The release of the China Synthetic Biology Industry Current Situation and Prospects Research Report

On May 10, 2022, China’s National Development and Reform Commission issued the 14th Five-Year Plan for Bioeconomy Development, which explicitly highlights synthetic biology as a priority sector. The document states that, as a cutting-edge biotechnology, synthetic biology should accelerate original and leading technological innovation and promote its orderly application across multiple industries.Similarly, on September 12 of the same year, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order launching the National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative, aimed at advancing biotech innovation and strengthening biomanufacturing capabilities in the United States. The initiative notes that biomanufacturing—centered on synthetic biology and other technologies that engineer microorganisms to produce specialized chemicals and compounds for plastics, fuels, materials, pharmaceuticals, and more—will become a critical pillar of industry, with a potential market value of up to $30 trillion within a decade.Furthermore, the Report on the Work of the Government 2024, released in March 2024, called for accelerating the development of new quality productive forces and formally included biomanufacturing as a key industry. At the core of biomanufacturing lies synthetic biology, hailed as the Third Revolution in Biological Sciences, following the discovery of the DNA double helix structure and the completion of genome sequencing.As the world’s two largest economies, China and the United States have both positioned synthetic biology as a key engine for future industrial and social development. This consensus stems from synthetic biology’s wide-ranging applications across sectors including biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical aesthetics, industrial chemicals, materials and energy, food, agriculture and aquaculture, and consumer goods. It represents a modern-era “Exploitation of the Works of Nature,” set to reshape human life and long-term development.Against this profound shift in the industry landscape, at the 2nd Synthetic Biology Industry Expo held in Nanjing on April 12, Fucheng Haoxin—a provider of one-stop solutions for the synthetic biology industry—jointly compiled and released the Research Report on the Current Status and Prospects of China’s Synthetic Biology Industry (hereinafter referred to as “the Report”) with LeadLeo, a leading domestic industry research platform.The Report consists of six chapters: Overview of China’s Synthetic Biology Industry, Industrial Chain Analysis of China’s Synthetic Biology Industry, Development Environment of China’s Synthetic Biology Industry, Competitive Landscape of China’s Synthetic Biology Industry, Development Trends and Prospect Insights of China’s Synthetic Biology Industry, and Project Cases in China’s Synthetic Biology Industry.Below are key excerpts from the Report:

Reshaping the New Economy: Vast Potential in the Synthetic Biology Market

In terms of overall market performance, the global synthetic biology market was valued at USD 4.15 billion in 2017. Driven by continuous technological advances, the market expanded to USD 13.98 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow further, reaching nearly USD 40 billion by 2027.From a segmented market perspective, the global synthetic biology sector boasts enormous untapped potential, with high-growth prospects across multiple fields. The food and beverage segment recorded the highest growth rate of 54.8% from 2017 to 2022. Supported by broad application prospects including selective breeding of plants and animals, direct-to-consumer genetic testing, and microbe-based cosmetic products, agriculture and food & beverages are set to become the two fastest-growing segments, with compound annual growth rates (CAGR) of **56.4% and 45.5% respectively from 2022 to 2027.

Unveiling the Industrial Chain: Paving the Way for China’s Synthetic Biology Rise

In terms of R&D and innovation, leading domestic research institutions—including the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang University, East China University of Science and Technology, and Nanjing Normal University—have not only established dedicated synthetic biology laboratories but also recruited and collaborated with top talents and expert teams worldwide. Representative figures include Academician Deng Zixin of the Tianjin Haihe Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, and Academicians Tian Zhigang and Zhao Guoping of the Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology Innovation. As a result, the number of high-impact papers published by Chinese researchers in top global academic journals has surged in recent years, second only to the United States. Strengthened fundamental research capacity lays a solid foundation for the emergence of innovative achievements.In terms of industrial development, synthetic biology industrial platforms in mainland China are mainly concentrated in economically developed regions. Leveraging regional resources, research strengths of leading academician and professor teams, and disciplinary advantages accumulated by universities, local governments, enterprises, and academic institutions have jointly established industry associations and industrial alliances in recent years. Such robust industrial agglomeration facilitates resource circulation and innovation convergence, addressing key challenges in the lab-to-commercialization process—including technological breakthroughs and the translation of scientific research.

Policy Catalyst: Synthetic Biology Rides the Wave of Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality

Climate change is a global challenge driven primarily by massive greenhouse gas emissions and over-reliance on traditional fossil fuels. China’s industrial sector, plagued by high material consumption, elevated energy use, and low waste recycling, has a higher carbon emission intensity than the global industrial average. Against the backdrop of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, synthetic biology is poised to unlock broader application scenarios in fossil energy substitution and the reform of production systems.By replacing conventional chemical manufacturing with biosynthesis, the production of numerous raw materials and consumer goods can reduce carbon emissions by an estimated **75%–100% compared with traditional petrochemical processes. This is expected to bring disruptive changes to conventional production and material systems built on petroleum and coal chemistry.In addition, by designing and modifying microbial metabolic pathways, synthetic biology offers a promising route for carbon capture and utilization. For instance, bioengineering modifications of autotrophic microorganisms such as microalgae, cyanobacteria, and clostridia enable “cell factories” to convert carbon dioxide into various chemicals and fuels via photosynthesis or chemosynthesis. Similarly, engineering heterotrophic microbes such as Escherichia coli and yeast supports carbon fixation and utilization.

New Competitive Forces: Rise and Challenges of Chinese Synthetic Biology Enterprises

This chapter analyzes the development trends and implications of leading synthetic biology tool companies worldwide.Eleven synthetic biology tool providers were evaluated based on business scope, technology platforms, R&D capabilities, financing history, and other indicators. The first tier includes overseas enterprises such as Thermo Fisher, METTLER TOLEDO, Danaher, Agilent, and Illumina, as well as domestic companies Focused Photonics and MGI Tech. The second tier consists of Chinese enterprises including Fucheng Haoxin, GenScript, Biocytogen, and EdiGene.According to Frost & Sullivan data, the top three imported mass spectrometer manufacturers held a combined market share of **61.6% in China in 2021. Amid uncertainties such as trade frictions, decoupling pressures, and interest rate volatility, the pace of domestic substitution is accelerating. Furthermore, as laboratory reagents were long dominated by imported brands, which mainly entered the Chinese market through agents and distributors to control sales costs, domestic manufacturers have been launching their own reagent brands in recent years.Looking ahead, scientific instruments represent a nation’s technological level and serve as the cornerstone of future scientific and technological innovation. Supported by favorable factors including national industrial policies, increased funding for life science research, rising public health awareness and demand, and a growing pool of high-end talents, the industry will continue to accelerate domestic substitution, giving rise to more high-quality domestic high-end products.

New Application Directions: Medical Aesthetics as a Key Growth Segment

Novel raw materials have become a core competitive advantage for platform-based and product-driven enterprises, making medical aesthetics a key vertical segment of synthetic biology in the healthcare sector. The market reached **RMB 78 billion in 2022 and is expected to maintain rapid growth.For example, hyaluronic acid was initially used as a filler in ophthalmology and orthopedics. Thanks to its excellent skin compatibility and moisturizing properties, it has become a core ingredient in medical aesthetic products. The production of hyaluronic acid has evolved from traditional animal extraction to microbial fermentation and enzymatic cleavage, with the latter two industrial transformations largely led by Bloomage Biotechnology. At present, Bloomage Biotechnology has achieved a laboratory fermentation yield of **73 g/L for hyaluronic acid via synthetic biology, reducing production costs by three‑quarters, while achieving higher efficiency and lower carbon emissions.According to LeadLeo Research Institute, measured by terminal retail sales, China’s synthetic biology market in the medical aesthetics sector reached RMB 78 billion in 2022, representing a CAGR of **31.0% from 2017 to 2022. Research progress in China includes a research team at Jiangnan University, which employed a “push‑pull‑block” strategy to increase the production of α‑bisabolol—an ingredient with anti-irritant, skin-protective, and barrier-repairing functions.As synthetic biology technology matures and penetrates deeper application scenarios in medical aesthetics, the overall market is projected to continue expanding, with a CAGR of 26.0% from 2022 to 2027.

Industry Benchmark: One-Stop Solution Provider for China’s Synthetic Biology Sector

Fucheng Haoxin delivers one-stop solutions for synthetic biology enterprises covering the entire value chain from R&D and pilot testing to industrial scale-up.Guided by the design philosophy of Product‑Process‑Engineering‑Equipment Integration, the company has built an internationally leading Process Analytical Technology (PAT) platform, independently developed Raman spectroscopy prediction models and large-scale databases, and constructed a multi-objective, full-parameter driven CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulation platform for bioreactors.Fucheng Haoxin provides professional fluid process equipment for synthetic biology enterprises, including high-throughput parallel bioreactors, laboratory-scale glass bioreactors, medium and large-scale stainless steel bioreactors, integrated fermentation systems, and liquid distribution systems, empowering synthetic biology enterprises to achieve commercialization.