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From 2012e.igem.org

Synthetic Biology (SB) will be one of the dominant industries of the 21st century, serving as the foundation and manufacturing mechanism of new materials, industrial and consumer products, pollution control processes, vaccines, medical advances, and many more innovations. In short, an industry larger than that created by the information revolution.

The iGEM Entrepreneurship (iGEM E) competition was established to launch that industry around the world. The purpose of the iGEM collegiate and high school competition is educating students in the techniques of the field. The purpose of iGEM E is educating students, iGEM alumni and the rest of the world about the processes of creating an industry; discovering and designing the industry’s IP rules, supply chain layers, its core values, the financial frameworks, the regulatory frameworks, business models, and supportive public policies. Of course, it will also be a platform for launching new companies.

For this first year, in 2012, the competition will encompass at least four tracks examining critical business, regulatory and market issues that will determine the path of the Synthetic Biology industry:

• Business Plans
• Economic and Business Models
• Industry Development
• Business and Regulation

For more information on iGEM see the following URLs: www.igem.org, and 2012e.igem.org.

For questions of further information contact Jose J. Pacheco, iGEM E Chair, at <jose @ igem.org> or iGEM Headquarters at <hq @ igem.org>.

Synthetic Biology is an emerging field applying engineering principles to biology, to develop a more standardized and reliable technological platform as the basis of a new industry and potentially disrupting many established industries.

iGEM E is part of the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM), the premiere competition in Synthetic Biology. The competition has grown to 165 teams representing 30 countries from the five US teams that participated in 2004, when iGEM began.