The world is currently undergoing a monumental transformation, unparalleled in the past century, driven by the acceleration of a new wave of technological revolution and industrial change. Innovative forces steering sustainable development are triggering profound shifts in the socio-economic landscape. This transformation, which involves the reshaping of the world at the genetic level, the understanding, creation, and utilization of life to serve material production and wealth generation, represents the exhilarating forefront of technology. It was in this context that Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology (TIB), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), jointly established by Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tianjin Municipal People’s Goverment, came into existence on November 29, 2012.

Over the past decade, TIB has been dedicated to innovating core technologies and pioneering disruptive technologies related to bioindustry in response to the critical demands of green, low-carbon, and sustainable development with the concept of “Creating cell factories to develop biological economy”. Significantly, breakthroughs have been achieved in enabling technologies such as rational protein design, pathway design, gene synthesis, DNA editing, high-throughput screening, and analytical testing. Major breakthroughs have been made in various areas, including independent innovation in industrial fermentation strains, green bioproduction of chemicals, microbial recombinant synthesis of natural products, biomass conversion and renewable chemistry, the biomanufacturing of future food, and carbon dioxide biotransformation and utilization. These advancements have played a pivotal role in supporting the development of the green bioeconomy.

TIB has established several national-level innovation platforms, including the National Key Laboratory of Engineering Biology for Low-Carbon Manufacturing, the National Technology Innovation Center for Synthetic Biology, and the National Research Center of Industrial Enzymes. It is accelerating the construction of state of the art research facility, integrated with automation and AI, for biological design and creation. It has become a key national source of original innovation for synthetic biology and green biomanufacturing and a vital strategic technological force in China's industrial biotechnology sector.

Adhering to the development philosophy of "openness, cooperation, and internationalization," TIB actively constructs a collaborative innovation network, establishes the Bio-Manufacturing Industry (Talent) Alliance, jointly builds research centers with prominent organizations in Belgium, Germany. With fully leveraging international organization platforms such as ANSO and COMSATS, TIB deeply implements the “Belt and Road Initiative”, such as hosting the 22^nd and the 25^th Meeting of COMSATS Coordinating Council, building a South-South cooperation platform named COMSATS Joint Center for Industrial Biotechnology (CCIB). Targeted on the sustainable development needs of the B&R partner countries in the fields of industry, agriculture, health, and the environment, TIB relying on the CCIB platform, conducts joint R&D and technical demonstrations with many organizations from the B&R partner countries such as ICCBS of Pakistan, KazNU of Kazakhstan, NRC of Egypt, IROST of Iran. Moreover, five sessions of the "International Training Course on Industrial Synthetic Biotechnology" are organized, during which over 190 young researchers from more than 30 developing countries are trained. By allocating special funding, more than ten talented young researchers from nearly ten B&R partner countries get chance to conduct short-term research with two years at TIB. Based on these, the CCIB is selected as good practice in South-South and Triangular Cooperation for Sustainable Development.

Looking to the future, TIB will continue to employ biotechnology to drive Industrialization of Agriculture, Greenization of Industry, and Globalization of Production, making new and greater contributions to the high-quality development of biomanufacturing and the bioeconomy.