Both New Zealand and the UK are highly active in life sciences research, built up in the agricultural and environmental biology fields. Nottingham and Reading’s agricultural backgrounds make them potential collaborators with New Zealand, especially in animal science. The Norwich Research Park is home to the largest concentration of scientists in plant, food and microbial science in Europe. Research Institutes at the park include the John Innes Centre, the Sainsbury Laboratory, the Institute of Food Research, Unilever at Colworth Park and the University of East Anglia.

Liverpool is setting up gene sequencing, and is applying risk assessment to biological control.

Newcastle’s Institute of Marine Biology might be able to build links with NZ. Oban in Scotland is working on marine fermentation and could link with NZ.

Food-FRENZ has several links with Newcastle. Documents for Framework 7 of the European Commission's science funding programme mention New Zealand illustratively when referring to Ag/Food/Bio and Nanotechnology. There might be an opportunity to link with New Zealand on land use and agricultural questions.

The Bioscience for Business Knowledge Transfer Network operates in the areas of industrial biotechnology, plant and crop technologies as well as marine and aquatic biosciences. Bioscience for Business’s priority areas include sustainable and renewable technologies delivered through biorefining and also diet, health & wellness. The Bioprocess for Business KTN is facilitating processes for biodiesel, especially from marine and other algae.

Nottingham’s Agriculture School has established a link with Dexcel on robotic milking and milk sensors. The school’s plant sciences group is working with fruit. Nottingham has excellent plant science GM programmes – eg oil palm in Malaysia. Nottingham is also working on patented non-rhizobial N-fixation in grasses.

Unilever’s Colworth Science Park near Bedford specialises in diet, health and wellness. The Centre for Process Innovation in Wilton, Teeside could link with IRL. Massey’s Polybatics is working to cement a relationship on nanoparticles with a UK firm. The same nanoparticles could also be used as substrates to carry vaccines.

In New Zealand, ZyGEM Corporation, a spin-off from Auckland and Waikato universities, is a bio-reagents company developing enzymatic tools, for DNA extraction. The ZyGEM DNA extraction reagent has enabled a breakthrough change and significant benefits to the world's DNA extraction market.