On the road to Paris: Glimpse the future bioeconomy at the iGEM Startup Showcase
by Alya Masoud, Carolina Elizondo, and Nerea Capon
The top 15 iGEM Startups will pitch their ideas in front of an audience and panel of judges on October 27 at the Grand Jamboree.
The innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of iGEM teams continues beyond the Competition, as they build upon proofs of concept, turn prototypes into innovative products, and answer the calls of the marketplace to engineer safe and responsible biological systems for sustainable agriculture, preservation of the environment, and affordable and accessible healthcare.
We invite you to meet the innovators who are shaping the future of the bioeconomy at iGEM EPIC’s Startup Showcase during the 2022 Grand Jamboree. This year, the Startup Showcase will feature the top startups in three tracks: Food & Manufacture, Environment, and Health.
You (the audience) will vote for your top choices, and the best startups in each of these categories will then go on to compete in the final judging event for a cash prize.
Startup Showcase
Food & Manufacture Startups
What are the interesting and innovative food and manufacturing ideas? The five best startups in this category will be sharing their pitches with us. Which one will be the best and advance to the finale?
Uppbio - Somerville, MA, USA: Developing the OS for biomanufacturing, making it cheaper and easier for biomanufacturing startups to go from idea to finished product.
RebX - Mexico and Argentina: Sustainably produces chemicals using fungi and agro-waste at a low cost.
Cibus 3.0 - Costa Rica: A synthetic biology startup looking to transform whey into lipid based products like omega oils.
Synbiote - Sydney, Australia: Developing a process-analytical-technology to optimize the purification process and increase accessibility of products produced via synthetic biology.
Mikuytec - Lima, Peru: Produces recombinant proteins as an organic, easy-to-use and effective solution to extend the shelf life of food.
Environment Startups
The environmental crisis is real. What can iGEM Startups do about it? Five startups in the Environment category will be sharing their pitches with us live on stage!
Umkele - Africa: Multi-award-winning synthetic biology start-up developing a novel precision fermentation process to produce multiple products.
Ourobio - Charlottesville, Virginia, USA: Accelerating the global transition towards a circular economy by using engineered microorganisms to produce high-performance bio-based petrochemical alternatives.
Enzymity - Riga, Latvia: Developing a novel plastic recycling technology based on engineered enzymes.
Maverick Bioworks- Oakland, California, USA: Engineering enzymes for greener, cheaper, and more efficient lithium extraction from hard rock ores.
Kal Agro - Dhaka, Bangladesh: Empower urban farming throughout hardware technology.
Health Startups
New technologies will change the health landscape. Listen to the pitches of our five best Health startups. Who is the best?
Rapidemic - Leiden, Netherlands: Develops a novel point-of-care diagnostic device for fast and accurate diagnoses of infectious diseases.
Duplex Bioscience - Accra, Ghana: Biotech company accelerating solutions that test and trace infectious diseases using synthetic biology and open source hardware.
Cexal - Edinburgh, UK: Developing cheap, fast, and accurate rapid test kits to identify organic and inorganic molecules.
Sano Biosciences - Argentina: Revolutionize science by creating a commercial drug delivery system for gene therapy, opening possibilities for different treatments to incurable diseases.
Venere - UK: A sexual lubricant that prevents common vaginal fungal infections.
Startup Village
In addition to the Startup Showcase, the Startup Village will also feature fireside chats, workshops, and keynote speeches, as well as open interactive sessions at the networking platform. Engage here with the wider iGEM EPIC community, including industry and innovation leaders, start-ups, scale ups, investors, and accelerators.
Startup Stage Highlights
Opening Keynote: Women In Entrepreneurship
iGEM Startups: An EPIC Experience
Turn iGEM Projects Into Startups: Lessons From An IP Lawyer
Fantastic Startups And Where To Find Them
Startup Workshops
Nucleate: Democratizing Founder-led Biotech Entrepreneurship
Do's And Don'ts When Launching A Synbio Startup
SynBioBeta Race Against The Clock - The Race, The Community, And The Mainstream
Networking Session Hosted By iGEM EPIC
Finding A Co-Founder To Build A Startup From Scratch
There will be a total of 23 sessions and workshops in the Startup Village. Download the full event schedule below for more information:
Download the Schedule!
Come visit the Startup Showcase at the Startup Village to witness and celebrate the startups that have gone through the Competition, as they pitch their ideas in front of an audience and panel of judges as they climb towards the next steps in their journey from the lab to the market. It will give you a glimpse into our future bioeconomy that you won’t want to miss!
The iGEM Entrepreneurship Program Innovation Community (EPIC) was founded to nurture the talents and capabilities of iGEM alumni and support their transition from lab to market. You can find out more about iGEM EPIC by visiting startups.igem.org, following us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or contacting us at epic@igem.org.
We look forward to welcoming you to the iGEM 2022 Grand Jamboree! Buy your tickets here to secure your place among the world’s largest community of synthetic biology researchers, industry, investors, startups, and policy makers.
Cover photo by ALEXANDRE LALLEMAND on Unsplash
