Social Impact

Building Expertise in Synthetic Biology

According to a new market report published by BCC, the global synthetic biology market was worth $1.1 billion in 2010 and is expected to reach $10.8 billion by 2016. This represents a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 45.8%. Additionally, the global value of the enabled products segment was $944.7 million in 2010. It is expected to grow to nearly $9.5 billion by 2016 at a CAGR of 46.5%.

Our business opportunity will build expertise in the rapidly expanding industrial sector relying on synthetic biology. The industry as a whole is comprised of two essential components: (1) the development of a platform technology, and (2) the application of projects across a range of fields. Those involved in our venture will gain skills related to the engineering principles of standardisation, modularisation, and characterisation, coupled with industrial system design. The value of these skills will increase alongside the expansion of the synthetic biology industry.

Upcycled Aromatics is committed to the development of future scientists and fostering an appreciation for the sciences in young people. To that end, we plan to give lectures, hold workshops and offer scholarships to budding young scientific minds with an interest in synthetic biology at both the high school and post-secondary levels. In fact, we have already started reaching out to the scientists of tomorrow. To get a glimpse of the kind of outreach Upcycled Aromatics has done and is prepared to do, click here.

Rural Communities

Although we are designing our first plants to utilize effluent streams from paper recycling plants and pulp & paper mills, we plan to work on expanding our feedstocks. Ideally, we will develop processes using agricultural (lignocellulosic) biomass residues such as barley, corn, canola, oat and wheat straw. However, this plant material must undergo delignification before it can be used. There has been an increase in biotechnological research on the subjects of synthesis of lignin in plants and the degradation of lignin by microorganisms. Once these technologies are further developed, Upcycled Aromatics will be there to take advantage of the new technology, using agricultural biomass as a feedstock for our process and helping farmers implementing the technology, effectively adding value to their crops.

Use of agricultural biomass is a stimulus to rural economies. The socioeconomic benefits include employment, infrastructure improvements, increased land value, and income from smallholder cultivation. Cellulose is contained in nearly every natural, free-growing plant thus there is a wide variety of possible source materials. The demand for suitable crops will provide economic stimulation to the agricultural industry. Local job creation and increased land value are a few of the benefits for rural communities.