial Advisory Board reports to the Governing Board. The Board’s activities include guiding the Centre on maximising the commercial impact and industrial reputation of IBioIC. The dedication provided to reviewing incoming project submissions on the Exemplar Programme ensures that the Centre benefits from investing in the innovative and exciting areas of biotechnology for the future. The Board has been chaired by Roger Kilburn, however future meeting will have a rotating Chair depending on the meeting’s focus area ensuring maximum use of the Board’s expertise.

“The CAB has provided invaluable advice and guidance over the year on projects and strategy for the Centre”

Mr Roger Kilburn, Interim Chair of CAB

Members:Mr Roger Kilburn - CEO, IBioIC (interim Chair)Mr Steve McGhie - Technical Development Leader, GSK Dr Ian Fotheringham - Managing Director, IngenzaMr David Mackie - Co-Director, Marine BiopolymersDr Douglas McKenzie - Director, XanthellaDr Jeremy Gillespie - Director of Business Development, EnzymaticsMr Mark Simmers - CEO, Celtic RenewablesProf Graeme Walker - Professor of Zymology,Abertay UniversityDr Mike Jarvis - University of Glasgow

Observers:Mr Andrew Vincent, Scottish EnterpriseMr Donald Fowler, Highlands and Islands Enterprise

Scientific AdvisoryBoard ChairProf Richard Cogdell

Commercial AdvisoryBoard Interim ChairRoger Kilburn

Meet the Team

Meet the Team

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IBioIC Management Team

Roger Kilburn– Chief Executive Officer Roger was appointed CEO of IBioIC in January 2014. Roger, a chemical engineer by profession, is an experienced international business leader with a proven track record in business turnaround, growth and

leadership. He has worked 26 years in the Chemical and Fine Chemicals Sectors (ICI, Johnson Matthey) and was located in UK, Australia, Germany and USA. More recently he has focussed on using his experience to support SME’s with strategy, business development and management.

In addition Roger also sits on the Management Team of Chemical Sciences Scotland, the Industrial Advisory Board of Heriot Watt University, the Board of the Green Growth Programme and the Scientific Advisory Board for Biochar for Carbon Capture. He is also a mentor to the Directors of the Bethany Christian Trust, a large homeless charity in Edinburgh and an Honorary Assistant Professor at Heriot Watt University.

Judith Huggan– Skills Development Manager

Jude Huggan joined IBioIC as Skills Programme Manager in May 2014. Jude is a medicinal chemist having obtained her first degree at the University of Paisley (2002, 1st Class Honours) then her PhD at the University of Strathclyde (2006,

Professor C.J. Suckling), both in medicinal/organic chemistry. Her research expertise is in the design and development of new treatments for disease, specifically for rheumatoid arthritis, pancreatic and prostate cancer. As Skills Programme Manager Jude is responsible for the design, delivery and implementation of all educational programmes run by the Centre including the MSc, PhD, HND and MA programmes.

Ashley Jackson– Administration Officer

With a sales and events background, Ashley was initially based at the University of Strathclyde as a conference organiser before moving into the Researcher Development Programme, leading the administration of over

100 events annually for postgraduate and early career researchers. Having acted as Chair of a sub-group for the training module ‘Becoming an Engaging Researcher’ Ashley developed a keen interest in the area of public engagement and worked on varied projects highlighting the importance of engaging various audiences in research. As Admin Officer for the IBioIC, her current remit is to provide operational support and manage the establishment of the IBioIC office whilst contributing to the development and roll out of the marketing and communications strategy for the Centre.

Fraser Black– Strategic Advisor

Fraser joined IBioIC as a visiting consultant in August to help develop the business strategy. Fraser has over 30 years international experience in the Life and Health Science industry having worked in UK, Germany and USA. He has

successfully lead teams in global corporations (GE Healthcare) Mid-size Companies (Amersham Pharmacia) SME’s (Hoefer Scientific) and in start-ups (BioCity Scotland). Fraser is skilled in business strategy, cross functional team leadership, solution commercialisation, and has a passion for building high performance teams.

Currently Fraser is a member of LiSAB, a joint industry, enterprise and government team which helps develop and drive the overall Life Sciences strategy in Scotland, and sits on the Board of the Glasgow Economic Leadership Forum - Life Sciences sector. He is a Director for the charity Kingdom Gymnastics Trust.


Stewart Mitchell– Business Development Manager

Stewart, has worked within a number of different companies and different sites, cultures, and technologies, primarily in the pharma api CMO business. After obtaining his PhD at Abertay University he joined Abbott Laboratories, he then

joined ChiRex which became Rhodia then Shasun and worked in a number of different operational roles in API contract manufacturing in the UK and the USA. Stewart later joined Piramal as the Site Lead, manufacturing ADCs and other highly potent drug APIs. He then moved to ThermoFisher Scientific in Basingstoke as the Site and Operations Director, which manufactures and develops dried culture media, peptones, freeze dried supplements, antimicrobial susceptibility testing kits and other products for the microbiology market. Stewart joined IBioIC as a Business Development Manager in January and has helped start up the Centre in a number of areas primarily developing industrial relationships and activities.

Catriona Clark– Project Manager

Catriona joined IBioIC as Project Manager in June 2014. Catriona graduated from the University of Strathclyde with a first class MSci honours degree in Forensic and Analytical Chemistry in 2008, after

which she remained at Strathclyde to complete her industrial sponsored PhD with Dr Alan Kennedy studying salt selection for pharmaceutical use in conjunction with MSD. In 2011, Catriona joined the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Continuous Manufacturing and Crystallisation (CAMC) as a post-doctoral knowledge transfer associate where she worked with industrial partners to collate current knowledge in continuous manufacturing. After this 12 month position Catriona was promoted to the position of Assistant Centre Manager for CMAC where she worked on research projects and a large £11.4m equipment procurement project. As project manager Catriona is responsible for the management of the Centre’s Exemplar Programme.

Paul Hudman– Business Development Manager

Paul, a fermentation scientist by training, carried out his doctoral studies in the Department of Biochemical Engineering at University College, London, where he investigated methods of controlling recombinant protein

production and activity in strains of E.coli. On completing his research he took up a position in the Molecular Biology Department of Covance Laboratories Ltd. in Harrogate and over a number of years held various roles within the Operational and Commercial teams of the Division of Biotechnology. Another move northward saw him take on the management of the Molecular Biology group at BioReliance, Glasgow, specialists in viral safety testing for biopharmaceuticals where he was until earlier this year.Paul joined the Innovation Centre in September as Business Development Manager with a specific focus on company engagement and communicating the benefits of Centre membership to potential industry partners in all sectors.

Sarah Petrie– Project Manager

Sarah joined IBioIC in May 2014 on a secondment from Scottish Enterprise. Sarah leads on the delivery of the National Plan for Industrial Biotechnology for Scottish Enterprise and has been involved in the

development of IBioIC from inception. She is an accomplished life sciences specialist with strong project management, commercialisation and business development skills and has worked in the sector for over 20 years. Sarah is a project manager within IBioIC and is responsible for the co-delivery of the Exemplar Programme.

Maria Andrus- Administrative Assistant

Maria Andrus joined IBioIC in September 2014 as Administrative Assistant. An economics graduate of the University of Nottingham, Maria worked initially as an Operations Specialist in the energy trading industry before a move into the

public sector. Maria has worked in administrative roles for numerous organisations and institutions, including the Welsh Assembly Government and Swansea University College of Medicine. In her current role, Maria is responsible for providing administrative support to the IBioIC team.

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Industrial Engagement12

Industrial EngagementIBioIC aim to make industrial engagement with industrial biotechnology (IB) as easy, as effective and as simple as possible. We endeavor to make industry engagement a priority of the Centre with both SMEs and large and multinational companies, and to utilise world class expertise in Scotland’s academic institutions. IBioIC seeks to offer and facilitate IB technology, expertise, development, technology transfer and small scale development.

Current membership at all levels:

LEADING

CORE

ASSOCIATE

“One of the great things about IBioIC is the opportunity to network with other companies, large and small, that you would not normally meet.” Dr J. Douglas McKenzie, Xanthella


Membership categories and potential for acceleration of IB development:

Our organisation aims to be “Led by industry for industry” and as such we recognise the importance of Industry guidance within our leadership structure. Current Core members have been elected into a number of seats on both our Commercial and Scientific Advisory Boards and are crucial in the objective judging of projects to be funded by the Centre or PhD thesis abstracts. In these roles and with regular communication with Centre staff our members will help shape the organisation and be integral to the formation of its strategic goals for the future of Industrial Biotechnology in Scotland.

LEADING

Leading members of the Centre have Industrial Biotechnology processes at the heart of their business strategy and are uniquely concerned with the consolidation and expansion of the Industry globally, but with a geographical focus within Scotland. They also enjoy the benefits of our networking activities but are likely to be central to, or directing the topics covered and will speak with the authority gained from an in depth knowledge of the IB landscape. They see engagement with the academic community as vital to future business successes and are quick to utilise collaborative expertise where such knowledge is either absent or overstretched internally. They may well have previous examples where partnership in a post-graduate training scheme has borne fruit either in terms of IP generated, research publications, or in the employment of a well-trained member of staff already familiar with internal procedures who can be productive from day one. As such they are keen to host students for placement and are in active dialogue with the Centre regarding the ideal structure and content of these relationships.

In the same way as our Core membership it is vital that Leading members have a voice and some influence to the direction the Centre is heading, the projects we fund and how we contribute to the development of an IB industry in Scotland. As such Leading members are invited to sit on both our Advisory Boards but are also offered a seat on our Governing Board. This direct connection to industry at the highest level of our governance structure is crucial to us remaining relevant and consistently delivering real value to our members.

ASSOCIATE

Associate members are currently made up of interested parties or technology suppliers who want to be involved in the creation and cultivation of an industrial biotechnology industry within Scotland but have no interest in, requirement for, or relevance to jointly funded projects or access to our skills programme. These members value the breadth of our network, locally and globally both within academia and industry and see IBioIC events as opportunities to meet current, and potential customers, and ensure their offering remains relevant to the IB industry. As the membership, reach and reputation of the Centre grows we expect this membership category to also expand and provide an initial involvement for companies where relationships are forged and membership upgraded in subsequent years.

CORE

Core members make up the main body of the Centre’s industrial supporters. The name is not lost on us; these individuals and companies are ‘core’ to what we do as an organisation and how the industry will be built across all sectors in our country. Networking, and a connection to emerging trends/a national strategy for IB is important to this group, but involvement in our skills programme and access to part funded collaborative projects is key to their engagement. Industry partners value the number and variety of our academic institutions, and understand the benefit of tapping into this to utilise internationally recognised expertise in many areas relevant to industrial biotechnology. They are also attracted by the opportunity to host postgraduate students who will stay with them for at least 3 months and become an active member of their R&D team for that period of time. This industrial exposure is key to the future success of our Masters and Doctoral students, furnishing them with relevant skills early in their career as Industrial Biotechnologists. Companies involved in these programmes not only benefit from the research work undertaken but will increasingly take the opportunity to grow their skilled workforce by employing well trained, able individuals at the end of their studies.

Academic Partners14

University of Strathclyde

University of St Andrews

SAMS / University of the Highlands and Islands

University of Glasgow

University of Aberdeen

University of the Westof Scotland

Edinburgh Napier University

Abertay University

The James Hutton Institute

Heriot Watt University

Queen Margaret University

University of Edinburgh

Robert Gordon University

University of Dundee

Figure 4 Scottish HEI partner core competencies.

Health Marine Industrial Agriculture

Academic PartnersThe Centre is fortunate to have the active involvement of fourteen Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in supporting its activities. Figure 4 shows the capabilities of these HEIs in terms of the colours of biotechnology, it graphically shows the diverse range of skills we can access in supporting our Industrial partners research needs.

Over the last year all fourteen HEIs have been active for the Centre, they have given valuable advice on the Commercial and Scientific Advisory Boards as well as assessed the merits of Exemplar projects and PhD Studentship applications. They have worked with Industrial members in developing Exemplar projects and then submitted these into the two competitions that have been held over the year. They have submitted applications for PhD Studentships and provided course content to the Collaborative MSc program. They have actively

attended all the IBioIC organised events over the year and have been energetically involved in the development of the IB strategy for Scotland and how this should drive the activities of IBioIC over the next few years.

The Centre has been involved with over 150 individual academics from Scottish HEIs over the last 12 months and would like to sincerely thank them all for their valued advice, support and enthusiasm.

Finally the Centre is working with two Further Education Colleges (FECs), Forth Valley College and Kelvin College and the Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) to establish an HND program in Industrial Biotechnology to feed in directly to Industrial employment or as an alternative route into higher academic study.


“SAMS (UHI) has had the great privilege of being involved with IBioIC since it’s inception in 2013. Over the last year we have been actively involved in both the centre’s MSc in Industrial Biotechnology and were successful in an application to the Exemplar Programme. Both of which have been designed to increase interactions between academia and industry”

Dr Michele Stanley, SAMS (UHI)

Skills Programme16

Skills ProgrammeIBioIC exists to facilitate the link between academia and industry and to add economic value to the Scottish Economy from the industrialisation of biology. In order to add impact and value to the economy, both in monetary and employment terms, IBioIC has developed a series of educational programmes in industrial biotechnology designed to equip people with the skills required for employment within the industry created. Two programmes were successfully launched in 2014, the PhD programme and the Collaborative MSc in Industrial Biotechnology.

A further two new programmes are planned for the start of academic year 2015-2016, an HNC/HND and a Modern Apprenticeship in Industrial Biotechnology.

PhD

The first PhD studentship competition, launched in February 2014, was successful in attracting over 30 entries from across the partner Higher Education Institutes (HEIs). After a technical review process conducted by the SAB the following nine projects were awarded and commenced in October 2014:

Dr Dominic Campopiano (The University of Edinburgh): “Exploring and exploiting the catalytic potential of pyridoxal 5’-phosphate (PLP)-dependent enzymes”

Professor Alistair Elfick (The University of Edinburgh): “Raman spectroscopy as a discovery tool for novel halogenase enzymes” with GSK.

Dr Tracey Gloster (University of St Andrews): “Engineering of plant cell wall degrading enzymes for enhanced biocatalysis in biofuel production”

Professor Linda Harvey (University of Strathclyde): “Integrated bio-processing for the sustainable manufacture of platform chemicals” with Ingenza.

Professor Marcel Jaspars (University of Aberdeen): “Biotransformation enzymes to form heterocycles commonly found in pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals” with Ingenza.

Professor José Penades (University of Glasgow): “Development of a novel antimicrobial therapy using synthetic phage-inducible chromosomal islands (PICI’s)”

Professor Andrew Porter (University of Aberdeen): “The generation of a bio-processing VNAR that specifically recognizes the heterodimeric form of SEED bispecific antibody formats” with Merck-Serono.

Dr Mark Taylor (James Hutton Institute): “Re-engineering the tropane alkaloid pathway in potato”

Professor Nicholas Westwood (University of St Andrews): “Studying the in vitro enzymatic degredation of kraft lignin” with Ingenza.

The second PhD studentship competition closed in December 2014, with the project judged by the SAB in January 2015. The second PhD cohort students will commence in October 2015.

The PhD Training Programme - The students funded by IBioIC will participate in a cohort training programme throughout the period of their PhD. This dynamic, multi-disciplinary training is being developed in coordination with IBioIC industrial partners to equip the students with the correct industrial biotechnology knowledge and transferable skills required for the future.

“Working with Strathclyde University on the Masters Programme in Industrial Biotechnology has involved an unprecedented degree of collaboration across Scottish Universities in a way that bodes well for the future of the Scottish Higher Education system; and, even more important, the quality of the students is excellent as is their willingness to take on board new ideas and concepts.”

Prof Joyce Tait, Director, Innogen Institute,The University of Edinburgh


MSc in Industrial Biotechnology(Nominated for Innovative Collaboration Award,Scottish Enterprise Life Sciences Awards 2015)

September 2014 saw the first cohort of seventeen MSc students start the MSc course in Industrial Biotechnology. This is the UK’s first collaborative MSc programme in Industrial Biotechnology, which is administered and awarded by the University of Strathclyde, and taught over eight different Higher Education Institutions throughout Scotland. The unique aspect of this programme is that it harnesses the intellectual expertise of each HEI and combines them into one bespoke course. The students spend eight months travelling around Scotland being taught key aspects of biotechnology whilst the remaining four months of the course are spent with an IBioIC industrial partner gaining valuable experience in an industrial environment. Applications are now open for the 2015 course, commencing in September 2015, with at least twenty funded places available.*

* Funded places available to cover cost of tuition fees forScottish/EU students.

Planned programmes for 2015

HNC/HND

IBioIC, alongside Forth Valley and Glasgow Kelvin Colleges, are developing a bespoke HNC/HND in Industrial Biotechnology. This programme has been validated by the SQA and will launch in August 2015. This qualification aims to produce graduates with key skills for employment in the IB sector in response to industry demand. The business case will project twenty candidates in year 1 at one centre, rising to fifty candidates in year 5 across a small number of centres, thereby aiming to fill the skills gap that exists currently.

Modern Apprenticeships

According to the Wood Commission Report Modern Apprenticeships (MA) should be aligned with the skills required to support economic growth. To that end, IBioIC will work in partnership with Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and our industrial members to develop and promote an MA in Industrial Biotechnology. IBioIC will work alongside employers in order to encourage them to offer good quality apprenticeships whilst ensuring that this is underpinned by an understanding of the needs and expectations of our industrial members. IBioIC, in partnership with SDS and in consultation with industry, intends to develop the MA in IB in 2015.

MSc Cohort

“The Msc Industrial Biotechnology course provided by IBioIC has so far been very interesting and educational in showing what exactly happens within the biotechnology industry. It is also offering us valuable insight into this industry, which shall be extremely beneficial when it comes to finding employment.”

Marianne O’Byrne, current MSc student

The Exemplar Programme18

The Exemplar Programme

The Exemplar Programme supports collaborative projects that address a defined market need or commercial opportunity through the innovative application of biotechnology.

In its first year, the Centre has managed two ambitious Exemplar Project Competitions. The successful projects are led by an industrial member with a collaborative team including at least one partnering HEI. By working together, the accumulated expertise is key in the delivery of the identified commercial opportunity and the IBioIC Vision to achieve the commercial development of industrial biotechnology in Scotland.

The aim of IBioIC Exemplar Programme is threefold: 1. to support the development of new products and

manufacturing processes to bring them closer to industrial reality;

2. to provide the necessary skills to meet the growing needs of industry; and

3. to be the centre of knowledge exchange for sharing best practice in industrial biotechnology.

To date IBioIC has invested in 5 projects with a total funding commitment of over £1.3 million.

Industry Members

Project IdeasIBioIC Business Development and Project Team

CollaborativeProject TeamAcademic Partner(s)

Development ofProject Proposal

IBioIC Funding

Knowledge Exchange Commercialisationof IP

Additional RevenueStreams Skilled Workers

The Exemplar Project

Outputs


The Academic PartnersThis Exemplar project will be conducted in collaboration with Dr John Day and Dr Michele Stanley at Scottish Association for Marine Science (University of the Highlands and Islands), Dr Tiffany Wood at The University of Edinburgh Complex Fluid Partnership, and Professors Linda Harvey and Brian McNeil at the University of Strathclyde. The expertise brought together from three IBioIC academic partner institutions is decisive in accelerating the commercial benefit of this innovative product in a short twelve month timeframe.

The Collaborative BenefitThe advances generated by this collaborative team will minimise production cost and maximise product value. The technology being evaluated is also likely to have wider benefit to GlycoMar and MicroA’s other R&D streams by providing underpinning technology for future production. The project will advance marine biotechnology and microalgal commercialisation within the UK and this could be a valuable success story for UK Bioindustry and particularly the biofuels and high-value chemicals sectors.

“IBioIC funding has offered GlycoMar & MicroA an opportunity to work with SAMS, University of Strathclyde and The University of Edinburgh to solve some of the problems we have encountered while scaling up the production of our microalgal cosmetic product. The outcomes of this project are likely to be very important to the commercial viability of the product.”

Charlie Bavington, Managing Director of GlycoMar

Driving Innovation through Collaboration – The GlycoMar Led Exemplar Project

The ProjectLed by Scottish biotechnology company GlycoMar and their collaborators in Norway, MicroA, the project aims to optimise production and maximise the value of a novel functional ingredient from marine microalgae for skincare cosmetics. Microalgae are unicellular plants commonly found in aquatic and marine habitats. They offer the potential to develop sustainable manufacture of new and existing products. This project taps into the current business interest in algal culturing systems, high value algal products, and into the need for new technology to deliver the advancements necessary for commercialisation. If successful, it will deliver the first example of a new high value product from UK marine biotechnology, using microalgae for sustainable IB production.

The Industry CollaboratorsGlycoMar is a biotechnology SME discovering and developing products for the healthcare and personal care markets. The company is developing novel pharmaceutical products that address unmet clinical needs in the treatment of inflammatory disorders such as psoriasis, asthma, and inflammatory bowel disease. GlycoMar is also developing cosmetic ingredients for the skincare market, and nutraceutical ingredients for the supplements and functional food market.

MicroA is a Norwegian microalgae technology company whose patented photobioreactor (growth chamber) is state-of-the-art and under continuous development with regards to technical solutions and cost efficiency.

The Exemplar Programme20

Enhanced Knowledge Exchange – The Ingenza Led Exemplar Project

The Project This project is led by Ingenza, and will use engineered bacteria for the scalable biosynthesis of products traditionally made from petrochemical starting materials. The resulting bioprocess will deliver sustainable manufacturing of valuable industrial chemicals.

The Industry PartnerIngenza is a Scottish SME who specialise in the application of industrial biotechnology and synthetic biology, providing efficient scalable bioprocesses to manufacture chemicals, biologics, pharmaceuticals and biofuels, from sustainable sources. Ingenza has a broad and growing customer base across the chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food, feed and fuel industries. Ingenza is led by a management team with over 25 years’ experience in applied bioscience and the development and commercialization of biobased products. In addition to engaging in strategic partnerships to tailor their bioprocess services for clients, Ingenza also license their proprietary bioprocess technologies.

The Academic PartnerThis Exemplar project will be conducted in collaboration with Dr RuAngelie Edrada-Ebel and Dr Nicholas Tucker at the University of Strathclyde who have expertise in metabolomics and transcriptomics respectively. The experience at the University of Strathclyde will provide in-depth analysis and insight into Ingenza’s engineered microbes resulting in a more streamlined industrial process.

The Collaborative BenefitUpon completion as well as providing financial gain to the Scottish economy, this project aims to increase the level of knowledge exchange between industry and academia, with the researcher spending a large part of their time at the Ingenza site. The University of Strathclyde will gain an increased awareness of the commercial realities of the challenges and issues faced by a leading synthetic biology company such as Ingenza. The IBioIC support will enable Ingenza to utilise the expertise and potential benefits that a more detailed transcriptomic and metabolomic evaluation of its engineered cell lines offers.

“This collaboration with Strathclyde University, supported by IBioIC, will help us determine why some of our engineered microbes show superior productivity over others. We can then apply that learning to increase both speed and predictability in achieving optimised industrial processes. IBioIC is a critical enabler in the Scottish biotechnology community”.

Ian Fotheringham, Managing Director of Ingenza

The Exemplar Programme


“The Exemplar Programme has provided GSK with the opportunity to work on an exciting research area in collaboration with a highly experienced academic team that has potential to change the future manufacture processes of antibiotics.”

Ted Chapman,Biotechnology Business Manager,GSK

Novel Routes to Quality Products- The GSK Led Exemplar Project

The ProjectThe project aims to use synthetic biology principles to develop a new biochemical route to an important starting material for antibiotics manufacture. This could replace existing chemical synthesis from petrochemical derived starting materials with an environmentally benign microbial fermentation process using sustainable feedstocks. Our work includes a significant biochemical reaction step that has yet to be exploited in the rapidly expanding fields of biocatalysis and metabolic engineering: if successful this would also provide a generic technology for “green chemistry” with wider application in the chemical industries.

The Industry CollaboratorsGSK is one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. Within GSK’s UK manufacturing and supply organisation, factories at Irvine and Worthing produce antibiotics and biocatalysts by microbial fermentation. The associated development laboratories, pilot plants and highly experienced staff provide an efficient path for scale-up and industrialisation of newly developed IB processes, with efficient links into GSK’s global expertise and infrastructure and a long track record of effective academic-industrial collaborations.

The Academic PartnersGary Loake is Professor of Genetics and Genomics at the University of Edinburgh (UoE) and a Governing Board member of IBioIC. Dominic Campopiano is a Reader in Organic Chemistry at UoE, with interests at the biology-chemistry interface and is a member of the IBioIC Scientific Advisory Board. Patrick Cai is a Chancellor’s Fellow at UoE with interests in Synthetic Genomics and the automation of Synthetic Biology. Collectively, this team has vast experience, complementary expertise and a proven research track record.

The Collaborative BenefitInternal prioritisation of GSK’s limited development resources does not normally permit progression in house of relatively high risk, early stage proof-of-concept projects. Through collaboration with a world-class academic team with the appropriate skills and facilities such projects can be de-risked and taken through to the point where further development may be justified. From the academic perspective there is a clear pathway for translation of research into manufacturing industry in collaboration with established experts in IB process development and industrialisation.

Equipment Centres

Equipment Centres

22

In July 2014, IBioIC was awarded funds from the Scottish Funding Council together with contributions from the host institutions to support the equipping of two centres for accelerating the development of industrial biotechnology in Scotland which addresses in parts all five themes of IBioIC.

IBioIC believe that the investment in these centres will significantly support the £30m research program planned by IBioIC over the next 4 years and provide opportunities for Scotland to increase its competitiveness in two areas critical to IB. These centres will be unique facilities in Scotland and the UK and provide IBioIC members with the opportunity to transform the development of their products and processes and support the National Plan for IB with the objective of creating a £900m industry by 2025.

The Centre houses the most advanced technology available to rapidly assess the manufacturability of novel products and the industrial potential of new constructs to the benefit of IBioIC members and Scotland’s future bio-economy. To achieve bioprocess understanding rapidly, involves using systems biology to help fully understand the process physiology of new organisms at a number of stages. RBPC has the facilities to address the following:

• Phenotypic Micro-Arrays. High throughput culture systems where a broad picture of the construct’s metabolism can be rapidly gained to guide the next culture stage

• Mini-scale parallel processing via multiple 1 litre scale STR reactors

• Transfer to industrially compatible scale and process design space validation via fermentanomics (metabolomics analysis of scaled fermentation processes)

• Bioprocess model including scale-up criteria

The Rapid Bioprocess Prototyping Centre will open early 2015, to find out more information on how to access these state of the art facilities visit:http://www.ibioic.com/EquipmentCentres.htm

The Rapid Bioprocess Prototyping Centre hosted by University of Strathclyde

The Rapid Bioprocess Prototyping Centre (RBPC) addresses the problem of the ability for synthetic biologists to develop new strains much faster than the ability to test the viability of these strains in a bio-process. The combination of this equipment and the bioprocessing translational expertise available in the University of Strathclyde makes a unique centre where the ability to quickly analyse and optimise processes around new synthetic strains will be much closer to the speed at which these strains can be developed. RBPC is an open access facility in Scotland where the Scottish HEI or industrial members of IBioIC can rigorously assess the potential of new cell lines, bio-products or novel approaches to bio-processing, in terms of actual industrial potential. This is a significant gap in the future development of IB based processes in Scotland. The Bioprocess Prototyping facility is focused around the bioprocess stages up to an industrially compatible scale (15 litres STR reactors) which is entirely complementary to existing Centres such as the National Bioprocess Industries facility at the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI).

“Recent advances in synthetic biology have accelerated the rate of generation of microbial strains with enhanced capabilities. To translate these into products requires bioprocess definition. The IBioIC Rapid Bioprocess Prototyping Centre increases national capability to rapidly deliver industrial manufacturing processes, boosting the ability of IBioIC partners to bring new bioproducts to market.”

Prof Brian McNeil, University of Strathclyde


The Flexible Downstream Bioprocessing Centre hosted at Heriot-Watt University

The Flexible Downstream Bioprocessing Centre (FlexBIO) links to the RPBC by taking the most promising bio-processes and proving they work at a scale that allows the move to commercialisation. This Centre fills the current UK-wide gap in the provision of scale-up facilities at this semi-tech scale (15-100 litre) combined with a highly flexible, integrated approach to total process development on a single site. FlexBIO is located at Heriot-Watt University, which has both the process engineering and bio-science skills to support this Centre.FlexBIO provides easy, low cost access to a start-to-finish integrated fully flexible pilot-scale facility at an early stage of process development. This facility will serve both academic and industrial projects and it will be flexible enough to work for all aspects of industrial bioprocessing – from chemical-focused industrial biotechnology through bacterial, algal and mammalian cell culture products to cell therapies to maximise the breadth of industrial applications. FlexBIO will focus on scale-ready process development. This both lowers the cost of process development and provides a feed in to facilities such as those at the Centre for Process Innovation as a final demonstration of proof at scale. By flexible interchangeable processing equipment and leasing specialist units, this will keep access cost low for users. In this way, FlexBIO offers facilities that whilst complimentary to those pre-existing at the National Industrial Biotechnology Facility are clearly different and fill a significant gap in available resources.

FlexBIO will have the facilities to address the following:

• Mammalian cell culture and bacterial/yeast fermentation• Algal growth facilities• Process scale concentration equipment to handle large-

volume, low concentration products such as primary metabolites to ensure early volume reduction in DSP for ease of handling.

• A suite of downstream processing unit operations which are interchangeable, using flexible connections and easily moveable skids to ensure a universal process development capability

• Both biological and chemical (aqueous/organic) separation operations

• Formulation facilities; vacuum and freeze drying• High-quality at-line analytical equipment

“The development of this facility will allow IBioIC to fill a critical gap in the development pathway for biological products, reducing the cost of and shortening the time for process development. This will offer major advantages to the Scottish Biotechnology sector.”

Dr Nik Willoughby, Heriot-Watt University

The Flexible Downstream Bioprocessing Centre will open in autumn 2015, to find out more information or to book the facilities please visithttp://www.ibioic.com/EquipmentCentres.htm

23

Events

Events

24

Launch of IBioIC, Wednesday 5 February 2014

Finance Secretary, John Swinney, joined the Chairman of IBioIC, Ian Shott CBE, together with partners and stakeholders at an event in the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation to formally launch the new Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre, IBioIC.

Mr Swinney said:

“The creation of 1,500 new jobs is a fantastic boost for Scotland’s expanding biotechnology industry. Scotland’s chemical industry is the country’s second top exporter – equating to £3.7 billion per year – while Scotland’s life sciences sector is one of the largest and fastest-growing in Europe.

“The launch of IBioIC is predicted to add £130 million to the Scottish economy and will allow Scotland to be at the forefront of global transformational change from a largely fossil fuel-based to an industrial biotechnology-inclusive economy.”

John Swinney MSP and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth in the Scottish Government addresses the IBioIC Launch Day delegation.

John Swinney MSP with Ian Shott, IBioIC Chair and Roger Kilburn IBioIC CEO with Applikon mini-bioreactor

At the launch Ian Shott CBE, Chairman of IBioIC, said:

“IBioIC is a collaboration of businesses and Higher Education Institutions with the ambition to be truly distinctive, world-leading and responsive to the market and technology needs of industry. Furthermore, the networks that IBioIC members bring to the partnership will be consolidated and extended to enhance connectivity and collaboration with industrial biotechnology centres worldwide.

“We aim to surpass the targets set by Scotland’s National Plan for Industrial Biotechnology by raising the estimated turnover of industrial biotechnology-related products from around £190 million currently, to between £2 billion and £3 billion by 2030.”


Professor Sir Jim McDonald, Principal of the University of Strathclyde,speaking on behalf of the IBioIC’s academic partners

Speaking at the launch on behalf of IBioIC’s academic partners, Principal of the University of Strathclyde Professor Sir Jim McDonald said:

“As a single, national facility, IBioIC will enable Scotland – with its established industry base, world-class academic expertise and natural resources – to accelerate our globally-distinctive positioning and capability in the industrial biotechnology market.

“IBioIC, hosted here at Strathclyde, will ensure that Scotland capitalises on its resources and the synergies of its industrial and academic communities to gain economic advantage in this endeavour. The coherence and partnership within Scotland’s universities have been a key foundation for the creation of this exciting new venture. The industrial leadership that has been attracted to this research and innovation investment is enormously encouraging and demonstrates the value of collaboration and shared vision between government, industry and academia.”

Skills for Industry Day

IBioIC held an event in April 2014 at INEOS Grangemouth, to consult with industry and academia regarding how it should shape and define the IBioIC Skills Programme (PhD, MSc, HND and MA). Over 30 participants from major business and academic institutions collaborated in a productive workshop to help shape our skills strategy.

“The IBioIC Skills for Industry Day provided a valuable forum for academics to meet with HR and technical professionals from industry in an industrial environment. The ensuing discussions definitely highlighted specific areas where colleges and universities can focus to equip their graduates to support the biochemical industry in Scotland and further afield.” Graeme Parker, Ineos Technologies

“The skills industry day was an opportunity for Skills Development Scotland to listen to the challenges the industry faces. This has helped develop an action plan as part of the chemical sciences Skills Investment Plan launch in October. We look forward to working in partnership with industry and the education providers to tackle these areas over the coming months.” Dr Ronnie Palin, Skills Development Scotland

“The Skills for Industry day offered a fantastic opportunity to showcase the excellent work the College sector is undertaking in Industrial Biotechnology related curriculum areas. By bringing together all the main stakeholders this event provided participants the necessary time to reflect and discuss industry skills needs to help shape future curriculum in Industrial Biotechnology Apprenticeship, Undergraduate and Postgraduate provision.” Joanna McGillivary, Fife College

25

Events

Events

26

Making Connections – Accelerating IB in Scotland

September 2014 Biocity

The Making Connections event, was an invitation only event for all IBioIC industrial and academic contacts to participate in a full day programme of speed networking and workshop sessions surrounding the five themes related to IB.

The aim of the event was to develop greater awareness of the IB capabilities that exist in Scotland and to foster potential projects that could bring biotechnology closer to industrialisation.

Over fifty participants attended and ranged from business leaders, managers, academics and professionals from the IB sector.

Scottish IB Delegation Visits Norway

In collaboration with the Norwegian IB Network and Scottish Development International (SDI), IBioIC led a delegation to Norway in September to visit Treklyngen/VikenSkog, Sintef Materials and Chemistry, Borregaard Biorefinery and the Norwegian University of Life Science (NMBU). The eleven strong delegation including representation from Sasol, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Forestry Commission, CMAC and Universities of Edinburgh, St Andrews and Strathclyde were very impressed by the IB investment, strategy and scale and complexity of operations during the visits to the industrial and research establishments. In particular the history, scale and complexity of the Borregaard Biorefinery was extremely impressive.

IBioIC delegation on visit to Borregaard Biorefinery, Norway. From left to right: Ernst Kloosterman (IB Norway), Andy Leitch (Forestry Commission), Stewart Mitchell (IBioIC), Craig Johnston (CMAC), Upulani Somisara (University of St Andrews), Mette Bach Dyremose (Scottish Development International), Mariana Fazenda (University of Strathclyde), Bob Tooze (Sasol), Gudbrand Rodsrud (Borregaard Biorefinery), Roger Kilburn (IBioIC), Donald Fowler (Highlands and Islands Enterprise), Gary Loake (The University of Edinburgh) and John Andresen (Heriot-Watt University).

“I found the “accelerating IB” networking day of great benefit both in terms of understanding the needs of the audience, and importantly, how these needs translate and interact with IBioIC. There were a number of people who I had not met before, so to understand the challenges of their research was most fruitful. The actual day itself was precision organised and I really appreciated the efforts of the IBioIC staff to make it run so smoothly” Glenn Robinson, Applikon

Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre Annual Report 2014 27

Outreach and Events

Q1Scottish Enterprise Life SciencesAnnual Dinner & Awards 2014, EdinburghThe Annual Awards & Dinner attracts around 750 guests from across Scotland, and offered the ideal opportunity to meet and network with colleagues and see the latest innovations celebrated and rewarded in the Life Sciences Sector.

Bio-Europe, Turin, Italy A large scale partnering event featuring companies across the life science value chain, from large biotech and pharma companies to financiers and innovative start-ups.

Q2BioScotland, GlasgowA one day biotech conference featuring IBioIC’s CEO Roger Kilburn presenting on the IBioIC’s planned activities. Organised as part of ‘Engage with Strathclyde’ week.

IB World Congress, Philadelphia, USA Co-hosting an exhibition stand Scottish Development International, this three day event provided the opportunity to introduce IBioIC to an international audience of industrialists and technologists.

BioDundee, DundeeParticipant in multi sector conference and partnering sessions.

BIO, San Diego, USA Held in San Diego, the 2014 BIO International Convention drew 15,667 industry leaders, including nearly 2,500 CEO’s, from 50 states and 70 countries.

Biotrinity, LondonParticipant in European Biopartnering and Investment Conference.

Q3European Congress on Biotechnology (ECB16), EdinburghIBioIC attended this leading conference for academic and industrial biotechnologists which featured a number of visionary plenary speakers and panelists.

European Forum Industrial Biotechnology (EFIB), Reims, FranceCo-exhibiting with Scottish Development International, IBioIC also secured a presentation slot during the technology showcase and provided members the opportunity to present on their company and technologies.

Q4CPhI – Paris, FranceA world leading pharmaceutical networking eventfor industrialists.

BioMarine International Business Convention, Cascais, Portugal A marine focused conference which specialised in what is happening within marine resources especially within SME’s

Chemical Sciences Scotland, StirlingA key event with our chemical partners and members which discussed such key matters as the launch of the Skills Implementation Plan, the strategic importance of Industrial Biotechnology and how important the chemicals industry importance within the Scottish Economy

Natural Product Biotechnology, InvernessIBioIC sponsored event. A growing conference held in the Highlands of Scotland, we were delighted to be able to sponsor this event as it focuses on our key areas of interest.

Looking Forward

Looking Forward

28

Having spent the last year building the foundation for IBioIC it is important that the Centre accelerates its activities and outputs for 2015. The Centre has an ambitious program going forward and has set itself the following challenges:

Outreach

• Expand the membership attracting companies involved in the wood processing, waste management, food & drink and oil & gas sectors. Target 50 members.

• Retain the current membership through providing exceptional value whether that is through the projects, skills, networking or other activities that the Centre supports.

• The Centre plans to develop its website and social media activities to better meet the needs of its members and develop its marketing and communications strategy such that it effectively represents Scottish IB to the outside world.

Projects

• Develop the Exemplar Project competitions to reflect all interests of its members by running at least two project competitions in 2015.

• Initiate the Core Projects that will support the delivery of the IB National Plan and gain Grant funding for these.

• Establish the two Equipment Centres that are currently being built such that they are fully utilised and valued by the membership.

Skills

• Expand the Collaborative MSc course to attract more students, including fee-paying students, allow part-time study and open the individual modules of the course to Industrial members as employee training opportunities.

• Gain funding for a Doctoral Training College (DTC) for the PhD Studentships and increase the overall number of PhD places by gaining co-funding.

• Start the HND Course in Industrial Biotechnology.• Commence a Modern Apprenticeship programme in

Industrial Biotechnology.

In addiition

• Manage staffing and costs to provide outstanding services at great value.

• Be a good citizen within the Innovation Centres community.

• Sustain the robust and open Governance established in year one over all activities.

“Celtic Renewables are delighted to be a core member of IBioIC, as it helps to position the company at the heart of the Industrial Biotechnology expansion which is happening in the UK and globally. In addition the collaborative academic/industry research partnerships are an excellent fit with the future strategic R&D plans for Celtic Renewables.”Mark Simmers, CEO Celtic Renewables

Closing Remarks

Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre Annual Report 2014 29

“IBioIC have created a true collaboration with industry and at GSK this has allowed us to make new connections with academia and SME’s and identify new opportunities. The challenge ahead for both of us is now turning this collaboration into tangible benefit, and I will be very excited to see this happen.”

Dr Dave Tudor, GSK

“Excellent progress has been made this year towards establishing an industrially-focused world-leading Biotechnology Innovation Centre. Highlights have been getting high quality exemplar projects underway quickly, welcoming the first intake of students to a brand new Industrial Biotechnology MSc course involving collaboration between several academic institutions, and running events promoting industry-academic networking for the generation of new ideas and opportunities”

Dr Ian Little, INEOS

All information supplied within this document is correct at time of printing, January 2015.

AcknowledgementsThe IBioIC wish to pay thanks to the Governing, Scientific and Commercial Advisory Boards as well as industry members and the HEIs who all contributed to the content for the annual report.

Prepared by:Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC)

For further information, please contact:[email protected]

www.ibioic.com

Documents

Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre Annual Report … IBioIC Annual Report.pdf · IBioIC launches its first Exemplar Project competition Highlights ... Industrial Biotechnology