Ailoni: Biomanufacturing investment key to advancing US innovation – Daily Independent

Angela Ailoni

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By Angela Ailoni | Vice President of Business Development, Agriculture, Ginkgo Bioworks

The US has long been a world leader in policymaking, thanks in large part to an innovation ecosystem that rewards risk and smart policies that drive innovation and support federal investment in basic science.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has shown, the US is lagging behind when it comes to organic production. Our nation’s supply chains have become fragile and overstretched, with much manufacturing occurring outside our borders. This has played a role in domestic shortages of essential drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients over the past five years.

As policymakers work to strengthen America’s domestic manufacturing capacity for pharmaceuticals, they would be wise to recognize the potential of broader biomanufacturing for food, materials, energy, agricultural inputs and more.

Biomanufacturing is the use of living organisms to produce everything from medicines to materials and food. Just as beer is made by persuading yeast to turn sugars into alcohol, biobrewing uses specially engineered bacteria and biological processes to turn sugars or waste streams into a wide range of everyday products. For example, companies are already developing sustainable biofuels from algae and biodegradable plastics from plant sugars.

These innovations are only the tip of the iceberg. Biomanufacturing has the potential to secure our supply chains and provide innovative solutions to difficult challenges in areas such as agriculture, health and energy. Biomanufacturing can be spread across the country and deployed on demand, creating a wave of new high-quality jobs and centers of innovation across the country—and revitalizing areas where traditional manufacturing has languished. In addition, biomanufacturing often produces less waste and consumes less energy than traditional manufacturing processes.

A recent poll found that 84 percent of respondents agree that strengthening American bio-based manufacturing should be a priority for Congress. To advance this effort, the US government, industry, academia, foundations, and NGOs must come together to support a comprehensive strategy to grow our nation’s biomanufacturing infrastructure, workforce, and innovation ecosystem.

By providing direct government funding for research and development, tax credits for companies investing in biomanufacturing, and public-private partnerships to scale promising technologies, the US can take a holistic approach to ensure that the most innovative technological solutions are made it possible to enter the market.

Finally, we must remember that strengthening our biomanufacturing base is as much about national security as it is about economic competitiveness. By reducing our nation’s dependence on others for biotechnology and biomanufacturing, the United States can maintain its global positioning as a self-sufficient leader within these industries—protecting our security for years to come.

It is time for leaders in Washington to recognize this critical moment and take the decisive action we have in past eras. A generational investment in organic production is not just a good idea – it is a national imperative.

Editor’s Note: Angela Ailoni is Vice President of Business Development, Agriculture at Ginkgo Bioworks and serves on the Agriculture and Environment Board of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcome [email protected].