Agenda

Day 1 | Tuesday 10 March 2026

10.00 - 10.50 Morning Plenary

Welcome from IBioIC and BBIA: Mark Bustard, CEO, IBioIC, Jen Vanderhoven, CEO, BBIA

Keynote address: Hannah Boardman, Director for Technologies, Growth & Security, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Mark Maslin, Pro-Vice Provost, UCL Climate Crisis Grand Challenge: ‘How biotech can help save our planet’

10.50 - 11.50 Session 1 Rebuilding tomorrow's world with biology

This session will explore how we can make everyday items - from cosmetics to concrete - using biology rather than fossil resources.

Chair: Fiona Mischel, Associate Director of Strategic Development, Holiferm

Speakers:

  • Russ Tucker, CEO, TWIG Bio: ‘Using AI to bring biotech to beauty’

  • Jonathan Edmunds, Sustainability Director, Woodly: ‘Bio-based plastic that’s high on performance, and negative on carbon’

  • James MacDonald, CEO, Solena Materials: ‘Next generation sustainable fibres for market-leading apparel’

  • Alex Neves, CEO, Clean Food Group: ‘Function-specific, sustainable oils and fats, from food waste’

11.50 - 12.15 Fireside Chat

Getting novel bio-based products to market.

12.15 - 12.35 Tomorrow’s World Showcase Pitches

  • Katherine Manshreck, Senior Sustainability Strategist, Shellworks: ‘Collaborating with nature at scale.’

12.35 - 14.00 Networking lunch and poster observation

14.00 - 15.00 Session 2 Feeding the future with biotechnology

This session will look at the factors influencing the adoption of alternative protein.

Chair: Imran Afzal, CEO, NAPIC

Speakers:

  • Dr Sonja Billerbeck, Bezos Centre: ‘The promise of alternative proteins’

Panel - Overcoming public perception; regulation; competition for land, formulation:

  • Derek Stewart, Director, Advanced Plant Growth Centre, Co-Director, NAPIC, The James Hutton Institute

  • Will Milligan, Founder and CEO, Extracellular

  • Evangelos Katsoulis, Senior Policy Advisor for Cell-Cultivated Product Sandbox, Food Standards Agency

Tomorrow’s World Showcase:

  • Alberto Fiore, Professor of Food Chemistry, Abertay University

  • Vincent Farrelly, CEO, Niskus Biotech

  • Kiran Gathani, Strategy and Operations Associate, Cyanocapture

15.00 - 15.30 Session 3 Levelling Up with Biotech: Launchpads Driving Regional Transformation

This session will take a look at the impact of the UKRI Innovate UK Launchpad programme and the Net Zero projects it has supported.

Chair: Alex Blackshaw, Scottish Enterprise

Speakers:

15.30 - 16.00 Coffee break

16.00 - 16.55 Session 4 Tomorrow’s healthy planet

Who's in the loop? - Water is the lifeblood of the circular economy and this session will focus on how it sits in a continuous renewal with waste, soil and ecosystems. 

Chair: Professor Frederic Coulon, Director, EBIC

Speakers:

  • Elise Cartmell, Chief Scientist, Scottish Water: ‘Water as the Mirror of System health’

  • Pete Vale, Carbon & Circular Economy Architect, Severn Trent: ‘Full Circle: Bio-solids back to Land’

  • Cindy Smith, Professor of Environmental Engineering and Microbiology, University of Glasgow

16.55 - 17.15 Day 1 wrap up and prizegiving

18.00 - 20.00 Evening Reception at the City Chambers

Day 2 | Wednesday 11 March 2026

10.00 - 10.45 Morning Plenary

Scott Winston, MD, Pulpex, ‘From Concept to Consumer: Reimagining Packaging — The Pulpex Way’

Holly Reeves, CEO, HydRegen, ‘From Breakthrough to Scale-Up: The HydRegen Story’

11.00 - 12.30 Session 5 Workshops

Select from an exciting range of workshops and get useful know-how, insights, and engage and contribute to the discussion.

(Workshop places are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis and are open to registered conference delegates only.)

12.30 - 13.30 Networking lunch

13.30 - 14.30 Session 6 The Bio Factor

Channel your inner Simon Cowell and rate our line up of exciting start up pitches. If you dare, sign up to be on the stage. Prizes available!

14.30 - 15.10 Session 7 What’s next for tomorrow’s world?

We have come a long way with biotechnology, but there's so much more out there. From the ocean depths to distant stars, where will biology take us next?

Chair: Lord David Willets

Speakers:

15.10 - 15.30 Conference wrap up and close