Industry views
04 Sep 2024

Australia’s ambitions in engineering biology offer opportunities for UK tech

Report highlights need for innovative applications in sectors including healthcare and agriculture to help Australia achieve leadership aspiration

Australia’s aim to position itself as a leader in engineering biology in Asia Pacific offers major opportunities for UK tech scaleups supplying the instruments, equipment, software and technologies to run research labs and facilities where engineering biology applications can be designed, built and tested.

This is the finding of a new report, prepared by international business development consultancy Intralink as part of the UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme which it is delivering on behalf of the UK Government.

It is available for free download here.

Engineering biology – the application of engineering principles to biology - has been identified as a ‘critical technology capability’ by the Australian government, which is running a range of initiatives to support the development of the country’s capabilities in this sector. Australia boasts a strong R&D capability, major companies in relevant sectors, such as healthcare and agriculture, as well as access to Asian markets. However, it lacks the biomanufacturing infrastructure to support the demonstration and scale-up of applications and the rapid development of this infrastructure is essential to achieve the country’s aspiration of market leadership in the APAC region.

The report suggests that the most commercially significant sectors where engineering biology is being applied are:

  • Food and agriculture – including biomanufacturing sustainable alternatives to animal proteins and development of biosensors for biosecurity and the surveillance of agricultural conditions
  • Health and medicine – including biomanufacturing pharmaceutical ingredients that are currently plant-derived or chemically synthesised and developing biosensors for diagnostic applications
  • Recycling and sustainability – including biological solutions for waste management, recycling and minerals processing and the biomanufacture of more sustainable industrial chemicals, materials and fuels.

According to the report, the key opportunity for UK tech scaleups lies in collaborating with mature Australian companies and scaleups to offer complementary technologies - especially companies that have raised funding and announced plans to build large-scale facilities in Australia or overseas.

The report goes on to recommend that UK companies looking to take advantage of opportunities in Australia should consider:

  • The importance of strong and clear product differentiation, as they will face competition from US, European and Asian manufacturers
  • The value of securing pilot projects within the public and private sectors as an effective means of establishing references and case studies
  • Identifying regions in Australia that align with their offerings. For instance, Victoria and New South Wales are major hubs for life sciences and biotechnology, with innovators and clinical trials infrastructure concentrated in Melbourne and Sydney. Biotech hubs are also emerging in other major cities including Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and the Gold Coast.

Rae Davis, Director of Foley, Intralink’s partner in Australia and producer of the report, explained: "Given the scale of potential benefits to the country, both as a consumer and a supplier of engineering biology products, Australia’s government is pushing hard to develop its capabilities in this sector, eyeing a market that could be worth AUD 30 billion (GBP 15.6 billion) by 2040. The country’s key challenge is the lack of a suitable biomanufacturing infrastructure and it’s in this area that we see a real opportunity for UK tech scaleups. 

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“Australia is one of the most transparent, well-regulated and easiest countries to do business in and is a gateway to the wider APAC region. We hope that UK tech companies with relevant skills and technologies will find our report helpful and give serious consideration to exploring the opportunities on offer.”

 

Jeremy Shaw, Director of the UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme, added: “We help UK tech scaleups to understand the target market, assess demand and research the competitor landscape. We also identify potential partners and customers and facilitate introductory meetings to ensure that companies participating in the Programme are in a much stronger position to enter their target APAC market successfully.”

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The UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme – backed by the UK Government’s Department for Business & Trade - is aimed at scaleups with significant international growth potential. Companies can apply to participate here.

The Programme helps UK tech companies expand in South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan and New Zealand, as well as Australia.

Intralink’s teams on the ground in Asia Pacific identify participants’ business opportunities, provide market entry advice and help them sell their products, forge partnerships and raise investment.

About Intralink

Intralink is a business development consultancy specialising in international markets. It helps companies expand in Asia, Europe and North America; it enables corporates to thrive through global collaboration; and it helps governments to grow their exports and attract foreign investment. Founded in 1990, the company has offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Singapore, Boston, Silicon Valley, LA, Oxford, London, Paris, Poznań, and Tel Aviv. See more at www.intralinkgroup.com

 

Oliver Alderson

Oliver Alderson

Policy and Public Affairs - Team Assistant, techUK

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