A new report written by Jonathon Porritt, one of the UK's leading environmentalists, states that the industrial biotech (IB) industry in the UK could be worth £12 billion by 2025 due to potential breakthroughs in the technology.
The report estimates that the global market will grow to anything between £150 billion and £360 billion by 2025, including industrial biotech in industry, agriculture, forestry, healthcare, and manufacturing.
Porritt states that the UK has great potential in the IB industry however it must first establish a financial framework which looks beyond the focus of biofuels. The current system is starving any small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of capital, and therefore restricting the development of the sector; venture capital funding in the market must be increased.
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Porrit explained that "when people talk about the Green Economy, they usually limit themselves to energy efficiency, renewable energy and waste management. But industrial biotechnology could have an equally dramatic impact, if it's done well.
IB is a young industry and there are still barriers to meeting its full potential, but a big part of overcoming those barriers is to ensure that IB, in all its many manifestations, meets the highest possible sustainability standards."
By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com
Joao is a writer for Oilprice.com More