BioLinX - Providing Links to Commercialize your Innovative Ideas

‘Providing links to speed-up innovation in the bioeconomy’ is not only the full title of the BioLinX project, but also its primary goal. Migration towards a more biobased economy offers important opportunities for Europe, both in terms of ecology and in terms of economy.  BioLinx project coordinator, Dennis van der Pas of the regional development authority REWIN in the Netherlands, explains.

“The European Commission has successfully supported bioeconomy related projects during FP7 and will continue to do so under Horizon 2020. However, a range of hurdles, as identified within FP7 projects like the SusChem supported Bio-TIC and R4R projects, slow down the pace of innovation and market exploitation of research results in the bioeconomy. These hurdles are strongly intertwined and mitigating them requires joint efforts by multiple actors. Actors from within and outside of the value chain (such as regions, governments, advocacy parties, and financial parties) should be involved to bring innovation to the market.”

Van der Pas continues: “BioLinX contributes towards bringing research and innovation to the market in the bioeconomy by providing a variety of services aimed at overcoming the hurdles. The initiating BioLinX partners all have leading roles in their regional bioeconomies and have a strong foothold in the lignocellulose, agro- and agro-waste feedstock sectors. Incidentally: bioeconomy as per its proper definition does not limit itself to just industrial biotechnology, but also comprises sustainable chemistry and green chemical technologies; sectors of the SusChem community.”

“BioLinX has already engaged with and supported over sixty EU co-funded biobased projects from all stages of the value chain. Furthermore, BioLinX has created links with 10 key regional Bioeconomy clusters in Europe. The relevant partners of the selected projects and regions are invited to participate in the BioLinX Innovation Linking and Support Programme. This programme consist of activities focusing on Brokerage, Innovation Incubation, Business Development, Finance and Funding and identifies and shares good practices.“

BioLinX services in a nutshell

BioLinx is for projects and/or companies who:

• Are looking for private financing - BioLinX offers assistance to find (private) financing. We can parties to get investment-ready and can provide advice, training and access to private financing.
• Are looking for public funding - Next to private finance, BioLinX assists in finding (public) funding resources as well. We help parties in (amongst others) finding grants, formation of project consortia and stakeholder analysis.
• Are looking for value chain partners - BioLinX offers a well-established network capable of finding new value chain partners or new parties. The home base of the BioLinX project is formed by three well advanced regions/countries (Sweden, South-Netherlands / Biobased Delta, Northern Italy). BioLinX will expand its network to other regions as well (e.g. Germany, Scotland, Ireland, South Italy, Finland,). 
• Are looking for introductions to networks or (test) facilities etc - Because of its extensive network and the capabilities of the various BioLinX partners we can provide projects/companies with easy access to multiple lab and pilot facilities and regional stakeholders in different regions.
• Are looking for bioconomy patents, literature and more - The BioLinX Intelligence Platform offers easy access to literature, patents and project information. The intelligence database facilitates filtering and access to relevant scientific articles (18 million articles), patents (European patent database), European projects and funding opportunities.
• Have no time and budget to travel but have a need for visibility - BioLinX offers a Partnering platform alongside its Intelligence platform. BioLinX recognizes that time and budget constraints are sometimes limiting factors to have ‘face-to-face’ meetings or discussions. Therefore BioLinX organizes online partnering events where parties can find, contact and meet potential cooperation partners in a secured online meeting room. 

These BioLinX initiatives are complemented with activities regarding advocacy, communication and dissemination.

Van der Pas concludes: Anyone who is interested in what BioLinX  has to offer is invited to join the BioLinX community. You can register at the BioLinX website. Or alternatively get in touch with me directly - also via our website.”