Innovation Europe > News > Innovation EU Vol1-1 > Biotechnology

Biotechnology In recent years, the European Union has recognised that biotechnology is playing an ever-greater role in Europeans’ lives, contributing to their improved health, nutrition, environment and economic wellbeing.

The number of products in which biotechnology has been used to dramatic effect is now quite amazing. From treatments to diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and diabetes, through to foods that are pesticide- resistant or have an enhanced protein yield, to new materials such as biodegradable plastics, to biofuels that help to preserve the natural environment, biotechnology is now a pervasive force in everyone’s life.

The European Union took a bold step in 2002 to create a multifaceted biotechnology programme, running through to 2010 and covering several different industrial sectors. The programme stresses the potential benefits to economic growth, jobs and global competitiveness that biotechnology represented. “The Strategy on Life Sciences and Biotechnology” will help address new challenges in health, energy supplies, global warming and an ageing population,” stated the EU.

In health, one of the big challenges is the waning effectiveness of antibiotics, as certain conditions grow more resistant to treatment. In addition, there is no currently known cure for half of the world’s diseases. Biotechnology research in the EU has helped to develop innovative, cheaper, safer and more ethical drug production.

For example, human growth hormone has been produced without the risk of Creutzfelt-Jakob disease, as has treatment for haemophiliacs with unlimited sources of coagulation factors, free from AIDS and hepatitis C virus, human insulin and vaccines against hepatitis B and rabies.

A paradigm shift is under way in European disease management, thanks to biotechnology, using preventive medicine based on genetic predisposition, targeted screening, diagnosis and innovative drug treatments. The new science of pharmacogenomics applies information about the human genome to drug design, discovery and development. Stem-cell research and xenotransplantation offer the opportunity to replace tissue and organs and to treat degenerative diseases and injuries of many kinds, including strokes, burns and spinal-cord injuries.

In the food and agriculture sector, European biotechnology research has already produced an enhanced cereal crop – spelt – with 18% more protein. Other crops have been growth with far less use of pesticide, fertilisers and drugs, thanks to modified resistance, together with lower soil erosion and better use of cultivated land. Crops are also being developed for industrial feedstock for biodegradable plastics, with considerable environmental benefits.

Plant-based materials can contribute to myriad manufacturing, energy and pharmaceutical uses, with modifications currently in development in carbohydrates, oils, fats and proteins, fibre and new polymer production. Both liquid and solid biofuels have been developed using biotechnology, reducing the EU’s reliance not only on carbon sources of energy, but also helping to protect the EU’s energy security.

Environmental protection has been enhanced through using biotechnology to remediate polluted air, soil, water and waste, alongside creating cleaner industrial products and processes such as biocatalysts.

New EU regulations have prompted greater emphasis on biotechnological advances. For example, the European Council has set a minimum level of 10% biofuel to be used by vehicles in the continent by 2010, helping to achieve the EU ambitions of renewable sources of energy, reducing climate-change emissions and boosting energy security.

In the years since the biotechnology strategy was adopted in 2002, the EU has consistently worked to bolster the programme, adapting it to changing circumstances, as new technologies emerge and new opportunities arise. In 2006, the Commission published “Putting knowledge into practice: A broad based innovation strategy for the EU”, which identified biotechnology as a key ingredient in the continent’s scientific research efforts. Almost 100,000 people were directly employed in biotechnology companies at that time, with many more than that working in biotechnology for larger companies – such as chemical or pharmaceutical groups – where it is not the main business of the company but is nevertheless crucial.

By 2004, there were 2,163 dedicated biotechnology companies spending E7.6bn on research and development. This number has risen in the succeeding years, although the amount of spending has been threatened by the recession of 2008/9, with many European biotechnology companies announcing that they are running out of funding and appealing to national governments, and to the EU, for additional funding. In the autumn of 2009, there were a series of discussions by these governments with industry representatives to develop funding packages.

Overall, the “bio-economy” promises to become an ever more prosperous element of the European economy, providing more jobs, growth and competitiveness as the global demands for technology developed in the EU increase. Advanced therapies such as tissue engineering, gene and cell-based therapies and “nanomedicine” are yielding dramatic results; biofuels are producing excellent results and the environmental benefits of products created through biotechnology are beyond doubt. And despite some reservations shown by EU citizens over the use of genetically modified crops, the general comfort level with biotechnology is high, with 5% of EU respondents in the most recent survey saying that it will improve their lives.

David Nicholson