SynbiCITE in partnership with Rainbow Seed Fund is running Bio-start, a competition to help promote the commercialisation the engineering of biology in the UK.
Bio-start is an annual competition designed to commercialise the engineering of biology and is currently seeking people and companies looking to solve significant global problems through synthetic biology.
The winner of Bio-start will receive up to £200K of equity free funding, labspace and access the London DNA Foundry. The competition provides entry into an accelerator programme with expert mentors and partners to support teams commercialise their ideas.
For further information on Bio-start please click here.
Scope of the competition
- Bio-start seeks applications that will enable the UK bioeconomy to grow and thrive
- Application areas can be in healthcare, agritech, clean tech, industrial biotech or any sector where engineering DNA is an essential component and makes use of synthetic biology
- Applications must not be service provision based
- Applicants do not need to be a company to enter, although to receive the prize the company must become solely incorporated in the UK
- A key screening criteria to enter the competition is IP status; you will need to show you can license the relevant IP and have support from your TTO or employer
- All first stage entrants should note the need to secure or demonstrate access to IP when applying