Teesside biotech facility will be centre of innovation

Mar 12 2010 by Kelley Price, Evening Gazette

BUSINESS minister Ian Lucas visited Teesside yesterday to announce a multi-million pound biotech facility that will create a global centre for innovation on Teesside.

The £12m second phase of Centre for Process Innovation’s NIBF (National Industrial Biotechnology Facility) will bring in companies from around the world to speed up commercialisation of breakthrough green products, from perfume to next-generation biofuels.

Mr Lucas also announced £2.5m for 40 organisations - including two SMEs on Teesside - that will use the NIBF for feasibility studies.

It is thought the projects could reach commercialisation in one to two years, creating new jobs and manufacturing potential for the region.

Funding for the NIBF, announced last summer, has come from the Strategic Investment Fund, the same Government pot that part-financed the £60m Tees Valley Investment Programme (TVIP) announced days after Corus’ decision to mothball its Teesside Cast Products’ plant in December.

A Government spokesperson said the NIBF funding would not come out of the TVIP cash, but was additional investment.

Speaking at the launch yesterday, Mr Lucas said: “Infrastructure will be built up to attract businesses from across the world by offering something in the North-east that isn’t available anywhere else.

“Individual companies will want to be part of that, using the services, skills and facilities to develop products for themselves. From that, more business and new jobs will come. Innovation in manufacturing is extremely important for Teesside’s chemicals industry. We need to seize the initiative to compete in a rapidly changing world. This is a global race, the question is are we going to fill the growing market for low-carbon goods and services or let it go to overseas competitors. We need to have Government involved in building a strong manufacturing base.”

Nigel Perry, chief executive of Wilton-based Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), said the NIBF would attract leading-edge companies - and it was up to the North-east to develop the right skills, people and infrastructure to keep them in the region.

“The £2.5m Technology Strategy Board competition is the catalyst to get companies interested in industrial biotechnology. The first phase of the NIBF allows companies to develop and prove products, the new phase is scale-up and commercialisation. The centre will be available for any company in the UK or elsewhere to use. We are expecting a hungry take-up from day one.”

Industrial biotechnology is a key growth area. The global environmental goods market is estimated at £3 trillion by 2015.