Member Article

More investment in sustainable energy needed

Further Government investment is needed in the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) if the UK is to guarantee its sustainable future, according to a report from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA).

The report was commissioned to consider how money is invested into Industrial Biotechnology, and considered ways it could be improved. Industrial Biotechnologies present the UK with great opportunities for growth, and wealth creating, potentially adding between £4 and £12 billion to the economy by 2025.

However, the UK is currently lagging behind its European rivals and the US, who are currently world leaders in this area. Entry costs of between £75 -£100 million present a substantial barrier to entry, but NESTA estimates that a return on the investment will take between 4-8 years.

NESTA believes that the CPI National Industrial Biotechnology Facility is the key to growth in this area, and should be used to capture the benefits of IB technology.

The CPI was recent named as the UK’s first elite technology centre, and will recieve an investment of more than £140 million over the next 6 years. It is now hoped that this will help them to expand inline with the NESTA report findings, and provide resources for comapnies and research organisations.

Chris Dowle, Director of Sustainable Processing at CPI says, “CPI welcomes the report findings from NESTA, and are encouraged that we are championed as not only being integral to the development of current IB technologies, but to working towards a more sustainable future. CPI will continue to expand its facilities in support of this vital industry.”

The Centre for Process Innovation is a UK based technology innovation centre and part of the government’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .