New report on industrial biotechnology technicians

A new Gatsby-commissioned report from Dr Paul Lewis (Department of Political Economy, King’s College London) analyses the roles, skills, and training of industrial biotechnology technicians in the UK.

The report is based on empirical evidence gathered through interviews with representatives of sector-level organisations and case studies of employers.

The analysis identifies three industrial biotechnology (IB) technician roles (laboratory/quality control; maintenance; and manufacturing/production technicians) before outlining the prevalence of these roles across different types of IB organisations; the duties of these types of technicians; and the skill level of and qualifications held by individuals in these positions. The report also explores the sources of the current technician workforce and describes the process of recruiting and training apprentices for these technician roles.

This report is the latest in a series that Dr Lewis has completed on technician roles, skills, and training across a range of different UK industries (including aerospace; chemical; composites manufacturing; and space) as well as university laboratory and engineering workshop technicians. His previous reports can be accessed here, and the latest report can be downloaded here.