A few years ago the United Kingdom selected synthetic biology as one of the Eight Great Technologies that will fuel economic growth for the country, provide avenues to boost exports, and receive seed funding from the government. It’s a lot easier to say what you’re going to do than to actually do it, but to date the U.K. has executed on its long-term vision for engineered biology through organizations such as UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and the BioIndustry Association (BIA).

That’s good news considering the government estimates the field will represent approximately $77 billion globally by 2020. While long-term economic estimates have a high degree of uncertainty (after all, how the heck do we measure the opportunity represented by the underlying technologies called synthetic biology if we don’t track them at the national level?), the momentum seems to point to a sizable opportunity emerging.

Interestingly, in addition to seeding innovation domestically, UKTI and BIA have made efforts to expose the bright minds and novel technology platforms behind the investments to international markets. This year the pair is once again sponsoring a trade mission that provides financial assistance to U.K.-based synthetic biology companies to travel to San Francisco for SynBioBeta SF 2014, participate in networking opportunities with investors and other entrepreneurs, and tour the facilities of several U.S.-based companies.

Who’s coming?

Algenuity: The company researches, develops, manufactures and provides lab-scale photobioreactors to optimize growth parameters and algal genome modification services to increase desired traits and to harness microalgal strains as synthetic biology chassis organisms.

Apta Biosciences: The company specialised in developing unique, proprietary molecules that can be used broadly across diagnostics and therapeutics to facilitate and expand scientific discovery enabling the development of new healthcare solutions.

Bento Bioworks: The company aims to make great products that enable everyone to work with biology as a material and a technology. Safely, conveniently, and creatively. It makes tools for scientists, pioneers, learners, artists, and makers -- such as the very awesome Bento Box.

The Bento Box will allow you to thermocycle, centrifuge, and gel samples in one smooth, clean setup. Image: Patrik D’haeseleer/Twitter.

CHAIN Biotechnology: Stealthy is as stealthy does...

Ingenza: The company provides efficient scalable bioprocesses to manufacture chemicals, biologics, pharmaceuticals, and biofuels from sustainable sources. Microbial cells, mammalian cells, protein engineering? Check, check, check.

Linear Diagnostics: The company designs assays for real-time detection of cells, small molecules, and complex biomolecules for use in food, medicine, defense, and the like. The tests are portable, simple to use, economical, and can combine multiple detection modes.

Morph Bioinformatics: The company offers IT solutions for bioinformaticians and bioscientists. The goal is to provide a platform to develop tools and services to increase the efficiency of R&D processes within the field of biotechnology.

OxSyBio: The company is developing 3D printing techniques to produce a range of tissue-like and functional tissues for medical research and clinical applications. The vision is to ultimately produce tissues that can be used in the clinic for organ repair or replacement.

Printed network showing a branching structure. Source: OxSyBio.Credit: Oxford University/G Villar.

Prokarium: The company develops oral vaccines through its Vaxonella platform, which enables such a vision. Oral vaccines would be more accessible to travellers and people living in rural and resource-poor areas, while reducing costs and time for vaccine manufacture.

Rainbow Seed Fund: The Rainbow Seed Fund is a £24m, early-stage venture capital fund dedicated to kick-starting promising technology companies developed at some of the UK’s largest publicly-funded research facilities, in the rapidly expanding science and technology campuses linked to them and in the field of synthetic biology.

Sphere Fluidics: The company has patented a novel technology platform that enables ultra-high throughput analysis of single cells and generation of their genetic, transcriptomic, and proteomic profiles in miniaturised (pL to nL) volumes called picodroplets.

Synpromics: The company gives biological researchers, developers, and manufacturers unprecedented control of gene expression through the ability to create an unlimited portfolio of man-made DNA sequences.

Synthace: This organism company rapidly engineers and optimizes novel biological production systems through the integration of computational modelling and big data analysis with wet lab experimental design and innovative molecular biology tools.

Touchlight Genetics: The company’s platform proTL process is capable of large-scale enzymatic manufacture of doggybone closed linear DNA (dbDNA). The DNA produced is distinctive in its structure and manufactured without the requirement for bacterial fermentation. dbDNA is completely minimal and contains no extraneous sequences traditionally required for plasmid DNA production such as antibiotic resistance genes or bacterial origin of replication.

How can you participate?

• Step 1: Be a synthetic biology company in the U.K.
• Step 2: Wait for next year!

The application period for this year’s conference has passed, but you can look forward to applying for the trade mission next year. In the meantime, you can check out this year’s trade mission website. And if you cannot possibly wait another 12 months, remember that SynBioBeta is coming to Imperial College London in April 2015.