The Cali Fund has received its fourth contribution, from Disyn Biotec, a UK-based biocatalysis company. The company has also committed to continuing annual contributions equivalent to 0.1% of revenue or 1% of profits, the indicative rates set out in Decision 16/2.
The contribution is another step in mobilizing private-sector support for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources (DSI). Following a previous contribution from Prozomix Limited, it also shows biotechnology companies recognizing that their innovation depends on nature and choosing to give something back.
“The explosion of AI and data-driven technologies, which underpin every biotechnology and biomanufacturing company, means they are all deriving value from DSI in some form,” said Ian Rowles, Managing Director of Disyn Biotec. “I strongly believe that all biotech companies, large and small, should look to follow our example.”
Disyn Biotec’s mission is to advance sustainable manufacturing through biotechnology. Describing itself as “a global leader in chemo-enzymatic retrosynthesis,” the company helps clients use enzymes to make chemical synthesis more efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective. Its work spans enzyme screening, enzyme engineering, and reaction optimization, as well as digital and AI tools for biocatalytic process design. These include its Biocat Copilot route-scouting software, which aims to enable sustainable, low-cost manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and materials and to unlock improved bioremediation processes.
For Disyn Biotec, contributing to the Cali Fund reflects the value that biodiversity and DSI provide for scientific discovery and commercial applications. “Sequence data from nature is at the heart of what we do across all aspects of our company, from our service offering through to our digital tools,” the company said in a statement. It also sees biodiversity as a source of future innovation: “Global biodiversity gives us the potential to unlock new and exciting biocatalysts that will help drive the next generation of sustainable bioprocesses.”
As more biotechnology and life-science companies contribute, the Cali Fund has the potential to become an important source of financing for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity worldwide.