Our innovation programme has been designed to support early-stage entrepreneurial ventures and is tailored to fit the specific challenges of your new business. We typically support founders from the idea stage, but also take in and successfully accelerate more mature ventures.

Access to our innovation programmes is free to partners and aimed at those looking to start or grow entrepreneur-driven ventures working with synthetic biology.

SynbiCITE has been in operation since 2014 and has:

Supported over 50 start-up ventures ranging from speciality chemicals to mobile medical devices.

Helped entrepreneurs develop a minimum viable product and gain initial commercial traction.

De-risked the science and technology by funding fifteen proof of concept (PoC) projects and one development of prototype (DoP) project.

Supported ventures in attracting over £5 million investment from a range of public and private sources.

Our Offering:

Access to Lean LaunchPad for Synthetic Biology.

This 10-week programme is specifically designed for those looking to commercialise their ideas or research. The programme is an ideal pre-accelerator environment for helping students, academic and industrial researchers, and pre-seed companies identify their customers, interview them to get insights about the opportunity, and help them identify and build the minimum viable product for customers.

Mentoring

Entry into the innovation programme also provides access to mentors, entrepreneurs and executives with deep business experience, to provide insights and guidance. SynbiCITE’s extensive international network of domain experts and specialists are committed to helping high-impact start-ups grow and succeed.

Professional Services

Our partners also include a number of service providers, with whom we have a long-standing working relationship and are experienced working with start-up and early-stage ventures. The services available from these partners include IP, financial accounts, communication, marketing and branding, product design and scale-up and manufacturing.

Funding Support

Non-dilutive funding is available up to £50K for Proof of Concept (PoC) and £500K for Development of Prototype (DoP) projects. This comprises up to 100% funding for PoC and 50% co-funding for DoP, providing your innovation meets clear selection criteria and demonstrates significant commercial potential.

Laboratory Facilities

The high cost and capability of operating automation and analytical equipment is a barrier for many start-ups. Our partner companies can benefit from access to our specialist laboratory space and facilities. This includes remote access to The London DNA Foundry, the UK’s first automated facility for designing, constructing and testing DNA.

Workshops and Events

We run a large number of diverse workshops and presentations specifically designed for would-be entrepreneurs looking to start their own synthetic biology companies.

Workshops:

• Design for Experiments (Insight)
• Grant Writing (Royal Society of Biology)
• Communication and Pitching (SynbiCITE)
• Raising Funds from Investors (John Spindler, CEO Capital Enterprise)
• Crowd Funding (CrowdCube)
• Dealing with the Regulators (SynbiCITE)
• Preparing for Investor Due Diligence (SynbiCITE)
• Working with University Tech Transfer (Imperial Innovations)
• Intellectual Property: What entrepreneurs need to know (Sarah Lu, Kilburn & Strode)
• Responsible Innovation (Dr Stuart Hogarth, Oxford University)
• Lean LaunchPad Educators Programme (Prof Jerry Engel, Faculty Director of NSF iCorp)

Events:

Organised and sponsored by SynbioBeta London, the premier UK synthetic biology conference and tradeshow highlights the innovation and commercial opportunities in synthetic biology across the UK. We have also sponsored a number of Synbiobeta Accelerator Events around the UK.