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Biotech experts gather for White House summit

White House summit
Federal officials discuss America’s bioeconomy during a White House summit. (OSTP Photo via Twitter)

More than 100 biotech researchers, industry executives and government officials met at the White House today for a summit focusing on America’s bioeconomy — the range of products, services and data derived from biological processes and bioscience research.

“The bioeconomy is already an integral part of the general economy,” White House chief technology officer Michael Kratsios told the attendees. “In 2017, revenues from engineered biological systems reached nearly $400 billion.”

He cited figures from SynBioBeta suggesting that the private sector alone invested more than $3.7 billion in early-stage biological engineering and manufacturing tech companies during 2018.

“But we are not only here because of what biotechnology has done — we are invested in what biotechnology is going to do,” Kratsios said.

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By Alan Boyle

Mastermind of Cosmic Log, contributing editor at GeekWire, author of "The Case for Pluto: How a Little Planet Made a Big Difference," president of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. Check out "About Alan Boyle" for more fun facts.

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