Biomanufacturing and National Security: Building Resilient Supply Chains

Biomanufacturing is rapidly expanding beyond traditional applications in food and medicine, with emerging technologies offering new possibilities for national security, military logistics, and supply chain resilience.In this episode of Emerging Tech Horizons, host Sam Moyer, Research Fellow at the Emerging Technologies Institute, speaks with Maille O’Donnell, Policy Lead for Public Investment and Industry at the Good Food Institute, about the growing role of biomanufacturing in the defense industrial base. Drawing from a report they coauthored, they explore how fermentation, bioreactors, and other biomanufacturing technologies could help produce food and other products in more flexible and resource-constrained environments.Topics include:- The fundamentals and evolution of biomanufacturing- How food biomanufacturing could support contested logistics- Producing protein using fermentation and alternative feedstocks- Military and humanitarian applications of small-scale bioreactors- Biomanufacturing’s potential to strengthen supply chain resilience- The global competition surrounding biotechnology and manufacturing- Challenges in financing and scaling biomanufacturing facilities- How public investment, procurement, and demand signals could help move technologies from development to deployment- Opportunities for industry to engage with the defense communityLearn More & ResourcesRead the research brief that informed this discussion:https://www.emergingtechnologiesinstitute.org/-/media/ndia-eti/reports/food-biomanufacturing/eti_foodbiomanufacturing_report_final.pdf?download=1Read the related article in National Defense Magazine:https://digital.nationaldefensemagazine.org/september-2026/page-38For more information about this topic, contact Molly O’Donnell at mailleo@gfi.org.Learn more about the Emerging Technologies Institute:https://www.ndiaeti.orgFollow ETI:LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/4htROo8Twitter: https://bit.ly/48LHAx3Facebook: https://bit.ly/47vlht8#Biomanufacturing #Biotechnology #EmergingTechnology #NationalSecurity #DefenseIndustrialBase #SupplyChainResilience #ContestedLogistics #FoodSecurity