Biome awarded grant funding in Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst competition

19 February 2015
Biome awarded grant funding in Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst competition

Business Secretary Vince Cable has announced the winners of a £40m competition designed to bring innovative UK industrial biotechnology projects to market.

The list of winners includes a consortium led by Biome in partnership with the University of Warwick, the University of Leeds and the Centre for Process Innovation. The consortium will undertake a three year project entitled “Bioplastic polymers based on aromatic dicarboxylic acids derived from lignin”. The project will build on Biome’s previous successful research into deriving organic chemicals from lignin for the manufacture of bioplastics.

With a total project cost of £1.7m, Biome will contribute £0.2m of resources toward the project. The funding is available through the Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst, which provides funds to support application-focused, integrated, cross-disciplinary research projects involving collaborations between the academic and business communities.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “Whether it’s creating sustainable plastics or allergy-free products this new funding will help our talented biotech innovators continue to bring renewable, sustainable ideas to market. Government is committed to supporting this emerging sector and the additional £40m will help cement the UK’s position as a world leader in this sector.”