Brexit: What does it mean for the advanced bioeconomy?

Bilateral opportunities

But it’s not all gloom on the international co-operation front. Last year, BBSRC, together with the State of São Paulo Research Foundation, launched a joint funding call in the strategic priority area of Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy.

BBSRC is the lead funding agency for academic research and training in the biosciences at universities and institutes throughout the UK, and was established by Royal Charter in 1994 by incorporation of the former Agricultural and Food Research Council with the biotechnology and biological sciences programs of the former Science and Engineering Research Council.  São Paulo Research Foundation is a public foundation located in São Paulo, Brazil, with the aim of providing grants, funds and programs to support research, education and innovation of private and public institutions and companies in the state of São Paulo.

R&D and corporate moves

One of the biggest challenges may be R&D, which is funded and coordinated across the EU. The UK’s minister for universities and science, Jo Johnson, tweeted this morning ”Big decision. Let’s make it work.”

One step that is expected, Britain will seek “Associate Member” status for science. Norway, Switzerland and Israel have this — permitting UK researchers to bid on EU projects and in EU consortia. The UK would simply have to pay a GDP-based membership fee.

Big issues in UK advanced bioeconomy R&D that might be affected? Recent hot R&D efforts in the UK have been around oligosaccharide sequences, enzyme research, algae application development, crop enhancement including fast hybrid selection for crops like sweet sorghum, willow and ryegrass development, and the use of DDGs in fuel cells,

Currency swings

The pound will revalue, and from there it’s going to be smooth sailing unless policy uncertainty creeps in — the GBP is already independent of the Euro.

London financing

London is an equity and debt-raising focal point for the EU. For now, most companies are raising with strategics and avoiding entanglements with demanding retail investors and traders. So, not much impact in the near-term as long as the strategics themselves don’t shrink.

The Bottom Line

Brexit, it’s about trade flows, really, the physical goods and the movement of people, as we observed earlier this week. Accordingly, expect for a little while that protectionism will rise — and as we noted only yesterday, the rise of carbon fair trade is essential to the emergence of alternative liquid fuels as a large-scale replacement for fossil fuels. We think that carbon deals will be done outside of the EU — so, to the extent that this simplifies the British economy, Brexit is likely to have small, positive long term impacts on the advanced bioeconomy. But expect some carnage amidst all the uncertainty today around the world.