An international benchmark study on biointelligence is being published

Who will dominate the future of biointelligent value creation? Where do German science and industry stand on this issue? And do we have a chance of becoming and remaining a leading market and a leading provider? The InBenBio study, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA), is addressing these questions. In terms of biointelligent value creation, the US ranks first in the global benchmarking, closely followed by Germany, Sweden, Finland, and the UK. The study also shows that Germany has the potential for more and can play a key role worldwide in the future.

The benchmark study identifies current global developments, draws comparisons between the framework conditions and the potential in Germany and other leading countries worldwide, and encourages business, science, society, and politics to take action. Its results provide valuable information for the strategic orientation of German research, politics, and business in the field of biointelligence. "This study is extremely important, because time is of the essence and we need scientifically sound recommendations for action in order to implement the topic in cooperation with industry in a timely manner," says Prof. Dr. Ralf Takors from the Institute of Biochemical Engineering (IBVT) at the University of Stuttgart, who was responsible for the technology research and evaluation in the InBenBio study.

Biointelligent value creation systems are the result of complex interdependencies and exchange relationships between different players from science, industry, politics, and society. Technological developments at the interfaces between nature, technology, and computer science as well as institutional and infrastructural changes interact with each other in a co-evolutionary process. Since biointelligence is a cross-cutting issue, it can be assumed that new industries will emerge and existing industries will be revitalized by the development dynamics. At the same time, individual industries that still exist today could be jeopardized by biointelligence in the future.

A country-specific benchmarking of all activities determines the current positions of eleven leading countries in biointelligent value creation. This also results in a comprehensive analysis of the international research and industrial landscape. The study presents 17 key technology fields that make biointelligence possible and evaluates them according to the current status of implementation in industry. The study also determined the market volume and market growth of dominant biointelligent technologies, products, and services for the years 2030 and 2040.

"We must now ensure that measures are taken quickly in the fields of action that are relevant to Germany as a business location in order to facilitate the rapid transfer of existing excellent research work into industrial applications," says Robert Miehe, biointelligence expert at the Fraunhofer IPA. He also points out that, in addition to setting the strategic course in companies and the effective design of innovation ecosystems for start-ups, the technological development paths, in particular, are another crucial factor for this. In his view, the most promising of these include the automated production of industry-relevant organisms and bio-based products using high-throughput technologies as well as the utilization of waste and emissions as raw materials in production.

The International Benchmark Analysis on Biointelligence (InBenBio) is a large-scale international benchmark study funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Under the leadership of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA), the Universities of Hohenheim and Stuttgart (Institute of Biochemical Engineering, IBVT) and VDMA Services GmbH are also involved. InBenBio is based on numerous qualitative interviews, discussions, and workshops that take into account a large number of interest groups and integrate specialized expertise. An expert advisory board was permanently involved. 

Prof. Dr. Ralf Takors, University of Stuttgart, Institute of Biochemical Engineering (IBVT), phone: +49 711 685-64535, email: takors@ibvt.uni-stuttgart.de

Maximilian Schutzbach, Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation, phone: +49 711 9701066, email: maximilian.schutzbach@ipa.fraunhofer.de

Dr. Robert Miehe, Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA, phone: +49 711 970­1424, email: robert.miehe@ipa.fraunhofer.de