Shareholders' Equity - Components of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Mar. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) [Line Items]
Precigen shareholders' equity	$ 87,229	$ 71,711
Unrealized gain on investments
Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) [Line Items]
Precigen shareholders' equity	579	7
Loss on foreign currency translation adjustments
Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) [Line Items]
Precigen shareholders' equity	(1,933)	(27,475)
Total accumulated other comprehensive loss
Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) [Line Items]
Precigen shareholders' equity	$ (1,354)	$ (27,468)

Total of all stockholders' equity (deficit) items, net of receivables from officers, directors, owners, and affiliates of the entity which are attributable to the parent. The amount of the economic entity's stockholders' equity attributable to the parent excludes the amount of stockholders' equity which is allocable to that ownership interest in subsidiary equity which is not attributable to the parent (noncontrolling interest, minority interest). This excludes temporary equity and is sometimes called permanent equity.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 310
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 2
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Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
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Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
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Reference 4: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
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-Section S99
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-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

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