Earlier this week, the World Economic Forum released its list of Technology Pioneers for 2016, composed of 30 companies deemed to be among the most innovative, impactful, and successful in the world. Decisions were made by a selection committee of experts in industry, business, and academia, and members of the final list are spread between seven sectors.Notably, this includes five up-and-coming synthetic biology companies across four different sector categories: Cellectis in health, Synthace in production, Ginkgo Bioworks in production, Impossible Foods in food security, and Universal Bio Mining in environment and natural resource security.This level of representation is a big win for the synthetic biology industry and a testament to the groundbreaking work that it is facilitating across a diverse spread of sectors.The honor was of particular importance for software startup Synthace, the only U.K. company included on this year’s list. Their recognition signifies the importance of the company’s work toward the WEF’s vision of a 4th Industrial Revolution. Tim Fell, CEO of Synthace, remarked:
Having just participated in our first World Economic Forum event as a Technology Pioneer at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, China, it was truly inspiring to see such a broad spectrum of political and business leaders coming together to challenge themselves in no uncertain terms about how to address the numerous grand challenges we face as a species. The World Economic Forum’s depiction of a 4th Industrial Revolution in which the physical, digital and biological spheres overlap is a powerful narrative. However, the massive opportunities it articulates are predicated on biology becoming a true engineering discipline and I am delighted that Antha, our operating system for working with biology that brings all of the benefits of modern computing into the lab, has been recognised as a key enabling platform, leading to Synthace becoming a 2016 Technology Pioneer.
The Synthace Team. Image source www.synthace.com.
Cellectis. Image source http://biotechbourse.fr/cellectis-premiere-patiente-traitee-therapie-ucart/.Cellectis is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in France that is dedicated to producing effective immunotherapies for cancer. They use gene editing technology to alter human T-cells, a type of white blood cell, in order to improve these cells’ ability to recognize and destroy cancerous cells. Cellectis obtains T-cells from healthy donors and edits the DNA of these cells so that they are reprogrammed to search out, identify, and destroy tumor cells of a particular type. In May, the company made headlines for successfully dispatching this technology for the second time, treating a baby in the U.K. who suffered from leukemia but is now in remission. Cellectis was also recently named among the MIT Technology Review’s list of the 50 Smartest Companies for the second year in a row.
Ginkgo Bioworks.Ginkgo Bioworks is a microorganism design and engineering company based out of Boston. Ginkgo undertakes to genetically engineer microbes such that they produce renewable, bio-based versions of valuable chemicals in the flavor, fragrance, cosmetic, and other industries. The company employs robotic automation and software to orchestrate high-throughput prototyping of microorganisms to streamline the design process. Ginkgo has very recently demonstrated its momentum by announcing a number of high-level agreements with other players in the synthetic biology market. These include a partnership with biochemical company Amryis and two DNA supply agreements with Gen9 and Twist Bioscience that together amount to 60% of the total market for synthetic DNA in 2015. In early June, Ginkgo closed its Series C fundraiser for an amount of $100 million.
Impossible Foods. Image source https://impossiblefoods.com.Impossible Foods is developing plant-based meats and cheese that closely mimic the taste, texture, and appearance of the familiar animal products they aim to displace. The company analyzes the content of meats—including proteins, nutrients, fats, and other components—and then replicates the meat using versions of these chemicals derived from plants. Their plant-based meats are less energy and water intensive than animal-based alternatives and also free of contaminant antibiotics and hormones. Their first product, the Impossible Burger, is expected to be rolled out in select restaurants in July 2016, with additional offerings to follow. In total, the company has raised $182 million in funding up to this point. In addition to being named by the WEF, Impossible Foods was also included on CNBC’s list of 50 most disruptive companies of 2015.
Universal Bio Mining. Image source http://universalbiomining.com.Universal Bio Mining is a start-up based out of Tucson, Arizona that is engineering microbes for improving the efficiency of mining operations. UBM harnesses the power of bacterial species known as extremophiles, named for their ability to naturally occupy habitats with extreme conditions. UMB alters the DNA of these microbes such that they are able to facilitate mineral extraction and remediation in an environmentally-friendly manner. Through these methods, the company is developing solutions to a number of problems in mining, including copper leaching, contamination of gold with organic matter, and remediation of heavy metal contamination in water.
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