URBANA, Ill. - The Illinois Fermentation and Agriculture Biomanufacturing Tech Hub (iFAB), located on the University of Illinois (U of I) campus, announced they had received nearly $680 million in commitments from partners to catalyze industry growth in Champaign, Piatt and Macon counties. iFAB is one of 31 Regional Innovation and Technology Hubs in the United States. Precision fermentation is an aspect of biomanufacturing involving a process that turns corn and soybeans into textiles, biofuels, food ingredients, polymers, pigments and more.

“The precision biomanufacturing industry is bringing revolutionary change to everything from how we feed the world to how we actually manufacture that world — in sustainable and clean ways,” said U. of I. Chancellor Robert J. Jones at a March 4 press conference held to announce the funding. “This is expected to become a $200-billion industry that creates one million new jobs within the next 15 years alone, and as the iFAB proposal has laid out so clearly, there is no place on this planet better positioned to be the heart of that global industry than right here in downstate Illinois.”

The 31-partner iFAB consortium is now seeking an additional $70 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) to help create jobs, expand commodity markets and drive zero-emission manufacturing efforts in the tri-county region. The funding would come from President Biden’s Investing in America program and authorized through the CHIPS and Science Act, which invests directly in high-potential U.S. regions to transform them into globally competitive innovation centers. 

iFAB is anchored by the Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory on the U of I campus, along with 30 other industry partners. The partnership’s goal is to drive economic growth in the region by capitalizing on Illinois’ agricultural strengths. iFAB was selected as a U.S. Regional Tech and Innovation Hub due to Illinois’s strategic location, wide-ranging expertise and existing infrastructure. 

Current estimates indicate that global precision fermentation capacity must increase by 20 times to meet projected demand, specifically in food and materials markets. iFAB is strategically positioned to lead the charge in transforming the bioeconomy, according to Beth Conerty, IBRl associate director and regional innovation officer for iFAB. “Through iFAB, Illinois is not just participating in biomanufacturing — we are helping shape the future of the industry,” she said. 

“The Tech Hub designation, announced in October 2023, has spurred our iFAB partners to commit $680 million to realize our vision for Illinois to become the heart of biomanufacturing. With the EDA’s support, we can lock in thousands of jobs and secure billions in market potential,” Conerty added.

Specifically, iFAB seeks to scale precision fermentation to convert underutilized corn feedstocks into high-value, customized alternative proteins, food ingredients, materials, chemicals and more. “This Tech Hub will provide a domestic biomanufacturing testbed through the development and deployment of multi-use pilot and demonstration capacity and equipment for biomanufacturing innovators while also training a skilled workforce,” according to the EDA website.

The precision fermentation industry faces a “lab-to-market bottleneck constraining its capacity to test innovations in increasingly larger fermenters at the lab, pilot, demonstration, and commercialization stages. Currently, demand far exceeds capacity for fermentation and a trained workforce is not available. Independent equipment ownership is cost prohibitive, leading European governments to invest in shared-use facilities. Lacking public investment, US startups must often seek testing capabilities abroad, with Europe alone housing almost 50 percent of the global fermentation capacity compared with only 34 percent in the U.S., according to the EDA. 

“Home to world-class institutions, modernized infrastructure, and first-rate research centers, Illinois is transforming technology, biomanufacturing, and innovation at every turn,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “This designation positions Central Illinois to become a global leader in biomanufacturing and precision fermentation over the next decade — bringing economic development and good-paying jobs along with it. I want to congratulate everyone who took the iFab vision and turned it into a world-class, federally designated Tech Hub—you are helping create a better Illinois for all.”