Who looks up synthetic biology the most over the web? I did a Google Trends search to find out and was pleasantly surprised by the results. Along with the UK, US, and Canada, two Asian nations were amongst the top five: India and China. I followed it up with another search, this time my source being this year’s iGEM competition team list. Of the 245 teams that participated, 82 are from Asia with China alone accounting for the majority of them.

It is a good sign for the growth of the field in the region that the Chinese and the Indians are finally getting interested (other countries such as Singapore, Japan, and Israel aren’t far behind either). Riding on its growing economies and demographic dividend, it can be safely assumed that Asia is a major market for synthetic biology. Here we take a quick look at the state of affairs of synthetic biology in Asia and how countries in the region can become more than importers of the technology.

China

The red country is one of the global leaders in expenditure on research and development, issued patents, and scientific publications. The government is aggressively expanding infrastructure as it aims to become the world’s largest economy. But, due to lack of private investors, companies are usually dependent on government funding at all levels.

State sponsored programs such as the National Key Technologies R&D Program, Torch Program, and Spark Program have been responsible for most of the their contributions to biotechnology. Synthetic biology applications being explored by Chinese research groups include biofuel production, biosensors to detect and/or degrade environmental pollutants, and minimal genomes. The Chinese are the most efficient in the world when it comes to manufacturing electronics, so why not repeat it for biologics? Unfortunately, no synthetic biology startups -- or any that are widely known, anyhow-- reside in China at the moment.

Japan

Ever the technology giant, the island kingdom is gradually making strides into basic biological research. Advances in genomics and stem cells have already laid the foundation for synthetic biology research in Japan. First embraced by the universities there, the field is also being heralded by the industry now. Japanese companies have begun exploring mergers and acquisitions of American companies and are looking forward to innovative ideas in synthetic biology.

Ajinomoto, a large corporation that produces food additives, pharmaceuticals, and amino acids, is calling for synthetic biology research proposals. It is high time that Japanese firms begin tapping into the organism industry like their American counterparts. Meanwhile, a startup named Spiber is synthesizing spider silk -- long known to be tougher than Kevlar and yet more elastic -- in microbes. Japan must narrow down the gap between its universities and industry to seed similar idea creation. What better avenue could be there to do that than through synthetic biology?

Other players

Nicknamed the Start Up Nation by Dan Senor and Saul Singer in their book of the same name, Israel is one of the most entrepreneurial countries. Genome Compiler (@GenomeCompiler), the popular startup offering genetic design software, is based in Tel Aviv, Israel. An Indian startup, Sea6, is developing technology to produce biofuels from seaweed. In partnership with Novozymes, it is also developing ways to produce fine chemicals, ethanol, and proteins from seaweed.

The city-state of Singapore is an attractive investment destination due to its freest and most business friendly economy. It also has the technical expertise required for synthetic biology in abundance. In South Korea, family-held business conglomerates such as Samsung, Hyundai, and LG are diversifying into biotech now with a new focus on emerging technologies.

Time to act

If the figures in the introductory paragraph sounded overly optimistic, I would like to add in some cautious pessimism. According to a 2013 report by The Wilson Center (link opens PDF), a measly 13 of the 192 companies involved in synthetic biology research worldwide were based in Asia-Oceania (this excludes Israel, but includes Australia).

Asian countries with entities involved in synthetic biology research. Source: Tackling the Growth of Synthetic Biology (2013), The Wilson Center.Asian economies must not miss this chance if they wish to develop to their maximum and optimal potential. It’s estimated that biotechnologies will contribute to a greater than $600 billion market by 2020. In these projections, Asia-Pacific is expected to register the fastest compound annual growth rates of roughly 15%. Asian entrepreneurs, universities, and governments must embrace synthetic biology now to secure the maximum chunk of this growth.