The High Value Biorenewables Network is opening its doors to any researcher or company working to turn plants, microbes, and other biological materials into industrial chemicals and products. This network addresses a persistent gap: many promising bio-based chemicals never make it out of the lab because researchers lack the industrial connections, scale-up expertise, or funding to solve real-world production problems. The network will connect academic chemists and biologists with manufacturers, run training workshops, and offer small grants for projects that tackle specific industrial challenges—such as improving fermentation yields or developing cheaper purification methods. If the network succeeds, more bio-based chemicals could replace petroleum-derived ones in everyday items like plastics, solvents, lubricants, and adhesives. This would reduce dependence on fossil fuels and lower the carbon footprint of manufacturing. The network also has an international arm, aiming to apply UK research to problems in developing countries—for example, turning agricultural waste into local fuels or materials. The project is primarily about building a community and funding mechanism, not conducting a single experiment. Its impact depends on whether the connections and small-scale projects it supports eventually lead to commercial products.
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The High Value Biorenewables Network will focus on the discovery, development and application of bio-based chemicals, tools and platform technologies. Whilst the High Value Biorenewables Network builds on the successes of its predecessor network, the High Value Chemicals from Plants Network, it offers an exciting opportunity to widen the scope beyond plants. This broad scope will enable more biorenewable options to be considered, and consequently, greater likelihood of achieving an industrial biotechnology solution. The Network responds to both the needs of the existing cross-disciplinary community of researchers as well as the desire of industry and society for more biorenewable products and processes. The Network's membership will be open to all, and the benefits will include access to a range of meetings, workshops and training activities. Academic members will be eligible to apply for funding for innovative research (particularly in areas where they are addressing an industrial problem) and will be able to gain support for their enterprise ideas. Initially membership will be free of charge, but we will work towards payment for membership benefits so that we eventually achieve a sustainable funding model. The Network has a strong leadership team, with expertise in biorenewables from across academia and industry. Together with wider network expertise, we will address challenges that are common to the exploitation of biorenewables, such as discovery research, production systems and scale-up. This is essential if we are to achieve our objective of having more biorenewable products and processes. Whilst the High Value Biorenewables Network will have a UK focus to support the bioeconomy and the Government's industrial strategy, it will also have an international aspect promoting the use of UK research capability to address developing world problems and working in collaboration with scientists internationally.
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