Will the UK government implement recommendations for the engineering biology sector?

Engineering biology offers promising solutions for addressing complex problems such as climate change, food security and healthcare challenges. Consequently, the sector is rapidly evolving, highlighting the urgent need for the government to seize these opportunities and strategically position the UK as a leader in this field.

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee and the Regulatory Horizons Council (RHC) have both made recommendations for the sector, urging the government to take swift policy action to harness the potential of engineering biology and address some of the regulatory challenges the sector faces, as well as increase the sector's impact on the UK economy.

The government has since responded, expressing its support for the reports and broadly endorsing their recommendations. Additionally, in a recent debate on engineering biology in the Lords science committee, Lord Vallance, the minister of state for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), acknowledged that the government must act quickly in relation to the sector and that it needs to give the sector strategic focus.

Lord Vallance indicated that the plans will be set out in the government's upcoming industrial strategy, which will be published "shortly". He revealed that the digital and technologies sector will have its own dedicated 10-year plan, which will include a specific section on engineering biology. The sector is receiving increasing government attention and we can expect policy change to "turbocharge" the sector as part of the government's wider plans for economic growth. What has the government committed to thus far?

Public procurement

The Lords committee emphasised the importance of the government's public procurement in advancing the sector and innovation in general. In 2023, public procurement accounted for around a third of all public expenditure at over £390bn.

In light of this, the government has said that it aims to streamline the procurement process, with DSIT playing a key role in collaboration with the Cabinet Office, to find ways to leverage procurement for innovation. The government has noted that it is already procuring engineering biology products and services, for example mRNA vaccines and therapies, but aims to capitalise on its buying power further through a simplified procurement process utilising the Procurement Act 2023.

Regulations and standards

The need for regulatory clarity was echoed by the government as a priority for the engineering biology sector to allow products to reach the market more quickly and thus contribute to economic growth. The Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO) was launched in October 2024 to speed up regulatory approvals and cutting "red tape". Engineering biology is one of the four priority areas for the RIO, so once its activities get underway in earnest we should see improvements to regulatory approval timelines and innovative engineering biology products hitting the market quicker.

Support is already being provided by DSIT for regulators to design, test and implement innovative regulatory behaviours through its Engineering Biology Sandbox Fund (the second round of which is currently open), which should also help accelerate the decision-making process when assessing a range of engineering biology products.

Notably, the Food Standards Agency (FSA), in collaboration with Food Standards Scotland, has created a programme designed to bring to market cell-cultivated products that are safe for human consumption. To launch the Food Standards Agency Cell-Cultivated Product Regulatory Sandbox, the Engineering Biology Sandbox Fund awarded the FSA £1.6 million in funding.

This is an important step in bringing cell-cultivated products to market as a number of cutting edge businesses are involved and the UK is positioned as one of the largest potential markets for cell-cultivated products in Europe. None of the products created so far have been approved for human consumption; however, the funding provided by the Engineering Biology Sandbox Fund should enhance the UK's capabilities in gathering scientific evidence about cell-cultivated products and help inform decisions on how to make the products safely and how to demonstrate their safety.

The government also states that methods of creating transparency in the regulatory ecosystem are being explored with the support of the Engineering Biology Regulators Network (EBRN). Concerns had previously been raised by the Lords about the lack of transparency of the EBRN, however, it is now clear that 12 key regulators are involved, although more work is need to make the EBRN more publicly accessible.

In the spirit of strategically positioning the UK as a leader in the engineering biology space, the government agrees and acknowledges the importance of not being confined to borders with respect to standards and regulations. The UK is already working with partners both bilaterally and multilaterally to shape the international norms and standards and the government emphasises that international collaboration is vital to promoting a culture of innovation.

The National Measurement System, funded by DSIT, is utilising its global influence in the development of new written standards for engineering biology products through several international committees including the ISO 276 (Biotechnology) Technology Committee. In collaboration with the EBRN and the RIO, DSIT will pilot further ways of ensuring that standards and regulations are informed by the pipeline of engineering biology innovations.

Product governance

The RHC advised that governance of engineering biology products should not be based solely on the platform technology from which they originate. The government has acknowledged that utilising such a restrictive method could stifle innovation. Consequently, it has committed to explore governance based on product properties, however it does foresee occasions where a platform-focused approach would be more suitable.

Scalability: funding and IP

The government has stated that it is exploring policy options to maximise the benefits of its investments for small and early-stage companies across the whole life cycle of research and innovation infrastructure.

The Lords noted that the government should work with public sector research establishments and universities to assist start-ups and spin-outs assemble the data required for filing patents. The government emphasised that existing mechanisms are in place to support with patent applications, for example,  the Government Office for Technology Transfer (GOTT). The GOTT provides support to public sector organisations to help accelerate their innovations and obtain the necessary data, know-how and intellectual property (IP).

Additionally, grants are provided by Innovate UK for research and development projects, which also helps to provide data for patents. Innovate UK continues to provide support to small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to develop their IP through several funding instruments and provides advice on patents and IP management through Innovate UK Business Growth.

However, in the Lords committee's debate there was some concern that taking a grant from Innovate UK involves accepting problematic IP terms in favour of Innovate UK, which causes problems for SMEs wanting to commercialise their inventions at a later date. Lord Vallance reassured the committee that it was not the case that grants from Innovate UK resulted in loss of ownership of the IP and that this was only applicable to a very small subset of departmental contracts relating to the Subsidy Control Act.

Access and benefits sharing

Access to genetic resources is crucial for the engineering biology sector, as is a well-functioning benefits sharing regime. The RHC report highlighted stakeholder concerns with the Nagoya Protocol, an international agreement within the Convention on Biological Diversity framework that deals with access and benefits sharing (ABS) from the use of genetic resources.

The government's response states that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and DSIT will collaborate with the engineering biology sector on access and benefit sharing issues, including looking at the Nagoya Protocol and implementing a new voluntary mechanism to donate to the Cali Fund concerning ABS relating to use of genetic digital sequence information.

The government also says it aims to deliver awareness raising and training sessions on the Nagoya Protocol and the Cali Fund to support compliance and participation. The RHC will be invited to support the development of these activities. However, no timeframes for when this work will be undertaken were given.

Biosecurity initiatives

The government agrees with the need to improve the public awareness of natural, deliberate and accidental biological risks associated with engineering biology and in response is developing a coordinated public communication campaign with support from the UK Biology Security Strategy

To establish best practice in responsible innovation, the previous government created the UK Biosecurity Leadership Council in September 2023 to provide formal advice on these matters. The council was re-named the Responsible Innovation Advisory Panel by the present government in January 2025 to reflect the government’s commitment to responsible innovation in its approach to engineering biology.

Osborne Clarke comment

The government has welcomed the majority of the recommendations from the Lords committee and the RHC. It has also committed to engineering biology featuring in its forthcoming detailed industrial strategy, which will be crucial in understanding how seriously the government is taking reform in the sector.

We can expect to see the RIO looking to improve regulatory processes and approval timelines, but it remains to be seen exactly how the RIO will operate in practice and whether it will have enough resources and personnel to drive forward the regulatory change needed to boost the sector and allow more innovative products to market.

The Government Office for Science has given a flavour of the government's aspirations for the sector through its "Engineering Biology Aspirations" report. Although the report is not a statement of government policy, it is a public facing document aiming to communicate the potential benefits engineering biology might be able to bring about. The report cites bio-synthetic fuels, nitrogen-fixing cereals, future fashion, lab-grown blood and microbial metal factories as "among the most exciting and potentially transformative" applications of engineering biology.

Increasing public understanding and support for the sector generally and specific engineering biology products and services will be essential to their success when brought to market.

The present government seems to have a renewed focus on the sector, but time will tell how the sector factors into its industrial strategy. In order to boost the sector and take advantage of our existing expertise in the area, a continued focus on regulatory clarity, public engagement and international collaboration will be essential.

Shereen Younis, a trainee solicitor with Osborne Clarke, contributed to this Insight.