Imagine being able to edit the biology of microorganisms so that they can ‘eat’ waste plastics. Or a treatment that finds cancer cells in your body the way a heat-seeking missile finds its target – leaving healthy tissue completely untouched. Both exist. Both are being done by UK companies. Both are invisible to official statistics.
These companies fall into a cutting-edge sector called Engineering Biology. And it is a big deal for policymakers. The UK Government has a national vision for the sector and it is one of six ‘frontier technologies’ in the Industrial Strategy.
Long time followers of The Data City will be unsurprised to learn that it is impossible to identify this activity in Standard Industrial Classifications (SIC). So in partnership with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) we worked to define the sector, and we’ve done so again to update it.
This blog gives you an overview of what the sector is, and examples of some of the cutting-edge companies that operate in it.
What is engineering biology?
Engineering Biology companies use biological processes for medical and industrial benefit. This includes the development of pest-resistant crops, mRNA vaccines (e.g. the Covid vaccines) and biobased fuels.
We define the sector into two Real-Time Industrial Classifications (RTICs): Engineering Biology Application and Engineering Biology supply chain, which are made up of 16 subsectors.
How big is the sector, and where is it located?
Together these two sectors account for around 1,100 companies operating across 2,300 locations and employing around 86,000 people according to The Data City’s data. They operate in Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire and Greater London in particular, with 38% of the activities of companies that operate in these sectors in the UK being in these three areas.
What are some interesting examples of Engineering Biology companies?
Behind those numbers are some remarkable companies. Here are three.
Autolus Therapeutics
Autolus is working on new ways to treat cancer. Instead of attacking cells directly through surgery, radiation or chemotherapy, the company specialises in a technology called CAR T cell therapy, where a patient’s T cells — a type of immune cell — are extracted, genetically reprogrammed in a laboratory, and reintroduced into the body to hunt down cancer cells.
The company was founded in 2014 and spun out of University College London. It has since raised over £1 billion in investment, with the largest being from German company BioNTech (famous for its covid vaccine) in 2024. This investment has helped it to build a manufacturing facility in Stevenage in addition to its base in West London, and its last accounts report the company employing 570 people over these sites.
Official sector definitions class Autolus as working on ‘Research and experimental development on biotechnology’. While it is not wrong, it doesn’t really do justice to the cutting-edge work the company actually doing, and certainly doesn’t help policymakers identify companies in this priority sector.
C3 Biotech
Replacing fossil fuels in our production of fuels, plastics and chemicals is one of the most important industrial challenges of our time. Manchester-based C3 Biotech is working on an answer.
C3 was spun out of the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology to commercialise breakthrough research into turning waste into fuel. The core idea is to use biology – specifically, engineered microbes – to convert waste carbon, including CO₂, into the kinds of commodity fuels and chemicals that industry currently sources from fossil fuels.
A key breakthrough has been to do this without the need for a sterile environment in the fermentation process. This strips out a huge amount of cost, making the process much more competitive with oil and gas and much more scaleable.
The process has been particularly interesting for the defence sector. Working with the Ministry of Defence and the US Navy, its synthetic fuel was used to power a 20 minute flight for one of the RAF’s 4 metre drones for the first time. The fuel is particularly interesting for the military because it doesn’t large scale infrastructure, giving much more flexibility as to where it is made.
In official sector definitions it is assigned to ‘Research and experimental development on biotechnology’ and ‘Other professional, scientific and technical activities not elsewhere classified’.
Epoch Biodesign
Have you ever stood at your kitchen bin, a piece of packaging in hand, genuinely unsure whether it goes in the recycling or the general waste? You’re not alone – what plastics can and can’t be recycled isn’t well understood.
Epoch Biodesign was founded to tackle exactly this kind of problem. Rather than relying on industrial chemistry – which tends to be energy-intensive, expensive, and damaging to material quality – the company uses biology. Its approach involves using AI to design enzymes, the same type of proteins that drive digestion in living organisms, to break down complex plastic and blended textile waste at the molecular level. The result is the virgin-quality chemical building blocks from which new materials can be made, again and again, without any loss of quality. The company calls it ‘Forever Recycling’.
Its initial focus is nylon 6,6, one of the most widely used synthetic materials in the world, found in everything from sportswear and swimwear to car engine components and tyre cords.
Incorporated in 2019 in Liverpool, the company now operates across 3 sites in London. It has grown from employing 4 people in 2020 to over 40 today, powered by a series of grants and over £32m in private sector investment including Inditex, whose brands include Zara, Bershka and Massimo Dutti.
Like Autolus, its official sector definition is ‘Research and experimental development on biotechnology’. Not only does it say little about what type of biotechnology, it says nothing of its AI and Net Zero activities.
To explore the Engineering Biology sector for yourself, start your free trial of The Data City Industry Engine today.
