OCHRE Research scoping partnerships and opportunities

We are seeking an experienced external supplier to improve HMG's knowledge of the international EB value chain and help us prioritise country engagement.

The project is split in two:

1. Mapping capabilities. Identify where in a set list of countries (provided below) there are leading capabilities across the DSIT-defined engineering biology value chain.

This will be through a mixture of qualitative and quantitative analysis, covering the research & commercial ecosystem.

2. Identify collaboration opportunities. Provide suggestions for mutually beneficial collaborations with those countries to boost supply chain security and maintain technological advantage. Utilise futures thinking to consider how technological & geopolitical developments may affect things in the future (5-10 years).

The technologies in scope are:

• Analytical tools: Techniques, methods, and instruments for analysing and understanding the behaviour and functionality of biological systems, particularly those that have been engineered or modified.

• Automation and robotics: Robotics can be used in all laboratories, including biomedical and engineering biology, to automate large parts of the work of researchers and companies. In this context robots are used to physically manipulate items, ranging from simple hand tools to entirely autonomous laboratories, including cloud labs.

• Bioinformatics, data, AI, and supercomputing: Bioinformatics and omics in engineering biology is the processing, storing, and analysing of biological data using computational tools and statistical methods to interpret large datasets generated by omics technologies. It can be roughly split into data, software (including AI), and hardware (including supercomputing).

• Biological materials, reagents, and feedstocks: This includes unprocessed primary commodities, processed primary commodities, processed intermediate commodities, enzymes, and chemicals necessary for all engineering biology operations.

• Nucleotide and protein synthesis: This includes the synthesis of genetic vectors (such as RNA, DNA, plasmids) and proteins.

• Nucleotide and protein sequencing: This includes the sequencing of RNA and DNA, as well as diagnostic platforms for metagenomics.

The countries in scope will be a subset of those in the following list: USA, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore & Switzerland. The final selection will be made according to supplier capabilities and expertise, but G7 countries should be prioritised.

The project will be delivered in two phases:

• Phase 1: an interim draft report roughly halfway through the project
• Phase 2: a final report