Innovative technologies will be the essential for future growth in industrial biotechnology, along with access raw materials at the required cost, and exposure to diversified markets.
 
Smithers’ new report: Ten-Year Forecast of Disruptive Technologies in Industrial Biotechnology to 2028 contains details of the competitive biotechnology landscape and quantitative forecasts over the next decade. This is distilled into an authoritative ranking of the top 25 disruptive technologies predicted to shape the future of industrial biotechnology.
Access to raw materials and technology will require an international market to be established, with material flows between large producers in developing countries and end users in both developed and developing countries. The countries and regions with the highest production potential, mainly tropical countries in South America, East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, do not coincide with those where demand exists, which is primarily concentrated in more developed countries. Distant industries will have to be integrated and learn how to utilize new value chains of global dimensions. One of the major existing challenges of industrial biotechnology is the formation of these new value chains connecting the production of biomass, energy and chemicals.
According to Smithers, the value chain involves a number of contract relationships, such as contracts with feedstock growers, supply contracts of biorefineries with biomass suppliers, contracts of producers of bio-based products with transforming industries or end-users. These relationships will be dependent on the development of new technologies and processes, and intersect throughout the supply chain, from research and development to commercialization.
Technology advancements are key to ensuring that the future of industrial biotechnology grows and is sustainable. Smithers has compiled a dedicated industry survey and analysed the impact that these will have on the development of industrial biotechnology through to 2028.
The unprecedented dynamism in the development of innovative biotechnologies and their potential to meet unfulfilled market demands is also pushing large companies to fill the gaps in their IP-portfolio. This is providing emerging projects and companies with the opportunities for earlier involvement with large companies that may share the financial investment of technology development, help in product development, and provide the means to carry out the required industrial scale demonstration.
Access to the necessary amounts of raw material is increasingly triggering partnerships between the agro-industry and the chemical industry. Since globalization is allowing the flow of raw materials to be almost as dynamic as the flow of knowledge, alliances will increasingly involve companies from different continents.
The Smithers Report: Ten-year forecast on disruptive technologies in industrial biotechnology to 2028 includes the top 25 technologies that will affect industrial biotechnology over the next ten years.