There’s been a lot of activities in synthetic biology in France over the last few years. Much of it has been propelled by Toulouse White Biotechnology led by Pierre Monsan and Michel Manach, and a supportive entrepreneur environment in Paris supported by researchers at Genopole.Here are some of the highlights of the French ecosystem who will be speaking at SynBioBeta London next week.Thomas Ybert is the CEO and co-founder of DNA Script. The company developed a DNA synthesis platform that promises to accelerate the development of new therapeutics, improved crops, sustainable chemicals as well as new applications such as data storage. DNA Script develops its technology in partnership with Institut Pasteur and Institut Pierre Gilles de Gennes with the support of key investors such as Sofinnova Partners, Kurma Partners and Idinvest Partners. They aim to revolutionize the cost and speed of DNA synthesis through their proprietary template-free enzymatic technology. The company is located in Paris and collaborates with the top research institute and centers in France.Dirk Loeffert is a German entrepreneur, who chose Paris for his startup Biomillenia, and a senior executive of the Life Sciences industry with more than 20 years of experience in product development and commercialization. Biomillenia’s platform, based on licensed technology that was developed by Harvard University, the Broad Institute and ESPCI Paris, uniquely combines single cell culture with microfluidics-based ultrahigh-throughput screening to deliver novel bacterial, fungal or yeast strain properties and enzymes for the manufacture of chemicals and natural products at throughputs and speeds several orders of magnitudes higher than with traditional methods.Philippe Marliere is the co-founder of Global Bioenergies, one of the few companies worldwide, and the only one in Europe, that is developing a process to convert renewable resources into hydrocarbons through fermentation. A renowned scientist and serial entrepreneur, Philippe co-founded Evologic SA, Isthmus SARL, Heurisko USA Inc, Global Bioenergies SA and Alderys SAS. As a group leader in the Institut Pasteur from 1987 to 1999, he pioneered the development of synthetic biology approaches for reprogramming metabolism and evolving the genetic code of microorganisms. He serves as the President of Scientific Advisory Board of Global Bioenergies. He also acts as advisor on bioenergy and synthetic biology for the Director of the Life Science Division of CEA (the French agency for atomic and alternative energies), and Research Director for ISSB XENOME at Génopole (Institute of Systems & Synthetic Biology (iSSB)Sandra Rey is the Founder and CEO of Glowee, possibly one of the most interesting consumer companies in France. The startup is engineering non-toxic and non-pathogenic bacteria by inserting genes that code for bioluminescence from bacteria living in symbiosis with squids. The engineered bacteria are encapsulated into a transparent shell, alongside a medium composed of the nutrients they need to live and make light.By enabling bacteria to make light, Glowee offers a living and lighting raw material which is a self-sufficient and needs no infrastructures, thus disrupting the way to produce and consume light.Michel Manach is a member of the Management team of Toulouse White Biotechnology (TWB), a pre-industrial demonstrator whose goal is to speed up the development of industrial biotechnologies by facilitating exchanges between public research and industry. He is in charge of designing collaborative contracts with industrial partners in the field of biofuels, biopolymers, and chemical synthons.TWB is contributing to the expansion of a bioeconomy based on the use of renewable carbon in various fields (chemistry, biochemistry, materials, energy, etc.). Since 2012, TWB has supported a total of 79 projects including 33 finalized at the end of 2016.Simon Trancart is the CEO of Heurisko, an international leader in the field of directed evolution. The company is harnessing evolution and natural selection to adapt production strains for industrial needs, and supporting the development of the biobased economy through the improvement of existing bioprocesses and the development of de novo bioproductions.Join us for SynBioBeta London 2017 next week for insightful discussions on: advancements in metabolic engineering, designer biomaterials, engineering biology for consumer products, engineering environmental sustainability in the circular economy, hardware to make biology easier to engineer, public perception on engineering biology, and if synthetic biology will be the key to our future health.