Synthetic biology is the application of engineering principles to the design and construction of biological systems. It combines knowledge from molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, and computational science to deliberately redesign existing organisms; create entirely new biological parts, devices, and systems that do not exist in nature; or redesign natural biological systems so they perform new or improved functions. Basically, synthetic biology applies engineering principles to biology; thus, it is also sometimes referred to as “engineering biology.” It has a very broad range of applications. One large sub-field of synthetic biology is metabolic engineering, in which cell metabolism is engineered with the objective of efficiently producing specific molecules or cells for application in food, agriculture, industry, and medicine [1,2]. Cells have been engineered for certain purposes since the introduction of genetic engineering, and even earlier through the use of mutagenesis and screening. The term “synthetic biology” is often specifically associated with the introduction of synthetic toggle switches and oscillators [3,4], although the term is now used much more widely, as indicated by the definition. This is well illustrated by papers published in the leading journal of the field, ACS Synthetic Biology, and in the content of the main scientific conferences within this area, such as SynBioBeta. Compared with other areas of deep tech innovation, synthetic biology has the advantage of building on industrial know-how, albeit with a novel biological engineering approach. Thus, synthetic biology offers a toolbox that can tackle problems very differently in a post-petrochemical era, with the advantage of relatively easy identification of what the cost of goods must be to compete in the market. Many start-up companies categorizing themselves as synthetic biology start-ups have been founded over the last 10–15 years. These companies apply their technology to deliver solutions to many different industry verticals; in many cases, they have brought truly innovative products onto the market, many of which have been acquired and incorporated into large multinational companies. Synthetic biology has therefore clearly demonstrated its value in terms of providing new products or solutions that benefit people and society. Here, we provide a brief overview of the current trends in the field, with the aim of providing insight into key innovation trends.
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