The Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) will, in December, launch an open-innovation facility to provide product and process development sup- port for small and medium-sized enter- prises (SMEs) producing biologicals for industrial, veterinary and human appli- cations.

The R90-million Biomanufacturing Industry Development Centre (BIDC) will provide incubated companies with access to ready-to-use biomanufacturing facilities, as well as research and development (R&D) laboratories.

The Development Bank of Southern Africa’s (DBSA’s) Jobs Fund provided R72-million of the funding, with the CSIR funding the balance.

Located in newly refurbished buildings at the CSIR campus, in Pretoria, the centre will further provide SMEs with access to experts in the fields related to bioprocess development and scale-up.

The establishment of the BIDC is aimed at supporting and developing at least 12 businesses over the next three years, leading to a potential gross domestic product contribution of up to R180-million a year.

“The true benefit of this investment will be seen in the years thereafter as the bio- manufacturing sector grows,” the CSIR says in a statement.

The centre aims to support companies through the prototyping and scale-up phases of product development and will assist them with market acceptance testing and product launches.

It will also aid in lowering the barriers that inhibit innovative enterprises from translating their inventions into market-ready products.

The CSIR emphasises that the companies will remain the sole owners of their innovations and retain absolute control over their future in terms of added value and partnerships.

CSIR commercialisation manager Fanie Marais says the establishment of a well-resourced and operational biomanufacturing centre producing prototypes for the industrial, agriculture and health sectors requires a significant long-term investment in both infrastruc- ture and specialised skills.

“What makes the CSIR BIDC a unique resource is the blending of R&D and industrial and commercial expertise within the context of a working pilot-scale biomanufacturing plant that resembles a real-world working environment,” he comments.

The BIDC forms part of an expan- sion of the CSIR’s already signifi- cant presence in the field of biosciences, which includes a R50-million investment in the development of a new R&D facility that will support the proposed centre.

Marais explains that biomanufacturing encompasses four major categories of production technology – natural product extraction, microbial fermentation, bio- catalysis and cell culture.

Irrespective of the manner in which the biomass is generated, all technolo- gies require downstream processing – usually extraction and purification – followed by formulation, filling and packaging.

“Biomanufacturing serves a variety of industries, including biopharmaceuticals, industrial biologics, food and feed bio- products, as well as diagnostic reagents and cosmetics,” he says.