EFIB2014 hosts BIO-TIC Building Block Workshop

The Seventh European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology (IB) and the Biobased Economy (EFIB2014) takes place in Reims, France from 30 September to 2 October and will be one of the events of the year on the exciting and rapidly developing European sustainable biobased economy scene. And SusChem FP7 project BIO-TIC will be contributing with a special workshop on biobased chemical building blocks.

The agenda for EFIB2014 is now confirmed with over 15 countries represented on the conference programme and plenary highlights including debate on the policy agenda for the European bioeconomy, sessions on future feedstocks including what the shale gas boom might mean for Europe's transition to a biobased economy, and opportunities to help define the value chain for a selection of biobased materials. A closing panel session will define opportunities for improving the sustainability profile of industrial production.

EFIB2014 takes place in association with IAR, EuropaBio and Smithers Rapra and will build on the success of EFIB2013.

Chemical Building Blocks
BIO-TIC’s workshop will debate what we need to do to build the foundations for the biobased chemicals industry in Europe. In 2013, the demand for biobased chemical building blocks in the EU was estimated at € 1 billion. By 2030 this is estimated to grow to between € 4.8 and 10.4 billion.

Despite the significant societal, environmental and economic advantages associated with using biobased chemical building blocks, many hurdles exist to their full implementation. These hurdles must be addressed to realise the full market potential for biobased chemical building blocks in the EU and include:

• Securing a large enough supply of feedstock and at a price which is economically attractive compared to elsewhere in the world.
• Uncertain definitions, for example for waste, hinder the exploitation of novel and cheap waste streams.
• Lack of political support for chemical building blocks production, resulting in a lack of confidence from investors and users.
• Uncertainty surrounding the potential impact of the increasing appetite for shale gas.

The BIO-TIC workshop takes place on the afternoon of 1 October at EFIB2014 and will verify that the hurdles already identified within the project are relevant and will develop concrete and actionable solutions to overcome them. The project focuses on the following chemical building blocks: 3HPA, succinic acid, PDO, furfural, and isoprene as the chemical building blocks that have the highest potential for deployment in the EU.

The workshop will seek to answer the key questions surrounding the production and use of chemical building blocks in Europe, including:

• Should the EU focus on a broad chemical building block portfolio or should it reap the benefits from its strong R&D base and the current developments in favour of shale gas to develop a competitive advantage in biomass derived aromatics and C3/C4 chemicals?
• Should the EU focus on improving existing technologies, fine and speciality chemicals where quality is crucial or focus on developing completely new technologies? 
• Is it feasible or desirable to develop an internationally harmonised framework to allow international trade in biobased chemical building blocks?
• How do we improve the cost-competitiveness of EU chemical building blocks production?
• Should we introduce a specific mandate for bio-based chemicals in the EU or would tax incentives or infrastructure grants be more effective?

For more information on EFIB2014, including how to register, visit the conference website.

What is BIO-TIC?
BIO-TIC is a three year project, funded by the European Commission, which aims to identify the hurdles to IB and to develop solutions to overcome them, thereby unlocking the massive potential for this key technology in Europe. The project focuses on five product groups which have significant potential for Europe and which have the potential to introduce cross-cutting technology ideas. These product groups are:

• Biobased chemical building blocks 
• Bioplastics (PHA and PLA)
• Biosurfactants
• Advanced biofuels
• CO2 based chemicals

Based on these business cases, the project is developing three in-depth “bio-roadmaps”. These will focus on the market potential, R&D priorities and non-technological hurdles of IB innovation. In particular, the market roadmap will provide market projections up to 2030. The technology roadmap will focus on setting R&D priorities and identifying needs for pilot and demonstration of plant activities. Last but not least, the non-technological barriers roadmap will identify regulatory and non-technological hurdles that may inhibit industrial biotech innovation reaching new market opportunities. The second draft versions of the roadmaps are already online while the final version will be released in July 2015.

All the BIO-TIC roadmaps, can be downloaded from the BIO-TIC Partnering Platform and for more information about the BIO-TIC FP7 project website.

Watch EFIB 2013 Highlights!

The European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology 2013 (EFIB 2013) took place from 30 September to 2 October in Brussels. This sixth edition of EFIB, organised by SusChem founding partner EuropaBio, was by far the biggest yet and underlined the remarkable expansion of interest in industrial biotechnology across Europe and globally in recent years.

EFIB 2013 took place in The Square conference facility in central Brussels and was one of the highlights of the first ever European Biotech week. Over 700 delegates attended and an extensive biotech market place saw more than 45 exhibitors and 20 technology showcase presentations. And, of course, two whole days of conference sessions.

EuropaBio has produced a video highlights of the EFIB2013 conference. Enjoy!

EFIB 2014

Why not join this important EU bioeconomy event next year? EFIB2014 will be held in Reims, France. To get an insight into this exciting and rapidly evolving landscape and be part of the process of building a stronger more sustainable biobased economy be in Reims, Champagne-Ardenne France from 7 to 9 October 2014.

BioBased Industries Initiative at EFIB 2013

The European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology 2013 (EFIB 2013) took place last week from 30 September to 2 October in Brussels and the SusChem inspired Bioeconomy PPP was centre stage. This sixth edition of EFIB, organised by SusChem founding partner EuropaBio, was by far the biggest yet and underlined the remarkable expansion of interest in industrial biotechnology across Europe and globally in recent years.

EFIB 2013 took place in The Square conference facility in central Brussels and was one of the highlights of European Biotech week. Over 600 delegates attended and an extensive biotech market place saw more than 45 exhibitors and 20 technology showcase presentations. And, of course, two whole days of conference sessions.

Biobased Initiative
The BioBased Industries Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) is seen as a major opportunity for European biobased industries and an essential element to achieve a sustainable chemical sector. The initiative is one of the new JTIs that will be established under Horizon 2020 and was explicitly mentioned in the Communication on the Industrial Innovation Package published in July.

The Biobased Industries JTI, previously known as the BRIDGE 2020 public-private-partnership (PPP) proposal, has the primary aim of developing new and competitive biobased value chains that can replace the need for fossil fuels and also have a strong impact on rural development in Europe.

A dedicated session on the BioBased Industries JTI at EFIB 2013 was chaired and introduced by Marcel Wubbolts of DSM and a SusChem board member (on left of photo below). He described a biobased market that could be as large €200 billion by 2020 with the potential to create one million new jobs in Europe on the same timescale.

The role of the JTI is to demonstrate the production of innovative and sustainable biobased chemicals and materials that would be made using locally sourced biomass. The JTI will examine five value chains with each using a flagship project to provide validation at at least demonstration level.

The Biobased Industries Consortium (BIC) is the body that will be tasked with establishing the JTI once the formal go-ahead is given by the European Commission. Membership of the BIC is growing with 48 full members (mostly industrial), 57 associate members (including research and technology organisations and universities), 8 EU trade or sector associations and 3 European Technology Platform members including SusChem.

Wubbolts explained that the BioBased Industries JTI was currently presenting its strategic innovation roadmap to Member States and preparing initial research and innovation calls. If all goes to plan, the JTI will formally start in 2014 with the first calls out in mid 2014 and initial projects commencing in Q3/ Q4 2014.

Perspectives
Barend Verachtert, acting Head of the Biotechnologies Unit at the European Commission’s DG Research and Innovation (in centre of photo) gave the Commission’s perspective on the Biobased Industries JTI declaring that: “Worldwide the bioeconomy race is on!”

But while third country investments had largely focused on food the EU focus was on integrated biorefineries – one of SusChem’s original visionary projects from 2004. The target was to produce at least 30% of EU chemicals from renewable sources by 2030, compared to around 10% today, Verachtert stated.

He also emphasised the strong regional potential for biobased industries and this raised a significant challenge to organise at both EU and national / regional level.


The BioBased Industries JTI was needed as a catalyser to create new value chains involving cross-sectorial collaborations between previously unrelated sectors. Verachtert highlighted the need for large-scale demonstration facilities and activities to help market uptake of biobased innovations and the notion of establishing a circular economy where waste (for example from agriculture) was transformed into value (such as chemical products).

He also was hopeful of final decisions on the JTI before end of 2013. Horizon 2020 should be officially adopted 10 December and this will allow the BioBased Industries JTI to start for real on 1 January 2014.

The view of a Member State was given by Jose Manuel Gonzalez of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (on right in photo). He indicated that the JTI was extremely well aligned with Spanish national biorefinery objectives: a sector with huge industrial potential.

In a question and answer session Marcel Wubbolts reiterated that the Consortium was looking for the JTI to be realised as soon as possible. But at the same time there was a need to manage the portfolio of proposed projects to ensure synergy and maximum impact.

BIC information
For more information on the BioBased Industries JTI visit the website or contact the BioBased Industries Consortium secretariat.

EFIB 2013 – Get your Brochure now!

The European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology and the Biobased Economy 2013 (EFIB2013) takes place in Brussels from 30 September to 2 October at the Square conference facility. A full brochure for the event is now available – get your copy now!

With over 1,000 biotechnology professionals expected to attend, a growing exhibition hall with 50 exhibitors, over 14 hours of one-to-one networking available and a brand new Technology Showcase Theatre the EFIB has clearly continued to evolve for 2013.

"EFIB is the most important event on the calendar for the biobased economy," says Ian Hudson, President of DuPont EMEA and a member of the executive committee of Cefic and a board member at EuropaBio – joint organisers of the event with Smithers Rapra.

Diverse agenda
The new brochure shows the wide range of activities on offer at EFIB 2013 including:

• Choose the conference agenda to suit your interests with 8 dedicated conference sessions focused on policy, finance, innovation and including a dedicated session on BRIDGE: the SusChem supported  proposal for a €3.8 billion Public Private Partnership (PPP) for the biobased industries
• Be the first to witness the latest innovation and product development at the ‘new for 2013’ Technology Showcase in the Exhibition Hall
• Take part in CEO Question Time and put your questions to the ‘movers and shakers’ in strategic positions to move the industry forward
• Visit over 50 exhibitors and see for yourself first-hand what the European and wider industrial biotechnology industry has to offer
• Take advantage of the one-to-one Partnering at EFIB2013 to make efficient use of your networking time, during over 14 hours of active partnering sessions

Get the brochure
Find out more about EFIB2013 in the brand new event brochure including the full programme, workshop agendas, exhibition floor plan, Technology Showcase Theatre agenda, one-to-one Partnering, prices, event highlights and travel information.

EFIB evolves for 2013

Now in its sixth year the European Forum for Industrial Biotech (EFIB) has transformed into the premier marketplace for the European biobased economy. Responding to the tremendous success of EFIB 2012 organisers EuropaBio and Smithers Rapra are aiming to deliver the biggest and most ambitious congress in the sector in 2013. And the full event programme published today (30 April) shows that their ambitions are on course for fulfillment.

EFIB 2013 will be held in the prestigious SQUARE conference venue in Brussels on 30 September to 2 October. This year’s event marks the transformation of EFIB from a large conference to a full scale congress. The event will attract over 1,000 professionals working within the dynamic and sustainable biobased industry to meet, debate and shape the future of the sector. EFIB 2013 will build on its growing reputation as the place where business and policy makers meet with an exciting new format.

In this its sixth year, EFIB is expanding its programme to consist of two high-level plenary sessions including senior ministers and commissioners; CEO’s from global biotechnology leaders participating in Question Time; two focused workshops and roundtable discussions. Attendees can customise their experience with themed conference tracks on Innovation, Feedstocks and Finance.

Pre-confernce workshops on 30 September will cover the 'Wood-based bioeconomy' and 'Marine Biotechnology'. A particular highlight on the second day is a session dedicated to the SusChem supported BRIDGE 2020 Public -Private-Partnership proposal.

In addition an exhibition hall with over 50 stands, and featuring a Technology Showcase running over two days, will be visited by delegates from around the globe.

Collaboration and partnership
“Collaboration and partnerships are essential catalysts for enabling biobased industries to deliver on their potential for providing sustainable solutions. EFIB has become the definitive meeting place for establishing and strengthening these links throughout the value chain,” explained Joanna Dupont-Inglis, Industrial Biotechnology Director at Europabio. “The return of EFIB to Brussels represents an excellent opportunity to increase engagement between industry, policy makers and stakeholders. Capturing the momentum generated by this innovative and transformative industry.”

Ciaran Little, Head of Events at Smithers Rapra commented “EFIB 2012 in Dusseldorf set records for both attendance and value to the industry, but the bar is raising with exciting plans to transform EFIB into a major congress.  We are confident we can add value for attendees and sponsors, heightening awareness and exposure for the developments in this dynamic sector.’

One delegate to EFIB 2012 in Dusseldorf described the event as “An excellent opportunity to be informed about the latest technical and business trends.” And EFIB promises to be even bigger and better.

EFIB 2013 will be held at the Square Conference Centre in Brussels

More information
EFIB debuted in Brussels in 2008 and featured an elite group of 100 industry leaders and has grown in every successive year. To be part of EFIB 2013 visit the website and find out more. The full programme for EFIB 2013 is here and registration details can be found here.