Oct 22

Oct 22 Reflections from SynBioBeta 2020

SynBioBeta 2020 SynBioBeta 2020 was one of the major Synthetic Biology Conferences that united leading biological engineers, investors and innovators who are building the future with biology. This year's digital offering gave us the chance to learn … — **SynBioBeta 2020**
SynBioBeta 2020 was one of the major Synthetic Biology Conferences that united leading biological engineers, investors and innovators who are building the future with biology. This year's digital offering gave us the chance to learn more about the latest technologies, hear the big announcements in the field, make new partnerships, meet investors, and discover new companies. See the full program here.

This year Nerea Capon co-founder of Labiome, (an iGEM EPIC start-up) offering women’s healthcare solutions using vaginal microbiota sequencing, was chosen to represent the iGEM EPIC community and check out this industry leading conference! We caught up with Nerea to learn more about the latest developments from SynBioBeta 2020.

What did you learn?

"Participating in SynBioBeta 2020 was a great opportunity to broaden my network within the SynBio community. I was able to interact with key leaders in the sector, and hear about the latest breakthrough innovations and how they are making their way into the market.
Furthermore, attending as an iGEM EPIC representative with the clear goal of making contacts with potential partners for the Foundation was a great way to improve my networking and negotiation skills.”

How did this change your perspective of SynBio?

“As I was listening to the different panel discussions and presentations, I realized how far our ideas can reach and what impact Synthetic Biology will have in our society; or rather, the impact is already making.
When I started my university studies a couple of years ago, Synthetic Biology seemed an unrealistic venture, something very futuristic that had very little place in our society (although it was something very exciting to think about).
Through iGEM and also the participation at SBB, I was able to see that we are now at a moment in which Synthetic Biology has been taken out of the university labs and has began to be applied in different fields to solve some of the most pressing environmental and human health issues. I always believed in the power of Synthetic Biology, it was great to see that this power was indeed starting to be used by different companies, researchers, innovators and key leaders.”

Click to watch their pitch from the iGEM EPIC Fast Track Program

What advice would you like share based on this experience?

“Through my journey as an iGEMer, I was often very excited to dream about the possibilities my project could have, to maybe become a start up or somehow make a real contribution to society.
However, I often told myself that I was just silly dreaming of impossible things. SBB helped me to realized that these dreams have a place in the industry, and ideas that could very well start as an iGEM project can easily become successful start ups.
My advice to iGEMers with the same dreams as I had is: Do not underestimate yourself and the power of your innovation. Even if you are a young, your ideas are powerful and valid, and the only different between you and someone that has a start up is that they decided to trust themselves.”

We are proud to have talented iGEMers, like Nerea, represent us at industry conferences like SynBioBeta and will continue to offer similar representative opportunities in the future. Please feel free to reach out to epic@igem.org if you would like to be considered for our future representative opportunities.

If you are interested to learn more about iGEM Entrepreneurship please make sure to check out our Startup Showcase event in the iGEM Giant Jamboree, where we will be organizing a range of events and competitions on iGEM Entrepreneurship. Get your tickets to the Startup Showcase here.

About iGEM EPIC

The Entrepreneurship Program Innovation Community (EPIC) supports the development of iGEMs entrepreneurial community. The vision of the program is to become the driving force behind hundreds of SynBio based start-ups globally to help accelerate our transition to a more sustainable bioeconomy. The core of the program is focused on supporting iGEMers by connecting them to relevant co-founders, mentors, accelerators, investors and partners. This is done through a range of activities globally including the Venture Creation Labs, Mentorship Program, Fast Track Program and the Annual Startup Showcase.