Why we’re funding this
The Engineering Biology Foundational technology hubs aim to build national capacity in the development of transformative foundational technologies, platforms and enabling capabilities. They will address critical bottlenecks across the design-build-test-learn (DBTL) cycle to accelerate discovery and innovation in engineering biology. This will strengthen the UK’s position as a global leader in engineering biological systems and applications.
Technologies must be developed around the needs of relevant end-users to support and accelerate their uptake and use across industry, academia, public sector or other settings. The hubs will also strengthen connectivity and coordination across the UK engineering biology ecosystem, helping to improve access to capabilities, reduce fragmentation and support UK leadership in engineering biology.
This investment is part of the UKRI Engineering Biology Programme, which aims to drive UK economic growth, deliver improved social outcomes and national resilience benefits for UK citizens, and further strengthen the UK engineering biology ecosystem. The Engineering Biology Programme plays a key role in addressing the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy and the UK’s National Vision for Engineering Biology.
This opportunity will fund foundational technology hubs, that will then be brought into a federated model. Please see the Management and governance sub-section for more details.
What kinds of applications we want
Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the programme team to discuss whether a proposal is within the scope of this funding opportunity before submission.
Applications which are deemed out of scope may be rejected by UKRI before peer review.
Engineering biology remit
UKRI defines engineering biology as the purposeful engineering of biological systems to create new or enhanced functions that do not occur naturally, or that cannot be achieved efficiently through conventional approaches.
It combines synthetic biology with enabling capabilities such as automation, AI, data science, advanced biomanufacturing and engineering disciplines to design, build, test and scale biological solutions to societal, environmental and industrial challenges.
Foundational technology hub approach
Foundational technology hubs are large-scale, nationally significant investments that provide leadership, coordination and capability development within strategically important areas of engineering biology.
Hubs will bring together the expertise, infrastructure, partnerships and resources needed to address major technological bottlenecks that cannot be effectively tackled through individual research projects alone. They must operate as focal points for the wider UK engineering biology ecosystem, connecting academia, industry, investors, facilities, policymakers, regulators, and broader end users to accelerate innovation, translation and adoption.
Applicants must demonstrate a compelling strategic case for investment, including clear additionality to the UK engineering biology landscape and strong alignment with relevant national and regional priorities. Hubs must complement, rather than duplicate, existing investments and demonstrate how they will strengthen the UK’s engineering biology ecosystem and deliver economic, societal and resilience benefits.
Foundational technology hubs will:
- address a significant foundational technology challenge in engineering biology
- provide national leadership and act as a focal point for the wider community
- integrate relevant economic and social science expertise
- meaningfully engage with industry and pathways to adoption
- build partnerships across the research and innovation ecosystem
- accelerate translation, commercialisation, adoption and impact
- work collaboratively within a federated hub model
Applicants are strongly encouraged to secure and develop private sector partnerships and contributions. Contributions may comprise of direct cash, in-kind contribution, or a combination, and must be detailed and evidenced within your application. We recognise that opportunities for private sector involvement will vary across different areas of engineering biology and will consider and assess proposals in the context of their scientific focus, maturity and intended pathways to impact.
Thematic areas
Through extensive stakeholder engagement and analyses of the UK engineering biology landscape, UKRI has identified the following high-level areas of UK strength and opportunity in engineering biology. Applicants are encouraged to align to these areas. All examples provided are illustrative and non-exhaustive. However, in order to be within scope for this funding opportunity, there must be a direct link to engineering biology.
Applications outside of these described areas will be considered if supported by robust justification.
1. Design and build technologies
This area encompasses the development of technologies that enable the design, construction, and engineering of biological systems, providing the foundational capabilities required to create increasingly sophisticated and programmable biological functions.
A non-exhaustive list of illustrative examples includes:
- nucleotide sequencing and synthesis advancements (for example, accuracy, throughput, and cost reduction)
- advanced DNA assembly, genome editing and cell engineering platforms to enable precise, programmable biological engineering
- standardisation and modularisation approaches to biological parts and systems
- development of novel chassis, systems, and modalities across microbial, plant and mammalian domains
- biological design tools and frameworks that support the predictable engineering of biological systems
2. Predictive engineering
This area encompasses the development of computational, AI, data and modelling capabilities that enhance the prediction, optimisation, and assessment of engineering biology systems across the innovation lifecycle.
A non-exhaustive list of illustrative examples includes:
- tools for multi-omics data integration, analysis, and knowledge discovery
- AI-enabled tools embedded within engineering biology workflows that address specific engineering challenges, including biological design, predictive performance, and process optimisation
- AI-enabled strain engineering
- development of AI-ready FAIR datasets that support targeted AI applications and reproducible engineering biology processes
- digital twins and cyber-physical models that improve understanding and prediction of engineering biology systems
- modelling and simulation tools that support biological design, optimisation and decision making
- techno-economic modelling, lifecycle assessment and related decision-support tools that enable earlier assessment of feasibility, scalability, and sustainability
3. Automated testing and characterisation
This area encompasses the development of technologies that enable rapid, robust, and scalable testing, measurement, and validation of biological systems, in the context of supporting more efficient design-build-test-learn (DBTL) workflows for engineering biology.
A non-exhaustive list of illustrative examples includes:
- laboratory automation technologies supporting scalable DBTL workflows
- integration of robotics, microfluidics, and digital platforms for high-throughput experimentation
- remote, autonomous, or cloud-based experimentation capabilities
- advanced measurement, sensing, and phenotyping tools
- high-throughput platforms
- real-time analytics and in-situ monitoring platforms
- technologies that improve reproducibility, robustness, and validation of biological systems
- benchmarking and characterisation capabilities that support reliable engineering biology development and deployment
4. Scale-up and bioprocessing technologies
This area encompasses the development of integrated capabilities that connect engineering biology workflows, enhance interoperability, and accelerate the translation of engineering biology research into industrial, commercial, and societal applications.
A non-exhaustive list of illustrative examples includes:
- integrated measurement, characterisation, and standards infrastructure to underpin reproducibility, interoperability, and system-wide integration
- end-to-end platforms linking design, build, test and learn functions
- open architectures, standards, and interfaces that enable interoperability across engineering biology tools, platforms, and facilities
- technologies that support integration with national infrastructure, including biofoundries and shared facilities
- bioreactor innovation and scale-up technologies to support translation to industrially relevant production systems
- tools that bridge lab-scale innovation to pilot and industrial application
- technologies that de-risk scale-up, improve manufacturability and support deployment at commercially relevant scales
Cross-sector partnerships and industrial engagement
Foundational technology hubs must bring together the expertise, infrastructure, partnerships and communities required to develop technologies, tools and platforms that address significant engineering biology challenges. They must establish and maintain strategic partnerships that help ensure technologies are scientifically excellent, user-centred, and positioned for adoption across the engineering biology ecosystem.
As such, hubs are required to be developed and delivered in partnership with industry, end users and other relevant stakeholders, ensuring activities are informed by future market needs, technological challenges, commercial insight and pathways to adoption.
Partners may include, for example, industry, academia, biofoundries and other research and innovation infrastructure providers, standards and metrology organisations, regulators, policymakers, public sector organisations, investors, commercialisation experts (such as venture builders, accelerators), and end-user communities, as appropriate to the proposed area of focus.
Technologies, tools and platforms must be developed with end-user needs in mind from the outset, rather than adoption being considered only at the end of the programme. Applications must demonstrate clear plans for technology adoption, ecosystem engagement and industrial collaboration. As part of this, applicants must demonstrate a clear understanding of who the intended end users of the proposed technologies are, how those users will be effectively engaged throughout the programme, and how their needs and perspectives will inform technology development.
Hub teams must ensure, as far as possible, that all resulting commercial assets from the foundational technology hub are anchored in the UK, aligned with UK national interests and delivering socioeconomic benefits to the UK.
Applicants must demonstrate that the Hub has access to the expertise, infrastructure, networks and partnerships required to deliver the proposed programme at the scale expected of a foundational technology hub. Applications involving researchers solely from a single institution are allowed only where they can demonstrate how the required capability to deliver the proposed programme is found within the single institution.
We expect each foundational technology hub to be centred at a physical location of significant existing engineering biology capacity and capability, with additional sites of research, innovation, and commercialisation excellence engaged as required to provide complementary capabilities required to address the identified mission. Beyond named programme partners, applicants must have a clear plan and strategy to effectively engage with the wider private sector and end user community; this will be considered in the context for the hub’s proposed scientific focus, intended users, and pathways to impact.
UKRI will require formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.
Economic and social science
To fully realise the ambition of this opportunity to drive economic growth, deliver societal impact and enhance national resilience, proposals must demonstrate meaningful integration of economic and social science research and expertise. This will ensure that the technologies developed by the hubs are developed with the downstream economic and societal landscape in mind. It will also allow areas where new social science knowledge is needed to be identified, and new research to meet these needs delivered.
You should evidence this through the inclusion of at least one project co-lead from a relevant economic and social science discipline, supported by clearly defined and appropriately resourced work packages.
The specific nature of the social science activities will vary depending on the scope and objectives of the foundational technology hub. However, UKRI has identified the following priority areas where economic and social science expertise could make a particularly valuable contribution:
- ensuring key decision points in the hub’s work are informed by existing scholarship on a broad range of topics within the economic and social sciences. For example, deciding which market segments to target, or ensuring key design choices when developing a technological solution are developed with the downstream economic and societal landscape in mind
- surfacing areas where new social science knowledge is needed, and new research to meet these needs delivered
- strengthening translation, commercialisation and adoption pathways for engineering biology innovations
- providing robust evidence of engineering biology’s contribution to UK productivity and economic growth, including sector-specific analysis and assessment of innovation pathways
- improving understanding of the engineering biology ecosystem, including how this structure influences innovation and adoption, and how it responds to government interventions
- enhancing public and end-user understanding, confidence and trust, ensuring that societal perspectives inform the development, deployment and adoption of engineering biology technologies
- embedding responsible research and innovation (RRI) principles and practices across all aspects of the hub’s activity
This list is not exhaustive. Proposals should clearly articulate how their social science activities will maximise the societal, economic and wider public value generated through engineering biology technologies.
Funded hubs will also be expected to engage with programme-wide economic and social science coordination activities supported through the wider UKRI Engineering Biology Programme.
The UKRI Engineering Biology Programme will include a dedicated network investment to support economic and social science research needs across the wider programme portfolio. This network will help programme investments, including foundational technology hubs, share approaches to tackling societal and economic barriers and allow them to access a broader research community to address these challenges. In addition to the requirement for social science co-leadership and appropriately resourced activities within individual hubs, applicants should allocate sufficient time and resources to engage with the network’s work providing portfolio-level coordination, knowledge exchange and cross-programme learning activities following award.
UK engineering biology leadership
Foundational technology hubs are flagship UK engineering biology investments.
They must provide a focal point for the UK engineering biology ecosystem, playing a leadership and coordination role and acting as points of nucleation around which the broader research and innovation community can coalesce. They must be outward-facing and community-driven, with an aim to strengthen the overall ecosystem and build a sense of collective focus on shared goals for UK engineering biology.
You must describe how you plan to engage widely across the UK engineering biology ecosystem, and how you will provide opportunities for the community to help shape project direction. You should request an appropriate level of resource as part of your funding request to support these aims.
We also expect recipients of foundational technology hub funding to act as champions and ambassadors for UK engineering biology internationally, and you should describe how you plan to do this.
Strategic positioning
We take a strategic approach to investment, considering the overall balance of our engineering biology portfolio in the context of the UK and international engineering biology landscape. You must therefore present a strong strategic case for investment in your foundational technology hub.
You should clearly articulate the engineering biology challenge, capability gap, bottleneck or opportunity that your foundational technology hub will address. You must describe how the proposed foundational technology capability could enable impact across a range of engineering biology applications, sectors and users that are strategically important to the UK engineering biology ecosystem and align with relevant national and regional strategies (in particular, but not limited to, the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy).
Your programme must provide significant additionality to the UK engineering biology landscape, demonstrating clear complementarity and potential for synergy with existing activities, capabilities, or clusters of excellence at the local, regional, and national level. As part of this, you should demonstrate how the foundational technology hub will leverage local and regional strengths to support the realisation of the expected outcomes for this investment, including those that extend beyond research and innovation.
Proposals that overlap significantly with existing engineering biology investments, capabilities or infrastructure without demonstrating clear complementarity or added value are likely to be at a competitive disadvantage and are discouraged.
This does not preclude UKRI investment in multiple foundational technology hub programmes led by the same organisation. You will need to make a clear case for the distinctiveness and additionality of your programme if this is proposed. Organisations proposing to host multiple foundational technology hub programmes must demonstrate that they can dedicate the necessary wider resources to support delivery of the planned outcomes.
Management and governance
Owing to the size and complexity of the foundational technology hubs, applicants are required to develop a management and governance strategy to ensure the effective delivery of the planned outcomes. The proposed strategy must be robust and appropriate to the scale of the investment.
You should carefully consider the requirements for successful management, operation, delivery and monitoring of foundational technology hub activities. These are expected to cover a range of angles including academic research, translation, commercialisation, skills development, ecosystem building and so on. We strongly advise you to include an appropriately skilled operations lead (or equivalent) within the core team at a minimum. You should also request an appropriate level of resource to support operational activities.
Independent advisory board
Each foundational technology hub will be expected to establish an independent advisory board (IAB) to provide independent advice, challenge and strategic guidance throughout the award. Members of the IAB must not be directly involved in the delivery of the hub.
The IAB should include a suitable mix of expertise and perspectives relevant to the hub’s activities, which may include representatives from industry, investors, government, user communities and academia.
You are not required to have fully established IAB membership at the point of application. However, you must, at a minimum, outline both an indicative membership (for example, the types of organisations that you intend to recruit to the IAB) and your approach to managing and engaging the IAB over the course of your programme.
Federated hub model
Foundational technology hubs funded through this opportunity will be expected to work collectively to establish a federated governance model that combines national strategic coordination with distributed delivery across participating organisations.
Following award, funded hubs will be required to collaborate in the development of a shared governance framework for the federated hub model. UKRI will facilitate discussions and provide financial support to support the establishment of these arrangements. Applicants should therefore demonstrate a willingness and ability to work within a collaborative, cross-hub governance structure.
UKRI envisages that the governance structure will follow the described model, below:
The foundational technology hubs will be led by a hub director, supported by a central executive team. Together, they will be responsible for the overall strategic leadership, management, and accountability of the federated award.
Each funded hub will be represented by a node director. Collectively, the node directors will form a management board responsible for coordinating delivery across the network, ensuring effective collaboration between hub nodes, and overseeing operational implementation of the programme.
An independent governing board will be established for the federated hub. Membership should include substantial representation from industry and other end-users. The governing board will provide strategic oversight, challenge and assurance, helping to ensure that activities remain aligned with programme objectives, stakeholder needs, and opportunities for impact. Governance arrangements must demonstrate:
- clear lines of accountability
- effective partnership working across organisations
- transparent and robust decision-making processes
- mechanisms for stakeholder engagement and co-creation
- a strong focus on translation, adoption and commercialisation
Monitoring and evaluation
Foundational technology hubs will be subject to monitoring and evaluation activities above standard UKRI requirements. Hubs are major investments, and through these monitoring and evaluation activities UKRI intends to hold supported projects to account for the delivery of the expected outputs and outcomes. Further details will be provided to successful applicants.
Outcomes your project should aim for
Your foundational technology hub should aim to deliver:
- transformative advances in the foundational technologies, tools and platforms that underpin engineering biology, with meaningful progression in technology maturity over the lifetime of the award
- generation of enabling capabilities and shared resources (including technologies, standards, metrology, AI-ready datasets and infrastructures) that strengthen the UK’s engineering biology capability and support future innovation across multiple sectors and application areas
- effective translation and adoption of foundational technologies, platforms, tools and capabilities into academic, industrial, and public sector R&D environments and commercial applications
- increased skills and talent capacity, including technical, interdisciplinary, entrepreneurial, and leadership skills across all levels and role types
- a cohort of researchers and research technical professionals that can work effectively across academic, industrial and public sector environments
- increased cross-sector collaboration and partnerships across academia, industry, public sector, regulators, infrastructure providers, policy makers, and other stakeholders
- stronger integration of economic and social science expertise within engineering biology research and innovation
- increased coordination, connectivity and visibility of the UK engineering biology ecosystem, at a local, regional and national level, and enhanced leveraging of local, regional and national engineering biology assets
Size of project and type of research
We have provided the following non-exhaustive list to exemplify the types of activities that may be delivered as part of foundational technology hub programmes.
Non-exhaustive examples of activities include:
- research and development activities that address the objectives of the proposed foundational technology hub, including relevant economic and social science research
- development, integration and validation of foundational technologies, platforms, tools and enabling capabilities for engineering biology
- generation of datasets, standards, protocols, software, digital resources and reference materials that support engineering biology research and innovation
- activities that improve interoperability, reproducibility, scalability and adoption of engineering biology technologies and workflows
- effective engagement with end-users to identify requirements, inform technology development and support adoption
- testing, benchmarking and evaluation of technologies in relevant research, innovation or operational environments
- activities that improve access to facilities, infrastructure and specialist capabilities required to develop, evaluate or adopt technologies
- community-building and coordination activities that strengthen connectivity across the engineering biology ecosystem
- collaborative projects and partnerships that support uptake, integration and dissemination of technologies and capabilities
- training, skills development and knowledge exchange activities that build capability across the engineering biology community, including cross-sector placements and exchanges
- activities that support the long-term sustainability, accessibility and impact of technologies, tools and platforms developed through the hub
Applicants are strongly encouraged to involve the appropriate partners in the design and delivery of proposed activities, including industry, academics including economic and social science departments, infrastructure providers, facilities, technology transfer offices, policymakers, standards organisations, regulators and other stakeholders as appropriate.
What we are not looking for
In this opportunity we are not looking for proposals aiming to develop engineering biology technologies with a specific, narrow range of potential real-world applications and market sectors in mind. These types of proposals may be better suited to the Engineering Biology Programme: mission hubs initiative.
Ethical expectations
We may ask you to demonstrate how your project complies with Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) principles.
We also encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.
Additional requirements
Intellectual property (IP) management
You must have a robust plan in place for the management of project outputs, including any intellectual assets and intellectual property and its protection.
This should include plans to manage any project partner expectations for access to, and exploitation of, foreground IP generated during the project. Arrangements should be proportionate to the level of project partner contribution to the project.
We reserve the right to request further information on IP management plans and IP rights of third parties should your application be recommended for funding.
If your application is successful, you must ensure at all times that the grant funding awarded to you is compliant with the Subsidy Control Act 2022.
Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has a long-standing and continuing commitment to supporting and enabling safe and effective collaboration in research and innovation. UKRI is equally committed to ensuring that this takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks.
Our Principles and expectations set out the principles that UKRI applies to TR&I and our general expectations of the research organisations (including businesses, research institutes, and research technical organisations) that we support. Organisations supported by UKRI should be able to provide evidence that their internal controls and processes meet these expectations.
See further guidance and information about TR&I, including where applicants can find additional support.
What this opportunity offers
Funding available
The FEC of your project can be up to £12 million. UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC.
Duration of funding
The duration of this award is a maximum of five years.
What the funding covers
What we will fund
You can request funding for costs such as:
- a contribution to the salary of the project lead and project co-leads
- support for other posts such as research, operational, and technical staff
- research consumables
- equipment
- travel and subsistence
- access to facilities, infrastructure and specialist capabilities
- activities to engage end-user and other relevant stakeholders
- training, skills development and knowledge exchange activities
- other costs necessary to deliver activities within the scope of the proposed foundational technology hub
If you deploy grant funding to and/or directly support incorporated companies, you must ensure full compliance with the Subsidy Control Act 2022.
Institutional matched funding
Organisations must fund 20% of the full economic cost (FEC). They do not need to provide funding beyond this 20%. This applies to organisations hosting:
- the project lead
- project co-leads
- other staff named on the application
Expert reviewers and panels do not consider levels of institutional matched funding in their assessment of applications.
We encourage direct and in-kind contributions from third-party project partners.
Host organisations must still provide the research environment and infrastructure needed to support activities we fund. This may include research facilities and staff training and development.
