Alpenglow Group Limited, trading as the Centre for Long-Term Resilience
CLTR
CLTR is an independent think tank with a mission to transform global resilience to extreme risks.
ID: 954886793726-60
Lobbying Activity
Response to Biotech Act
11 Jun 2025
The Centre for Long-Term Resilience welcomes the European Commission's initiative to develop a comprehensive European Biotech Act. We are an independent, non-profit think tank with a mission to transform global resilience to extreme risks, drawing on expertise in artificial intelligence, biosecurity, and risk management policy. Our Centres Biosecurity Policy Unit advises governments, industry and other institutions on building resilience against high-impact biological threats. We recognise both the critical role biotechnology plays in mitigating the catastrophic impact of biological events and the potential risks that emerging technological developments may pose. We support the overall objective of the Biotech Act to improve the size and competitiveness of the European biotechnology sector while maintaining high safety standards. The European Biotech Act presents a critical opportunity to promote innovation while establishing governance frameworks that maximise benefits whilst minimising risks through proactive, evidence-based policy interventions. Our attached submission draws upon our extensive work in biosecurity policy in the United Kingdom and internationally, including on the capabilities of AI-enabled biological tools, supply chain resilience for medical countermeasures, national security in the bioeconomy, and the governance of synthetic nucleic acids. We approach the European Biotech Act from the perspective that Europe's biotechnology sector must be simultaneously innovative, competitive, and secure to serve European citizens effectively. This submission presents recommendations to ensure that Europe's biotechnology sector achieves competitive excellence whilst maintaining robust security and safety standards. Our key recommendations emphasise that security and innovation are complementary objectives. Proactive risk management, comprehensive safeguards, and the development of defensive technology will strengthen European biotechnology capabilities while reducing vulnerabilities to misuse or foreign dependencies.
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