Regional Scope: The Northwest (NW) region of England covered in this project encompasses the counties Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. A major distinction from previous analyses of the future biomanufacturing sector is that the required workforce is more closely aligned to plant operators or industrial fermentation engineers, such as those working in traditional bio-based sectors like brewing or waste processing by anaerobic digestion, where there is significant NW-based activity.
Definition : Sustainable biomanufacturing refers to the process of producing biological molecules and materials using living systems, such as microorganisms and/or cell culture, on a commercial scale in such a way that it provides environmental and/or ecological benefit relative to the status quo. The end-use sectors include the chemical and polymer industries, medicines, food and beverage and energy production. For the purpose of this proposed activity the entire ecosystem and linked supply chains are considered to be in scope including: i) feedstock supply and provision from biomass sources such as agriculture and forestry and organic waste from industry processes and municipal sources, ii) use of naturally occurring and genetically engineered cells and biocatalysts, iii) down steam processing and formulation, iv) technoeconomic and life-cycle assessment analysis, v) public engagement and acceptance.
People, Capabilities and Infrastructure
The purpose of the first workshop was to understand and anticipate the biomanufacturing landscape in Northwest (NW) of England taking a prospective holistic view, in terms of people, capabilities and infrastructure. The aim was to discern key opportunities and challenges for the scaling and increased adoption of sustainable biomanufacturing in the region. 10 participants were present from different stakeholder groups, from consumer goods, biopharmaceuticals, biosurfactants manufacturers, academia, to innovation catalysts and emerging technology governance. The size of the companies ranged from global, mid-sized to spin-out companies, allowing for distinction between their capabilities and infrastructure.The participants commented on the factors foremost in driving opportunities for sustainable biomanufacturing, namely climate change, defossilisation, disruptive technologies, new policies, and public acceptability. They briefly discussed corporate awareness of adopting sustainable practices, noting that the business-to-business (B2B) market was primarily driven by regulations, while the business-to-consumer (B2C) market was predominantly influenced by consumer behaviour.
Moving across to challenges - availability of a skilled workforce, cost and affordability, renewable feedstocks at a large-scale, geopolitical instability were noted as the most pressing challenges, primarily because if new processes were to be adopted, there needs to be a reliable source of raw ingredients and people with the expertise to handle them. The time it takes for a new product to be introduced to the market and regulatory uncertainty were also brought up as a challenge. A participant highlighted that in the gene therapy industry, they anticipated 7000 new jobs by 2026, and would the number of existing graduates be readily able to fill these niche jobs within manufacturing and R&D. If we looked at a broader engineering biology scope, the cohort of university graduates remains the same, yet the untapped field of skills required is broader.
In considering regional impacts, participants recognised that with areas such as Liverpool and Manchester being renowned manufacturing hubs, production operators were readily available. However, they noted a scarcity of operators possessing critical biomanufacturing skills, particularly in fermentation. This shortage may be attributed to a lack of awareness regarding transferrable skills. Despite the extensive knowledge base of fermentation within the food and brewing industry, there exists a significant fragmentation from the chemical manufacturing industry. In terms of infrastructure, a participant highlighted their positive experience as an SME collaborating with other companies within the waste management/supply chain space, and repurposing equipment from other industries for their own manufacturing site.
Several short-term action steps were proposed, including promoting cross-industry skills transfer, to recognise diverse applications of industrial biotechnology beyond biopharmaceutical manufacture. Additionally, suggestions were made for creating a scale-up network to assist with utilities, equipment sourcing, and entrepreneurial mentoring, as well as constructing a facility equipped with pilot plants for small companies to utilize for demonstration or toll manufacturing.
Looking ahead, the future of sustainable biomanufacturing involves cultivating a resilient ecosystem of biotechnology companies and infrastructure in the Northwest. Proposed long-term action steps include influencing the Department of Education, establishing a distinct ’biomanufacturing’ identity in the UK, ensuring its inclusion in the agendas of Northwest Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), and conducting a comprehensive mapping of biotechnology infrastructure in the NW region to identify any gaps.
Future Feedstocks for the Sustainable Biomanufacturing Industry
The purpose of the second workshop was to understand the NW biomanufacturing feedstocks landscape in terms of supply, demand and composition. 16 participants were present from different stakeholder groups: academics, specialty chemicals, biorefinery, anaerobic digestion and biogas, climate change research, biosurfactants manufacture and independent breweries.Participants commented on what they considered as key drivers for feedstock selection, ’cost’ was agreed as a predominant driver, along with availability, composition, sustainability, consistency, and security of supply. All these factors were interconnected with each other and fed into the proceeding discussions on factors driving feedstock use, challenges to be faced and how could feedstocks be graded/specified into fungible types by composition.
It was highlighted that more knowledge sharing needs to be done on increasing awareness of valorising waste streams, which could start from small education practices in communities like separating food waste. Purchasing /sales teams should be educated on the opportunity to use their waste streams as feedstocks, and more importantly on their composition and variability. For example, in the brewing industry recipes were subject to season changes, hence different grains would be used across the year. One-third of their waste could be used to carbonate their beer, and two-thirds could go into a resilient waste network. However, craft breweries were not often co-located and so linking them together would be a challenge. A challenge for end-users of the waste were impurities and seasonal variations, it was difficult for production if there were lots of contaminants. An end-user commented that bio-feedstocks were vaguely described by their supplier, and this would massively impact the biological systems in their process.
There were many learnings to be taken from the anaerobic digestion industry; which has implemented a sampling mechanism to test their material before putting it into the bioreactor, and they have a quality protocol to ensure material that goes into the land as fertiliser meets the demand of farmers. Blending and optimising feedstocks was something that could be considered in the biomanufacturing industry, rather than selecting feedstocks exclusively.
Consistency in policy and incentivisation for people to change their existing practices was continuously mentioned as an effective driver. Industries such as the automotive industry were pushed to transition into hybrid vehicles because of regulations, the government should push a coordinated investment strategy for the chemical industry to process abundant biomaterials. There is potential need for engagement at a higher level than academic institutions.
In terms of action steps, mapping residual carbon / waste streams will give additional insight into where the priorities lie and how to address it accordingly, there may be conflict in priorities with utilising biomass for energy or sustainable aviation fuel. More opportunities to develop biorefineries would be required to carry out blending of feedstocks, consistent pre-treatment process as well as coming up with stratification on what feedstocks can be used for growing microorganisms, to make value-added products.
Skills, Training and Diversity
The purpose of the third workshop was to identify the reskilling, upskilling, and training required for growing a thriving industrial biotechnology sector in the NW, for both now and the future. Drivers for building diversity and mechanisms to deliver these were also explored. Participants of this workshop were in attendance physically and virtually. The cohort consisted of representatives from corporate, SMEs, academic institutions, consultancy, and trade associations.The participants agreed that building a multidisciplinary workforce was now common in the industry, moving away from ’functional bunkers’, particularly in biomanufacturing where there was much crosstalk between synthetic chemistry, biology, engineering, AI, etc. Numeracy and digital skills were also important to understand the vast and rapidly changing data and statistics, along with a sound ability for technical report writing. A challenge would be mid-senior career workers who have been entrenched in their field and would struggle to integrate with other disciplines. A participant highlighted that they took part in a knowledge transfer secondment for non-bio based academics into non-bio courses and this has helped with their own upskilling effectively. Through these secondments, it would be useful for scientists to have a glimpse of industry process/requirements, as well as enable long-term networking. However, certain organisations such as SMEs may not have the resources to send their workforce off for a period to upskill, hence workplace learning practices should be further explored and improved.
When addressing education, participants noted a disconnect between what the industry wants and what was in the education curriculum, at a university level. Skills gaps could be solved by looking at the curriculum in university courses to tailor it to what the industry was looking for. Participants working in universities commented that there were industrial advisory boards who advise on curriculum content and pairing of courses with enterprise units, so science subjects also involve teaching from business schools to develop commercial awareness.
On the topic of EDI, a participant explained that companies with a diverse workforce were 36% more likely to outperform non-diverse companies. In industrial biotechnology, people in the industry were very aware of EDI statistics and there have been many programmes put in place to address this, to help alter mindsets. The cost of higher education discriminated against those from disadvantaged backgrounds/lower incomes. Although degree apprenticeships were a good route although not many available in life sciences (mainly business, engineering), they were also heavily oversubscribed. In the end, the company may end up taking the best early career candidates, but not necessarily addressing EDI issues. Though some large organisation degree apprenticeships target those from less fortunate backgrounds over best graded applicants.
In terms of actions, it was agreed that there were several opportunities for the higher education/further education sector to fill training gaps both for current and future workforce. On the reskilling of the current workforce several different levels could be envisaged, for example desk-based education in biomanufacturing for mid-career professions, through to more practical hands-on training in microbial handling and manipulation for more junior profession and operators.
