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Jul 12, 2023

What is bioengineering?

Biology, for many of us, may trigger memories of smelly classrooms and textbooks with pictures. But biology is way more than just high school science labs and frog dissection. It’s all around us, and

Biology, for many of us, may trigger memories of smelly classrooms and textbooks with pictures. But biology is way more than just high school science labs and frog dissection. It’s all around us, and it has major impact on the world—well beyond what you might think of as traditional science.

Biological engineering—or bioengineering—is the application of engineering principles to the design and transformation of technology for use toward solving biological problems. Breakthroughs in bioengineering stand to benefit organizations in a wide variety of sectors, including healthcare, food and agriculture, consumer products, sustainability, and energy and materials production. And the potential impact is large: aside from the transformational benefits to be gained in human health and well-being, as well as a more sustainably managed environment, McKinsey research suggests that some 400 use cases for bioengineering, almost all of which are scientifically feasible, could have an economic impact of $2 trillion to $4 trillion per year from 2030 to 2040.

What’s more, the wave of innovation is accelerating. The fields of computing, automation, AI, and data analysis advance faster with each passing year. According to SynBioBeta, a professional network for biological engineers, investment in synthetic-biology companies raised about $4.6 billion in the first quarter of 2021 alone, more than four times the investment in the same quarter a year earlier.

But it’s not as easy as just creating bioengineered products and raking in the rewards. Ethical, regulatory, and public-perception issues need to be settled first.

Learn more about McKinsey’s Life Sciences Practice and McKinsey Digital.

Scientists were able to sequence and publicly share the whole COVID-19 genome just weeks after the first cases were reported in December 2019. This unprecedented speed was made possible by recent advances in biological technologies: when SARS broke out in 2002, it took more than five months for scientists to release full genome sequencing of the virus after the first reported case. Biological innovations also allowed for more effective diagnostics and new bioengineered treatments.

Bioengineering is one area of biological innovation, propelled by a series of breakthroughs including the mapping of the human genome (completed in 2003) and the decreasing cost and speed of sequencing DNA. Advances in computing, data analytics, machine learning, and AI are also powering the change.

Biological innovations are grouped into four areas:

Learn more about McKinsey’s Life Sciences Practice.

As we’ve seen, human health and performance has the clearest pipeline from research to commercialization. The science is advanced, and the market is generally accepting of innovations. But more than half of the direct impact of bioengineering applications McKinsey has studied will likely be outside health over the next ten to 20 years. Let’s break down the sectors.

Bioengineering applications in the health sphere include cell, gene, and RNA therapies to treat or even prevent disease; a range of antiaging treatments to extend life spans; innovations in reproductive medicine; improvements to drug development and delivery; and new predictive modeling of human health and disease. The direct annual global potential impact is estimated at up to $1.3 trillion over the next ten to 20 years.

Bioengineering can support innovative new ways of breeding animals and plants using molecular or genetic markers. These methods are many times quicker than existing selective breeding techniques. Other applications include the development of alternative proteins such as lab-grown meat and efforts to quickly improve the microbiomes of plants, soil, animals, and water to nurture agricultural productivity.

Opportunities are emerging to offer consumers personalized products and services based on their biological makeup. Applications may include direct-to-consumer genetic testing, beauty and personal care, and innovative approaches to wellness (and fitness) in humans and pets.

Applications here include innovations related to materials produced via fermentation, new materials with edited microbial DNA to enable things like self-repairing fabric, and innovative new forms of energy storage.

From 2019 to 2021, venture capital companies invested more than $52 billion in therapeutic-based biotech companies globally. Two-thirds of that went to start-ups with platform technologies, particularly those that can tailor treatments to individual patients and deliver the therapies to the target site with great accuracy.

Six platforms in particular are generating significant investor attention:

For more on these emerging tools, click here.

If this all sounds a little too sci-fi for your comfort, you’re not alone. Many observers are concerned about the risks involved with bioengineering; even bioengineering proponents admit that risks could include potentially disastrous consequences at the population level. Needless to say, these risks could outweigh the benefits. Here are a few of the risks that will need to be carefully considered:

In addressing these risks, regulation will be important, as will oversight and monitoring of the science as it develops.

Learn more about McKinsey’s Life Sciences Practice and the McKinsey Global Institute.

Beyond the serious risks that need to be reckoned with prior to and concurrently with further development of bioengineering applications, McKinsey sees three stages of the journey to adoption.

First, investment in scientific research—meaning funding, tools, talent, and access to data—is needed to enable bioengineering scientists to succeed. It generally takes years of research and significant investment to move a new application from the idea stage to feasibility.

Next will come commercialization and diffusion. Four factors will play a role here:

And finally, mechanisms governing use—including broad acceptance by society and regulators—are key at all stages. McKinsey has found that around 70 percent of potential impact of bioengineering advances could hinge on consumer, societal, and regulatory acceptance.

Change is coming. These fundamental shifts in biological science may confer significant benefits; to capture them, four groups of stakeholders need to work to understand the science and ensure that innovation is safe.

Innovators. Scientists govern their own research processes via peer review. But scientists also need to take into account the views of the communities in which they operate.

Businesses. Organizations can adapt strategies to take advantage of biological innovation, adopting a portfolio-based approach toward investment.

Civil society, governments, and policy makers. Some countries, including China, the United Kingdom, and the United States, have set the tone for informing themselves about biological advances and responding to them effectively. But innovation needs to be balanced by mechanisms to govern use and misuse.

Individuals. Potential consumers of bioengineering applications need to inform themselves about the benefits versus the risks of things like gene editing.

Learn more about McKinsey’s Life Sciences Practice. And check out life sciences-related job opportunities if you’re interested in working at McKinsey.

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