It doesn’t yet have the name that other similar (biotech) companies have. But it has the charm. Ginkgo is considered a “rising star”, since it bills itself as the organism company. Not coincidentally. Its engineers create entirely new organisms, previously non-existent on the planet, through synthetic biology (more in cyborg #20).
Ginkgo Bioworks was founded in 2009 by a group of MIT engineers with the purpose of designing, developing, constructing, controlling, and patenting organisms. This last part is quite easy since they are “new forms of life” – how can they circulate freely? The company proudly claims that it programs cells to do everything, from food and various materials to drugs. Ginkgo’s range of genetic designs includes everything from plants to bacteria – and the potential is unlimited.
The fact that it is also funded by the “investment capital” Cascade will not make an impression, since who knows what that is? It is entirely symptomatic that it is a company owned by Bill Gates, which among other things buys huge tracts of land in the US (and not only). The fact that Ginkgo collaborates with Google, the CIA, DARPA and other philanthropic organizations is also understandable…