Sept. 14 (UPI) -- The White House hosted a summit on Wednesday that included various government leaders and offered new details about how President Joe Biden's administration plans to spend $2 billion on biotechnologies and biomanufacturing.
The summit brought together experts in the public and private sectors and aimed to develop a "stable, safe and secure American bio economy," White House science and technology chief Alondra Nelson said at the meeting.
Biden signed an executive order on Monday that outlined some plans for domestic biotech and biomanufacturing, which are fast-growing and emerging sectors.
"This executive order will create a national research and development strategy for biotechnology, mapping out coming advances that will lead us through the coming years," Nelson told the summit on Wednesday.
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"Today, we are calling on leaders in industry, academia, civil society, to partner with the government to responsibly grow the biotechnology sector ... to solve some of the world's most pressing problems in ways that benefit everyone."
Administration officials expect that the investment will also benefit national security and the economy.
The White House said the Defense Department will put $1 billion into bioindustrial domestic manufacturing over 5 years. The hope is to spur public-private cooperation and expand production capacity. The Pentagon will use an additional $200 million to support enhancements in biosecurity and cybersecurity.
As part of the plan, the Agriculture Department will give a $500 million grant to stimulate fertilizer production to supply American farmers.
The Energy Department will spend $60 million to "de-risk the scale up of biotechnology and biomanufacturing that will lead to commercialization of biorefineries" to produce renewable chemicals.
"We are at a transformational moment for the bio-economy," National Economic Council Director Brian Deese told the summit.
"We see this intersection between innovation, biotechnology and the economic opportunity and the economic challenges we face as the country."
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm also attended the summit.
