The future will be shaped by the convergence of life science and computing technologies

2 to 4 trillion USD in 2030-40...is the potential direct annual global impact of an estimated pipeline of 400 currently scientifically achievable use cases of the Bio Revolution, according to a 2020 report by McKinsey & Company.

This is going to be as a result of up to 60 percent of the physical inputs to the global economy being produced biologically—with nonbiological materials like plastics or fuels potentially being produced or substituted using biology.

Biology will become the ultimate distributed, manufacturing platform. Bio-based industries will exchange expensive, complicated industrial chemical syntheses that use high temperatures, high pressures and toxic catalysts with cheaper, more resource efficient and less toxic biochemical syntheses.

The Bio Revolution is fueled by a convergence of breakthroughs in biological science and faster development of computing, automation, and artificial intelligence. The Bio Revolution would transform what we eat and wear, the medicines we take, the fuels we use, and how we construct our physical world.

Cognizant of these facts, my guest on the latest episode of the Africa Biotech Conversations podcast believes that "The future will be shaped by the convergence of life science and computing technologies" and has dedicated her investment thesis to synthetic biology startups.

Loretta TIOIELA is the co-founder & Managing Partner of Next Sequence, a new venture firm incubated at VC Lab. Prior to starting Next Sequence, Loretta worked for over 12 years as a technologist in Cloud and A.I. technologies for major industry players such as Samsung and Huawei Technologies and she co-founded OpenSynBio, the 1st Open Computing Foundation for Synthetic Biology.

In our conversation, we spoke about:

• Why she started the not-for-profit foundation, OpenSynBio and the Venture Firm, Next Sequence
• The global focus of Next Sequence
•  What criteria does Next Sequence lean towards to vet entrepreneurs for investment 
• Renowned investors targeting synthetic biology or tech bio companies
• The need for diversity in venture capital firms and investor community
• Loretta's personal motivation for going into VC and recommendations for anyone interested in VC and becoming an investor.

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