Synthetic Biology is an interdisciplinary branch of biology that captures elements of science, technology and engineering. The amount of novel and exciting research being carried out in this field is growing rapidly and it has the potential to solve many of the world’s current and future problems in areas such as energy, agriculture and healthcare. However, in order for these innovations to be of use on a larger scale synthetic biology research must be successfully taken up by industry. In order to realise the industrial potential of synthetic biology, collaboration is needed on all fronts - this is where SynbiCITE comes in.Synthetic Biology Innovation Commercial and Industrial Translation Engine or SynbiCITE is a pioneering Innovation Knowledge Centre (IKC) based at Imperial College London. SynbiCITE is an internationally recognised lead centre dedicated to accelerating the translation of synthetic biology research into industrial applications. Its overall aim is to grow UK industry in synthetic biology by generating skilled workers, creating jobs and therefore achieving a significant economic impact. SynbiCITE, created in 2013, is funded by EPSRC, BBSRC and Innovate UK, and is a collaboration of 19 academic and 56 industrial partners including Microsoft Research, GlaxoSmithKline R&D and universities from across the UK.SynbiCITE has just completed their first Lean LaunchPad program, an intensive 12-week course that a select number of groups embarked on to obtain real world experience in translating their research into a viable start-up. Marking the end of the program, four of the teams were invited to present in front of hundreds of delegates at the opening session of the SynBioBeta London event 2015.I recently interviewed Dr. John Collins, the Commercial Director of SynbiCITE. He has had a diverse and fascinating work life which has included becoming a trained Chef and working at restaurants in order to put himself through university, studying Nuclear Physics and Microelectronics for his PhD and continuing as a Post Doctoral Research Associate at King’s College London. After this his work has included an extensive 13-year career with De Beers Diamonds, setting up his own innovation management consultancy, working on the Technology Strategy Board for Innovate UK and then taking on his most recent post to be the Commercial Director of SynbiCITE.

What are some of the most interesting and influential things you have done in your work life until now?

Well, after my PhD I helped develop the first sensors for the UK’s gas smart meters. This was part of a British Gas competition and that sensor is currently being used in around 20 million Chinese homes. After that I went on to have an extensive career with De Beers Diamonds, which was a sort of baptism in retail and manufacturing for industrial uses of diamond. This was particularly useful for helping me formulate and understand what manufacturing is all about, why you do it and all the aspects that are required in commercialising a product and manufacturing it in volume for global distribution. After this I set up my own consultancy for innovation management where I worked with big and small companies and then I went on to work as the Business and Development Manager at the Manufacturing Technologies Association.In 2010 I was recruited by the government to work for what is now called Innovate UK, to run their Emerging Technologies & Industries program which was the foundation of David Willetts eight great technologies. These included graphene, energy efficient computing, energy harvesting, and - the one that I pushed for the most - synthetic biology. Here I was responsible for analysing disruptive and emerging technologies. I did all the market research and background landscape development so that we could develop a process to look at which technologies the government should invest in first. By doing this we came up with a process that the government is still using to look at the attractiveness of technology investment.

How did SynbiCITE start?

When I left Innovate UK in 2012, Professor Richard Kitney and Professor Paul Freemont, here at Imperial College, suggested that I might want to help them understand how to better go about the processes for commercialising synthetic biology. At that time there was a competition announced to set up another Innovation Knowledge Centre (IKC). We were in competition with around 16 other universities but we put forward this entirely collaborative approach, very much based on translation. There are now five IKCs around the country including SynbiCITE.I used to look after the IKCs while I was on the Technology Strategy Board so I had an inside track on understanding what these things were all about. It’s quite obvious to me that the way to approach innovation on a national scale is to collaborate with everyone involved in the field. We have to get everyone together, treat the UK as a cluster and attack an innovation challenge together.

What is your role at SynbiCITE?

My role here is as Commercial Director. That means working with all of our partners to collaborate and run projects that will help accelerate the commercialisation of synthetic biology. I am responsible for organizing a lot of the entrepreneurship and business training for example. We provide everything one would need to start up a small company and then we help nurture them to grow until they can become big companies that in turn help support other small companies through SynbiCITE.One of the things we do is this thing called problem solution brokerage where big companies, e.g. Microsoft, Agilent, GSK actually say what their challenges are that synthetic biology may be able to solve. We then put them in front of all the small companies and the academics who might have applicable experience and expertise in order to develop a solution. It is good for the big companies and also a great opportunity for the small companies that might never get a foot in the door otherwise.

Thanks to Dr. Collins for sharing his time and knowledge about the synthetic biology industry in the UK. We look forward to more updates from SynbiCITE.