The DigInBio project “Digitalisierung in der Industriellen Biotechnologie” (Digitalisation in Industrial Biotechnology) was carried out by the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) and the Leibniz University Hannover from 1 January 2018 to 31 May 2023 under the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) grant 031B0463B. The aim was to demonstrate that bioprocesses can be designed, optimised and scaled using today’s digital technologies, thereby bridging the gap between the highly automated chemical industry and the comparatively low‑digitised biotechnology sector. The project was organised into three demonstration laboratories: digital phenotyping at Jülich, digital bioprocess development at TUM, and lab‑assistance and digital data processing at Hannover. Together they cover the entire chain from strain development and characterisation, through fermentation, to product isolation.
At TUM the core of the digital bioprocess development laboratory is a bioreactor block comprising 48 parallel 10‑mL stirred‑tank reactors, each equipped with individual pH and dissolved oxygen sensors. A pipetting robot automates the operation of the entire block, while a microtiter‑plate photofluorimeter performs at‑line analytics. In parallel, a small 1‑L stirred‑tank system with four reactors and gas‑analysis capability provides a scale‑up platform. All devices are integrated through the open SiLA 2 communication protocol, which the consortium adopted as a standard for laboratory automation. The TUM team also developed a SiLA 2 manager that allows rapid device integration and workflow automation, and published the software in the open‑access journal SoftwareX (2022). Gateway modules based on Beaglebone Green and Raspberry Pi micro‑computers were used to interface legacy equipment that could not be directly controlled by SiLA 2. A driver for the pipetting robot was written to accept real‑time commands from a central server, enabling event‑driven operation. An Internet‑of‑Things (IoT) lab‑control system was created to simplify the integration of all SiLA 2 devices and to orchestrate experiments. The laboratory’s data management follows FAIR principles and is linked to a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) that serves as an exchange node with the partner laboratories.
The project also delivered several scientific milestones. Automated expression optimisation was implemented in the feed‑forward process, and automated evaluation of process stability was realised through continuous monitoring of key parameters. Adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) was demonstrated as a proof‑of‑concept for automated, iterative strain improvement. A case study on the interaction between the three demonstration laboratories highlighted the benefits of a unified digital platform. Outreach activities communicated the results to industry stakeholders, showing that next‑generation bioprocesses can be developed with existing technology.
The project experienced delays due to administrative constraints that postponed the start of new staff until 1 June 2018, and a personnel change in 2019 that added an additional 3.5‑month lag. Despite these setbacks, the consortium achieved its objectives within the five‑year timeframe. The collaboration combined expertise in bioprocess engineering (TUM), synthetic biology and phenotyping (FZJ) and chemical engineering with digital data handling (Leibniz University Hannover). The outcome is a fully functional, digitally integrated demonstration laboratory that can serve as a template for future industrial bioprocess development and a foundation for further research into modular, flexible biotechnological production systems.