BioP2P Staff
The U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration has awarded approximately $51 million grant to a consortium led by the University of Illinois, to establish the Illinois Fermentation and Agriculture Biomanufacturing (iFAB) tech hub in Champaign, Piatt, and Macon Counties.
iFAB will promote the development of biomanufacturing in central Illinois, including precision fermentation across a broad array of industries as an alternative to making products with fossil fuels.
iFAB, when fully established, will help small companies that currently have to go to Europe or China to find facilities for scaling up their biomanufacturing projects from the pilot to the demonstration stage.
The five-year grant from the Economic Development Administration will pay for the construction of new precision fermentation facilities at the IBRL on the University of Illinois Urbana campus, upgrade the fermentation facilities at Archer Daniels Midland’s plant in Decatur, and increase fermentation capacity at Primient’s Decatur facility (in a joint project with New York-based Synonym). The grant will also support the iFAB Tech Hub’s management.
Read the full release here.