New report addresses the need for standards and metrics in engineering biology

The research aims to better understand the potential for standards and metrics to help accelerate the commercialisation of the bioeconomy.

In engineering biology there is a significant lack of standards which could help improve innovation in developing biotechnologies. 

A global collaboration of researchers led by Professor Paul Freemont at Imperial College London supported by Schmidt Sciences, worked to address this issue by holding international workshops to discuss regional needs and opportunities for standardisation and metrics to accelerate the bioeconomy. The workshops invited global stakeholders from the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia representing academia, industry and the government.

Engineering Biology Metrics and Technical Standards for the Global Bioeconomy presents the findings from these workshops and was launched on Tuesday 7 May at the Synbiobeta conference in California. It outlines ten key areas for standards and metrics development including technical and non-technical areas.

"We wanted to build a better understanding of the current state of the bioeconomy globally, to provide context around the needs for standardisation." Prof Paul Freemont Department of Infectious Disease

Professor Paul Freemont, Head of Structural and Synthetic Biology in the Department of Infectious Disease and Director of the London Biofoundry, said “We wanted to build a better understanding of the current state of the bioeconomy globally, to provide context around the needs for standardisation.”

“This meant having regional discussions, where local stakeholders could provide the relevant knowledge and share their own perspectives around what standards are needed, what type of standardisation would work, and what their priorities were.”

Standardisation for the bioeconomy

There are currently very few published standards that apply directly to biotechnology. With the global bioeconomy growing rapidly, and distributed manufacturing increasing, there is an urgent need to identify technical standards and metrology specific to engineering biology.

Dr India Hook-Barnard, from the Engineering Biology Research Consortium, said: “Without relevant standards and metrics, we will likely see missed opportunities for innovation and major challenges across the innovation pipeline, including with data integration, process reproducibility, and product safety and quality."

The report identifies ten key areas recommended for standards and metrics development. These comprise six technical and four non-technical areas, such as data standards, standards and metrics to support scale-up, and standardised sustainability assessments specific to engineering biology.

Regional distinctions

"Despite many differences raised across the regional workshops, there was a clear consensus that developing standards would benefit the global bioeconomy." Professor Matthew W. Chang National University of Singapore

Priority areas for standards differ regionally. This is often related to technology readiness levels, or regulatory frameworks already in place. Public perceptions are also a significant factor to the regional state of the bioeconomy and affect the prioritisation of certain standards over others.

Globally, there is a lack of consensus around even some of the most basic issues, such as defining what the bioeconomy is.

Professor Matthew W. Chang from the National University of Singapore commented that: “Despite many differences raised across the regional workshops, there was a clear consensus that developing standards would benefit the global bioeconomy."

This effort underscores the need for further consultation with stakeholders across the bioeconomy, to build on the key areas recommended for standards development.

This project was a joint collaboration between Imperial College London, the Engineering Biology Research Consortium (EBRC), the National University of Singapore (NUS), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The report, Engineering Biology Metrics and Technical Standards for the Global Bioeconomy, is available to download from www.imperial.ac.uk/engbiosgb

Suggested citation: Freemont, P.S., Ni, C., Aurand, E., Chang, M.W., Hook-Barnard, I., Malley, J., Romantseva, E., Strychalski, E., Vavitsas, K. 2024. Engineering Biology Metrics and Technical Standards for the Global Bioeconomy. London, UK https://doi.org/10.25561/110822

Report will be launched 7 May at Synbiobeta 2024

Read the full press release by Schmidt Sciences here.