News / December 19, 2023
Synonym Joins Consortium of Illinois Fermentation and Agriculture Biomanufacturing Hub (iFAB) as Tech Hub Designee
The U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) recently designated iFAB as a Tech Hub under the Tech Hubs Program, established by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.
New York, NY - 6th December 2023 - Synonym, the data-driven infrastructure development, and management platform for the bioeconomy, today announces its recognition as a member of the Consortium of the Illinois Fermentation and Agriculture Biomanufacturing Hub (iFAB). This comes as the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) recently designated iFAB as a Tech Hub under the Tech Hubs Program, established by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.
The Tech Hubs Program is geared towards investing directly in high-potential U.S. regions, to transform them into globally competitive innovation centers. iFAB’s focus is on advancing agriculture and industry through biomanufacturing. Biomanufacturing, which involves converting crops such as corn and soybeans into a diverse range of high-value commodities, has potential for substantial environmental and economic impact, but there is a lack of existing infrastructure to meet this demand.
iFAB, with Synonym joining as a participant, is strategically positioned to address this infrastructure gap and elevate Illinois into a global hub for fermentation manufacturing. iFAB is home to one of the most comprehensive bioprocessing scale-up facilities in the nation, the Integrated Bioprocessing Research Lab (IBRL), and expansion plans could increase anticipated industry growth, create new jobs and service more customers.
Synonym is proud to join the current consortium members, including:
Higher Education Institutions (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Economic Development Organizations
Industry Firms (ADM, Boston Bioprocess, Clarkson Grain Company, gener8tor, Primient, Serra Ventures)
Industry Groups
Labor Organizations
Manufacturing Extension Centers
Units of Government
Venture Development Organizations
Workforce Training Organizations
Edward Shenderovich, CEO at Synonym, said: ""We are honored to be part of the iFAB Consortium and the Tech Hubs Program. This recognition is very much aligned with Synonym’s company-wide vision and we are excited to be part of an initiative that drives sustainable economic growth and precision fermentation into the future. Together, with the great group of Consortium members, we look forward to contributing our development and capital markets expertise to make Illinois and the US global leaders in fermentation manufacturing and accelerate large-scale biomanufacturing domestically.”
For more information about Synonym, please visit www.synonym.bio. To learn more about the Illinois Fermentation and Agriculture Biomanufacturing Hub (iFAB), please visit https://ifabtechhub.research.illinois.edu/.
About Synonym
Synonym enables the commercialization and manufacture of bioproducts—accelerating the world’s transition to better, more sustainable materials and products. It believes that products created using biology will represent the next manufacturing revolution, transforming crucial elements of supply chains across multiple sectors and helping to catalyze a decarbonized future. Synonym works as the strategic biomanufacturing partner for companies building these next-generation bioproducts, helping them to expand and scale seamlessly. It has launched two online tools to help companies on their paths toward commercialization as the first step in their scaling journey:
