Periodic Reporting for period 3 - IBISBA 1.0 (Industrial Biotechnology Innovation and Synthetic Biology Accelerator)
Período documentado: 2020-12-01 hasta 2022-05-31
Industrial biotechnology is as vital to the bioeconomy as industrial chemistry is to the petroeconomy. To help Europe to shift towards a sustainable circular economy in which goods are manufactured using biobased feedstocks and services are delivered using environmentally innocuous processes, it is of paramount importance to support the development of industrial biotechnology. Embedded in life sciences, chemical engineering and increasingly, computer sciences, industrial biotechnology uses living systems (e.g. microorganisms) as tools to convert biobased feedstocks into a wide variety of products from energy to bulk compounds, to fine chemicals for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Moreover, industrial biotechnology provides services, for example the means to treat and upgrade waste streams, recycle fossil-based plastics or capture CO2.
Europe is a global leader in industrial biotechnology. Nevertheless, worldwide competition is fierce and support for innovation in the sector is vital. In this respect, Europe’s industrial biotechnology sector is fragmented with public-funded resources, such as research and development infrastructure, being scattered across the continent, with hotspots in various places. This is an ‘Achilles heal’ of European industrial biotechnology.
The H2020 IBISBA 1.0 project constitutes the first step towards the creation of a European research infrastructure IBISBA (i.e. Industrial biotechnology innovation and synthetic biology accelerator) conceived to support the growth and expansion of industrial biotechnology. IBISBA achieves this by federating key research facilities to deliver integrated R&D services that will focus on fit-for-purpose bioprocess concepts. As a stepping stone towards this long-term ambition, the achievement of the IBISBA 1.0 project are:
• the creation of a network of research infrastructures and devised tools and methods to support interoperability;
• launch of a Transnational access program (TNA) designed to provide access to state-of-the-art R&D infrastructures;
• the creation and implementation of some business processes elements (e.g. workflows) and e-infrastructure necessary to operate IBISBA in the future;
• the execution of collaborative R&D to explore the foundations of interoperability, development of standardized experimental practices and demonstration of the added-value of interlinking services provided by different R&D infrastructures.
Europe is a global leader in industrial biotechnology. Nevertheless, worldwide competition is fierce and support for innovation in the sector is vital. In this respect, Europe’s industrial biotechnology sector is fragmented with public-funded resources, such as research and development infrastructure, being scattered across the continent, with hotspots in various places. This is an ‘Achilles heal’ of European industrial biotechnology.
The H2020 IBISBA 1.0 project constitutes the first step towards the creation of a European research infrastructure IBISBA (i.e. Industrial biotechnology innovation and synthetic biology accelerator) conceived to support the growth and expansion of industrial biotechnology. IBISBA achieves this by federating key research facilities to deliver integrated R&D services that will focus on fit-for-purpose bioprocess concepts. As a stepping stone towards this long-term ambition, the achievement of the IBISBA 1.0 project are:
• the creation of a network of research infrastructures and devised tools and methods to support interoperability;
• launch of a Transnational access program (TNA) designed to provide access to state-of-the-art R&D infrastructures;
• the creation and implementation of some business processes elements (e.g. workflows) and e-infrastructure necessary to operate IBISBA in the future;
• the execution of collaborative R&D to explore the foundations of interoperability, development of standardized experimental practices and demonstration of the added-value of interlinking services provided by different R&D infrastructures.
1. Building IBISBA’s array of distributed facilities and expertise
As a distributed R&D infrastructure, IBISBA’s most precious assets are its distributed facilities and expertise. To federate facilities that provide IBISBA services, extensive work was performed to define IBISBA’s vision and mission. Likewise, focus was given to the creation of tools, such as a terminology base and an online IBISBA handbook, the latter providing IBISBA’s community with a comprehensive guide to IBISBA operations. Common understanding among facility operators was reinforced using internal training, mostly delivered through webinars (www.ibisba.eu/Webinars).
Regarding IBISBA’s user community and other stakeholders, during IBISBA 1.0 a communication strategy and tools (e.g. website - www.ibisba.eu) for its deployment were developed. Importantly, a distinctive logo was designed and registered as a trademark, and an online service catalogue and service request portal were launched. Finally, the wider stakeholder community was engaged, recruiting a strategic advisory board and organizing public workshops (e.g. IBISBA workshops held during BIOKET 2020 and the Global Bioeconomy Summit 2020, as well as various national events throughout the period).
2. IBISBA’s Transnational access Program
To acquire operational experience, the IBISBA 1.0 project provided partners with the opportunity to provide R&D services to Users from other countries. To implement the program, a project call process, including submission and selection sub-processes, was developed and hosted on the IBISBA web portal. In total 5 calls for projects were launched and 59 proposals were received from Users located in 25 different countries, including EU members states, associated and third countries. Significantly among the applicants, 34% were SMEs, illustrating the relevance of IBISBA for this category of Users. During the project period, IBISBA partners were able to support several projects requiring multiple services. Projects of this kind provided partners with hands-on experience of service interoperability, standardization, data sharing and management as well as on the service provision itself.
3. Creating business processes and e-infrastructure
Two ambitious aims in IBISBA 1.0 were to create a digital knowledge commons and begin to build capabilities to design, launch and monitor project workflows. In this respect, an IBISBA web-based data registry (https://hub.ibisba.eu) was created as a vital part of IBISBA’s future information system. This Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) compliant tool is a complete data management platform for IBISBA projects. It is an online portal for recording project progression, as well as storing, sharing and organising the data, protocols and models that are generated. Publicly available assets registered on the IBISBAHub are assigned an IBISBA-specific DOI. During the course of this work, a strong alliance was established with the research infrastructure ELIXIR, which is specialized in data for life sciences. This was vital in order to align IBISBA and ELIXIR technical service developments.
4. R&D activities to explore the foundations of interoperability
IBISBA 1.0 offered the opportunity to perform experimental work aimed at building interoperability between IBISBA facilities. To achieve this, work focused on the execution of computer-based and wet lab experiments aimed at developing two different cell factories, both designed to produce the same target chemical of commercial interest. Five research organizations were involved and extensive work was performed to develop common understanding and standards. Similarly, an experimental task planning tool was designed and tested, and a number of standardized protocols and experimental workflows were created. The outcome of this work is extremely enlightening, since it underlines the complexity of creating interoperability between R&D facilities, but also provides encouraging evidence that IBISBA is an ideal framework in which this can be achieved.
As a distributed R&D infrastructure, IBISBA’s most precious assets are its distributed facilities and expertise. To federate facilities that provide IBISBA services, extensive work was performed to define IBISBA’s vision and mission. Likewise, focus was given to the creation of tools, such as a terminology base and an online IBISBA handbook, the latter providing IBISBA’s community with a comprehensive guide to IBISBA operations. Common understanding among facility operators was reinforced using internal training, mostly delivered through webinars (www.ibisba.eu/Webinars).
Regarding IBISBA’s user community and other stakeholders, during IBISBA 1.0 a communication strategy and tools (e.g. website - www.ibisba.eu) for its deployment were developed. Importantly, a distinctive logo was designed and registered as a trademark, and an online service catalogue and service request portal were launched. Finally, the wider stakeholder community was engaged, recruiting a strategic advisory board and organizing public workshops (e.g. IBISBA workshops held during BIOKET 2020 and the Global Bioeconomy Summit 2020, as well as various national events throughout the period).
2. IBISBA’s Transnational access Program
To acquire operational experience, the IBISBA 1.0 project provided partners with the opportunity to provide R&D services to Users from other countries. To implement the program, a project call process, including submission and selection sub-processes, was developed and hosted on the IBISBA web portal. In total 5 calls for projects were launched and 59 proposals were received from Users located in 25 different countries, including EU members states, associated and third countries. Significantly among the applicants, 34% were SMEs, illustrating the relevance of IBISBA for this category of Users. During the project period, IBISBA partners were able to support several projects requiring multiple services. Projects of this kind provided partners with hands-on experience of service interoperability, standardization, data sharing and management as well as on the service provision itself.
3. Creating business processes and e-infrastructure
Two ambitious aims in IBISBA 1.0 were to create a digital knowledge commons and begin to build capabilities to design, launch and monitor project workflows. In this respect, an IBISBA web-based data registry (https://hub.ibisba.eu) was created as a vital part of IBISBA’s future information system. This Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) compliant tool is a complete data management platform for IBISBA projects. It is an online portal for recording project progression, as well as storing, sharing and organising the data, protocols and models that are generated. Publicly available assets registered on the IBISBAHub are assigned an IBISBA-specific DOI. During the course of this work, a strong alliance was established with the research infrastructure ELIXIR, which is specialized in data for life sciences. This was vital in order to align IBISBA and ELIXIR technical service developments.
4. R&D activities to explore the foundations of interoperability
IBISBA 1.0 offered the opportunity to perform experimental work aimed at building interoperability between IBISBA facilities. To achieve this, work focused on the execution of computer-based and wet lab experiments aimed at developing two different cell factories, both designed to produce the same target chemical of commercial interest. Five research organizations were involved and extensive work was performed to develop common understanding and standards. Similarly, an experimental task planning tool was designed and tested, and a number of standardized protocols and experimental workflows were created. The outcome of this work is extremely enlightening, since it underlines the complexity of creating interoperability between R&D facilities, but also provides encouraging evidence that IBISBA is an ideal framework in which this can be achieved.
The results of the H2020 IBISBA 1.0 project are foundational for the IBISBA infrastructure. Results confer IBISBA with many of the features of an operational distributed research infrastructure and reveal areas for future development. Moreover, IBISBA 1.0 contributed to the successful inclusion of IBISBA on the ESFRI strategic roadmap for research infrastructures and provided the basic elements of IBISBA’s business case and action plan. Currently, IBISBA’s growth is pursued with additional funding provided by the H2020 project PREP-IBISBA. The medium-term aim is to deliver IBISBA as a fully operational distributed research infrastructure. IBISBA will be uniquely capable of supporting strong innovation in industrial biotechnology and underpinning Europe’s leadership in the vital area of the circular bioeconomy.