Innovation across Regions: Shaping Solutions for Resource Efficiency in Europe

To mark the end of the successful three-year SusChem-inspired FP7 project Chemical Regions for Resource Efficiency (R4R), the project team will be presenting its final findings and recommendations on 30 September in Nice, France. The R4R closing event will be part of the major ECCE10 + ECAB3 + EPIC5 conference.

The combined 10th European Congress of Chemical Engineering, 3rd European Congress of Applied Biotechnology and 5th European Process Intensification Conference is the perfect venue to present the R4R findings.

The R4R workshop will gather policymakers, regional experts, captains of industry and academia to hear the key learnings from the project and provides an excellent discussion forum to exchange and discuss ideas on how chemical and related industries along their various chemical value chains can be transformed into eco-efficient, high-technology solution providers – and a key enabling element of the circular economy.

At the R4R workshop you can:

• Learn about the role of regions in promoting resource efficiency
• Discuss with policy makers, industrial players, entrepreneurs and academia during our networking breaks
• Engage in discussions during dedicated panel debates with mentors from R4R's four flagship initiatives to implement recommendations for a resource efficient Europe
• Hear about resource efficiency success stories with keynote speeches from representatives from R4R's six European regions
• Explore our exhibition space
• Shape future prospects for the R4R flagship initiatives including topics such as industrial symbiosis, education and bio-based SMEs.

A complete overview of the workshop will be available soon, but the draft agenda is available now.

Register now!
To register for the R4R workshop you need to register for the entire ECCE 10 + ECAB 3 + EPIC 5 conference that takes place from 26 September to 1 October. A special Early-Bird rate is offered for the first 150 persons who register at this link! The discount code is: ECCE-CEFIC1

The full ECCE 10 + ECAB 3 + EPIC 5 conference programme can be accessed here.

For more information, please contact Jacques Komornicki, Cefic Innovation Manager. We look forward to seeing you in September in Nice!

About R4R
Under the Chemical Regions for Resource Efficiency (R4R) project, launched in late 2012, six complementary European chemical regions came together to overcome fragmentation and create a platform for international collaboration on resource efficiency. A Joint Action Plan was developed comprising tools and best practise to improve the triple helix collaboration between the participating regions involving industry, academia and public sector.  Find out more at the R4R website.

BBI launches €200 million EU call for bioeconomy at Brussels Info Day

 Today (26 June) the second call for proposals for Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) were announced at their Info Day in Brussels and the results of the first call were confirmed with the signing of the first 10 grant agreements. 

Europe’s biobased economy received a major boost with the announcement of the new €200 million+ call for proposals on June 26 at the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) in Brussels. The latest call for proposals follows the July 2014 launch of the BBI JU, a €3.7 billion public-private partnership aimed at supporting the development of Europe’s emerging bioeconomy.

The 2015 call for proposals were formally announced at the Info Day - an information and awareness event gathering together research and innovation programme managers and experts from across Europe.

The 2015 call is aimed at attracting project proposals that can fill the technological gaps within specific value chains in the bioeconomy, or actions addressing the whole value chain from feedstock sourcing to the market applications. Demonstration actions should include building a demo-scale production facility in Europe, while flagship actions should support the first application in the market of a proven innovation that has not yet deployed. Details of the second call can be found here.

The packed Info Day meeting (above) at the European Commission’s Borschette Centre in Brussels was opened by BBI JU’s Interim Executive Director, Barend Verachtert. He hailed the new call for proposals as a landmark for Europe in its progress towards a fully sustainable bioeconomy. “Today is an important day for the BBI JU,” said Verachtert. “It shows that we are on the way to building a strong bioeconomy in Europe.”

Bioeconomy, circular economy
The new call comes just two weeks after G7 leaders meeting in Germany agreed to end all fossil fuel use by the end of the century and the day after a major conference meeting in Brussels highlighted the role of sustainable chemistry and biotechnology in achieving the aims of the circular economy.

Verachtert said that the new call reflects Europe’s clear commitment to develop cleaner ways to exploit its natural resources. “The bio-based industrial sector will significantly reduce Europe’s dependency on fossil-based products, help the European Union meet climate change targets, and lead to greener and more environmentally-friendly growth,” he said.

Moreover, Verachtert pointed out the social and economic effects of the BBI JU proposals, in particular their focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). “These proposals can go a long way to help SMEs produce the innovative bio-based products needed to lift Europe’s sustainable economy,” he said. “With the bioeconomy now at the heart of the EU’s investment agenda, the proposals underline a joint will to build new value chains between sectors like agro-food, chemicals and energy,” he added.

Following presentations on the BBI and the European biobased industries and Horizon 2020 and a full briefing on all aspects of the 2nd call in the morning, the afternoon of the Info Day was devoted to networking and the initial steps towards consortium building and proposal preparation.

New BBI JU projects
The second round announcement comes days after the BBI JU signed its first 10 grant agreements. The BBI JU 2014 call for proposals included support for the development of biorefining technologies to sustainably transform renewable natural resources into biobased products, materials and fuels.
The call resulted in the submission of 38 proposals, of which 10 received grants. The total BBI JU contribution for these 10 projects is almost €50 million with an additional industry contribution of over € 70 million.

Seven of the projects are Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs) aimed at replacing fossil-based materials with biobased materials. The seven projects are:

• US4GREENCHEM - the pre-treatment of lignocellulosic or plant dry matter feedstock
• PROVIDES - new sustainable pulping technologies
• SmartLi and Greenlight - fibres and polymers from lignin
• CARBOSURF - fermentation processes to produce biosurfactants and specialty carbohydrates
• PROMINENT - extracting protein products from plant residues
• NewFert - nutrient recovery from waste streams and residues

A further three grants are for demonstration and flagship projects aimed at testing technologies. The projects are:

• PULP2VALUE - (DEMO) a biorefinery system for sugar beet pulp and products for detergents, personal care, oil and gas, paints and composites
• ValChem -  (DEMO) techno-economic viability tests on the production of chemicals from wood
• FIRST2RUN - (FLAGSHIP) exploiting underutilised oil crops to extract vegetable oils

The links will take you to the project's CORDIS Horizon 2020 project webpage if it exists. A Commission background paper on the projects is available here.

About the BBI JU
The BBI JU is a public-private partnership (PPP), part of the EU’s plan to move its economy to a post-petroleum era. It is expected to help make the EU’s economy more resource-efficient and sustainable, while supporting growth and employment. €3.7 billion will fund the BBI JU between 2014 and 2024, with €975 million coming from the European Commission and €2.7 billion from its private partner, the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC).

The EU’s bioeconomy currently has an annual turnover of around €2 trillion and employs more than 22 million people.

BIO-TIC’s 10 Recommendations to enable € 50 billion EU Bioeconomy

Today (23 June), the BIO-TIC project has launched its final roadmap report for tackling barriers to realising the full potential of industrial biotechnology in Europe. The report is entitled ‘The bioeconomy enabled - A roadmap to a thriving industrial biotechnology sector in Europe’ and was introduced at the project’s high level policy conference “From bugs to business: Unlocking the Bioeconomy in Europe” that took at the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts in Brussels. The conference brought together industry, academia, policy makers, innovation agencies and other bioeconomy stakeholders to discuss the actions needed to stimulate the development of industrial biotechnology in Europe. 

The BIO-TIC report highlights that the EU market for industrial biotechnology-derived products is expected to increase from € 28 billion in 2013 to € 50 billion in 2030. This growth will be largely driven by replacement of fossil carbon materials, reflecting Europe’s desire to develop more sustainable and resource-efficient products and processes.

However, in spite of this market growth, significant hurdles remain and hamper the full development of industrial biotechnology in Europe. For example, the principal barrier to fully exploiting industrial biotechnology opportunities in Europe relates to product cost-competitiveness, both compared to fossil alternatives and to equivalent products sourced from elsewhere in the world.

Recommendations
To tackle this and other hurdles, and to ensure that most of this potential is realised in Europe, the BIO-TIC roadmap outlines ten pragmatic recommendations for action. Presenting the main findings of the report Antoine Peeters of EuropaBio (below) said that: "The projected market of up to € 50 billion meant that there were many opportunities for competitive European positions - it was now up to you [the European bioeconomy stakeholders] to make it happen!"

The ten main recommendations in the report are to:

• Improve opportunities for feedstock producers within the bioeconomy; 
• Investigate the scope for using novel biomass; 
• Develop a workforce which can maintain Europe’s competitiveness in industrial biotechnology; 
• Introduce a long-term, stable and transparent policy and incentive framework to promote the bioeconomy; 
• Improve public perception and awareness of industrial biotechnology and biobased products; 
• Identify, leverage and build upon EU capabilities for pilot and demonstration facilities; 
• Promote the use of co-products; 
• Improve the bioconversion and downstream processing steps; 
• Improve access to financing for large scale biorefinery projects; 
• Develop stronger relationships between conventional and non-conventional players in the value chain. 

Nathalie Moll, Secretary General of EuropaBio, which coordinated the project, said: “We are thrilled to see BIO-TIC come to fruition. The roadmap represents a comprehensive summary of expertise and insight from across the Member States. In 10 recommendations, it highlights ways of capturing the huge potential for environmental, societal and economic solutions that this cutting-edge technology offers in the development of a more competitive, circular EU bioeconomy.”

The roadmap
‘The Bioeconomy Enabled: A Roadmap to a Thriving Industrial Biotechnology Sector in Europe’ roadmap is a key deliverable of the EU funded BIO-TIC project. The results are based on an extensive literature review, complemented with over 80 expert interviews and 13 stakeholder workshops organised across Europe in 2013 and 2014. It is based on three detailed reports covering market potential, research and development and regulatory/policy issues, available separately as appendices to the main document. All BIO-TIC roadmaps can be downloaded from the BIO-TIC web portal.

The ‘From bugs to business: Unlocking the Bioeconomy in Europe’ conference was chaired by Professor Patricia Osseweijer of TU Delft and featured keynote speeches by BioAmber, Biobased Delta, Energochemica and Ecover to illustrate the issues and potential of industrial biotechnology in Europe.

Panel debates covered project financing for industrial biotechnology projects and issues around biomass availability. The conference concluded with contributions from MEP Lambert van Nistelrooij and Waldemar Kütt, ‎Head of Unit for BioBased products and Processes at DG Research and Innovation, giving their views from Parliament and the Commission respectively on industrial biotechnology.

Lambert van Nistelrooij highlighted the need to “introduce a long-term, stable and transparent policy and incentive framework to promote the bioeconomy” while Waldemar Kütt said that: “Industrial biotechnology can make a change to enable a future bioeconomy and a future circular economy. BIO-TIC’s ten recommendations will be very valuable making progress in this area.”

The event included an exhibition of industrial biotechnology-related tools (including 3D printing machines) and a range of biobased products (above). Conference delegates were also invited to visit the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant on the morning of 24 June.

About BIO-TIC
The Industrial Biotech Research and Innovation Platforms Centre towards Technological Innovation and Solid Foundations for a Growing Industrial Biotech Sector in Europe (BIO-TIC) project was launched in September 2012 with the vision to establish an overview of the hurdles to biotech innovation and find solutions to accelerate the uptake of industrial biotechnology in Europe. BIO-TIC was a three-year project funded by the FP7 Programme of the European Commission and is operated by 12 partners. These are EuropaBio, Cefic, PNO Consultants, TNO, Dechema, nova Institut, Clever Consult, KTN, IAR, Poyry Management Consulting Oy, Ciaotech and PNO Innovation. The consortium is led by EuropaBio.

More information
For more information, contact Claire Gray Project Co-ordinator for BIO-TIC at EuropaBio or visit the BIO-TIC website.

Bio Base Europe celebrates 5 years as a Bioeconomy Pioneer!

On Tuesday 16 June the SusChem-inspired Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant will celebrate five years of operation in Ghent, Belgium. And it will also start to prepare for the next stage in its evolution with a ceremony to inaugurate new 15 000 Litre bioreactors tanks.

The Bio Base Europe celebration will start at 14:00 on Tuesday 16 June at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in Ghent. For more information on the celebration visit the dedicated website.

Over 350 bioeconomy professionals already decided to join the celebration. The event is free but prior registration is mandatory and the registration deadline in 9 June. Don’t miss the bioeconomy networking event of the year!

Bio Base Europe
Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant is a pilot plant for biobased products and processes. The construction of the plant started in 2008 and by the end of 2010, the first projects were running. In those five years Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant became a European frontrunner with regard to the development of the biobased economy in Europe.

Bio Base Europe is a flexible and diversified pilot plant for developing, scaling-up and the trial production of biobased products and processes. Its aim is to bridge the gap between scientific development and the industrial production of new, innovative, biobased products. It provides the scaling-up step needed to continue the development of innovations that appear to be promising at laboratory scale up to industrial scale. The Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant helps companies from across the globe to scale-up their biobased processes and to industrialise them. The Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant is an independent, open, innovation centre for the biobased economy.

Biofuel from barley
The pilot plant recently hit the headlines when it helped partner Celtic Renewables to produce the first biofuel derived from waste products from Scotch Whisky production.

The biobutanol biofuel is produced from draff - kernels of barley which are soaked in water to facilitate the fermentation process in whisky production - and pot ale, the yeasty liquid that is left over following distillation.

BBI – JU launches €100 million Call

The Bio-based Industries (BBI) Joint Undertaking (JU) PPP has just launched a €100 million Call for Proposals. This second call from the BBI JU is dedicated to Innovation Actions (aka ‘Flagship projects’) and focuses on lignocellulosic feedstock (BBI Value Chain 1), valorisation of cellulose (BBI Value Chain 2) and innovative processes for sugar recovery and conversion from Municipal Solid Waste (BBI Value Chain 4). See the BBI JU value chains below.

The Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking will be holding an Info Day session in Brussels on the morning of 26 June on this call followed by a networking and brokerage session in the afternoon. 

All three sub-calls will be subject to a single stage selection process and proposals must be submitted by the closing deadline of 15 September 2015. The call documentation estimates that proposals with total eligible budgets up to €35 million should allow the specified challenges to be addressed appropriately.

In addition any proposals should look to include industrial symbiosis and integration of actors along the whole value chain in their proposed projects and, wherever possible, make use of existing facilities.

The topics chosen in this call reflect elements of the section on 'A Sustainable and Inclusive Bioeconomy' in SusChem's recently published Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA). The three sub-calls are summarised below with links to their specific Horizon 2020 call page (click on the header).

From lignocellulosic feedstock to advanced biobased chemicals (BBI.VC1.F1)

Lignocellulosic biomass is one of the most abundant resources of fixed renewable carbon on earth present in woody crops, agricultural and forest and other process residues. While bio-based chemicals, materials and ethanol produced from food crops are already on the market production from lignocellulosic feedstock would open up large opportunities in terms of enhanced sustainability, avoiding land conflicts and expanding resource potential.

Research and innovation activities in this area are on-going, but the challenge lies in establishing at industrial scale a first-of-a-kind, cost-effective biorefinery concept leading to the conversion of lignocellulosic feedstock into biobased chemicals, materials and ethanol. Therefore the principal objective of this call is the demonstration of the techno-economic viability of transformation of one or multiple lignocellulosic feedstock into a bio-based product such as bioethanol (targeting a production capacity of at least 50 000 ton/year); and/or diols and/or diacids (targeting a production capacity of at least 5 000 ton/year). Proposals should address their further conversion into sustainable biomaterials within an integrated biorefinery concept applying a cascading approach.

Valorisation of cellulose into new added value products (BBI.VC2.F2)

Cellulose is a well-known and widely exploited material, but recent technological developments are opening up opportunities for its use in new and higher added value applications. This enhances competitiveness and also significantly improves environmental performance. As for lignocellulosic feedstock, while demonstration activities are being pursued, the challenge in this call lies in demonstrating at industrial scale first-of-a-kind cost-effective biorefinery concepts leading to the production of economically competitive cellulose-based products for bulk materials and volume applications.

Proposals should aim to demonstrate the techno-economic viability of biorefinery concepts leading to new cellulose-based products with tailored functionalities for either microfibrillar cellulose (MFC) based additives (at a scale of at least 1 000 ton/year) or lightweight structural composites based on (bio-based and/or conventional) polymers reinforced with cellulose pulp fibres (demonstrated at 25 000 ton/year of composite materials).

Innovative processes for Municipal Solid Waste (BBI.VC4.F3)

The biodegradable fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is an abundant feedstock rich in sugars and suitable for conversion into biobased chemicals and fuels through biotechnological processes. However, its quality is highly variable and contains other components, such as proteins, fats, ashes and other inhibitor compounds which affect the overall yield of fermentation and enzymatic conversion processes. This call again looks to demonstrating at industrial scale a first-of-a-kind, cost effective new value chain for the recovery and conversion of MSW-based sugars into biobased products for the whole value chain: from sourcing and management of MSW to its conversion. 

What is the BBI JU?

The Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking is a €3.7 billion Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the EU and the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC). It is dedicated to realising the European bioeconomy potential, turning biological residues and wastes into greener everyday products through innovative technologies and biorefineries, which are at the heart of the bioeconomy. The BBI is about connecting key sectors, creating new value chains and producing a range of innovative bio-based products to ultimately form a new bio-based community and economy.

For more information on the BBI JU visit the BBI JU website or contact the BIC secretariat.

Register now for BIO-TIC webinars: Biosurfactants on 22 May

The Cefic and SusChem supported FP7 BIO-TIC project is organising a series of webinars to present the main findings from the project. SusChem and Cefic invite you to participate in the next webinar on the biosurfactants product group that will take place on Friday 22 May 2015 from 3-4 pm CET. The webinars are free but you will need to register beforehand. 

The agenda for the first BIO-TIC webinar on 22 May on biosurfactants includes:

• Introduction to BIO-TIC from Pierre Barthélemy, Cefic Executive Director for Research & Innovation
• Industrial Biotechnology (IB) market roadmap by Anna Saarentaus, Principal in Pöyry
• Overview on Biosurfactants by Prof. Wim Soetaert, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant
• Future of Biosurfactants according to BIO-TIC by Pierre Barthélemy
• Q&A session

Biosurfactants are one of five business cases which the project has identified to have significant potential to enhance the European economic competitiveness and introduce cross-cutting technology ideas. Europe has already an established biosurfactants market and is currently the global leader in terms of both biosurfactant production and consumption. Still, the market share could be higher if the various innovation hurdles to biosurfactants are addressed.

The BIO-TIC project has extensively examined the market, R&D and technological hurdles for biosurfactants and with this webinar is now presenting its findings to the public. Later this year, an integrated roadmap with the main findings of the project including examples on all the five business cases will be publicly available on the project website and will be presented at the project final conference 'From bugs to business: Unlocking the Bioeconomy in Europe' on 23 June.

Webinar schedule
The project’s dissemination activity will continue over the summer with more webinars scheduled on the other BIO-TIC business cases and on the uptake of IB in general. Note the webinar schedule is your agenda now!

• Tuesday 26 May 2015, 10-11 am CET:  Chemical Building Blocks organised by TNO
• Monday 8 June 2015, 10-11 am CET: CO2-based Chemicals organised by Nova Institute
• Wednesday 10 June 2015, 10-11 am CET: European Bioeconomy revisited organised by DECHEMA
• Tuesday 7 July, 1-2 pm CET: Where next: Industrial Biotechnology? – A review of the results of the BIO-TIC project organised by EuropaBio
• TBD, Webinar on Biofuels organised by DECHEMA

You can register for all the webinars for free via: https://dechema.ilinc.com.

BIO-TIC Final Conference
As mentioned above the SusChem inspired FP7 BIO-TIC project will be holding its final conference entitled ‘From bugs to business! Unlocking the Bioeconomy in Europe’ on the afternoon of 23 June 2015 in central Brussels.

The conference will provide all you need to know about industrial biotechnology (IB) in Europe in one compact and easily digestible event. It will be the place for you to embark on the bioeconomy journey! Registration for the event is now open and is free of charge.

What is BIO-TIC? 
Funded by the European Commission, BIO-TIC is an FP7 project launched in 2012 with with the vision to investigate hurdles and critical success factors to deploy industrial biotechnology in Europe.

Modern use of industrial biotechnology is critical in a bio-based economy. Deploying the full potential of biotech innovation will enable European industry to deliver high-value products to consumers and create new commercial opportunities. New feedstock demands will lead to synergies amongst SMEs and large industrial partners. New technological developments will boost European export of technology and facilities by bringing some of Europe’s top sectors together: chemical industry, engineering and renewables.

For more information about BIO-TIC visit the project website or contact Pierre Barthélemy, Cefic Executive Director for research and innovation.

Bio-based Industries Info day 2015

The Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) will be holding an Info Day session on the morning of 26 June followed by a networking and brokerage session in the afternoon. The Info Day will take place from 09:00 to 12:30 at the Charlemagne Building, Rue de la Loi 170, B-1000 Brussels.

The Info day session will address the following questions:

• What benefits does the Bio based Joint Undertaking offer you?
• What is included in the new Call?
• How can you apply for funding? 

The BBI Info Day 2015 in Brussels on 26 June will give you first-hand information on this new EU funding instrument. The Info Day is organised by the BBI JU to provide full information on the 2015 Call for Proposals. Participation is free of charge but registration is compulsory.

Registration is open until 19 June 2015 via the BBI website on the "Events" section or via the link below. To attend the conference please fill in the on-line registration form as soon as possible. When registering please specify the organisation you belong to. All applications will be considered on a “first come, first served” basis.

To register for the BBI Partnering Platform visit http://www.bbi-europe.eu/participate/bbi-partnering-platform.

What is the BBI JU?
The Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking is a €3.7 billion Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the EU and the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC). It is dedicated to realising the European bioeconomy potential, turning biological residues and wastes into greener everyday products through innovative technologies and biorefineries, which are at the heart of the bioeconomy. The BBI is about connecting key sectors, creating new value chains and producing a range of innovative bio-based products to ultimately form a new bio-based community and economy.

CRM_InnoNet at PBS 2015

CRM_InnoNet was active at the third Plant Based Summit (PBS) that took place in Lille, France from 8 to 10 April. The FP7 project was hosted on the Cefic - SusChem stand (see picture below) with fellow SusChem-related projects.

This year’s PBS focused on the innovation, co-development and operational implementation necessary for the widespread deployment in the market of biobased products.

For CRM_InnoNet the objective of attending the event was to make some effective links with key biotechnology players and discuss how bio-based technologies could help in reducing Europe's dependency on key Critical Raw Materials (CRM).

For example, new biobased solutions, such as bio-catalysts, could replace some of the traditional CRM-based products in specific applications.

With a long-term approach and proven track record, PBS 2015 offers a high-quality programme looking at the future for biobased business in Europe. The conference and tradeshow are very well attended and the summit was one of the first European events dedicated to the bioeconomy.

Booth partners
CRM_InnoNet was hosted by Cefic-SusChem in Lille along with fellow SusChem-inspired projects Bio-tic, Recreate and R4R.

The PBS is organised by the Association Chimie du Vegetal (ACDV) that represents the French plant-based chemistry sector working in partnership with publishing group Infopro Digital. The Plant Based Summit organisers’ strong position in the industrial landscape is key to allow the whole plant-based chemistry value chain to be gathered again in Lille including actors from the agro-industrials, chemical intermediates, chemists and end-users.

Biobased polymers: super highway or dirt road towards a European bioindustry?

Biobased polymers are one of five business cases analysed in the framework of BIO-TIC, the SusChem-inspired FP7 project that set itself the ambitious task of identifying hurdles to full deployment of industrial biotechnology in Europe and finding ways to overcome them. The project will be holding a free Webinar on 17 March 2015 starting at 1 pm (CET) on the subject of Biobased polymers – highway or dirt road towards a European bioindustry?

The webinar will introduce the BIO-TIC roadmaps on R&D, non-technological and market related aspects of the use of industrial biotechnology in the European bio-based polymers sector.

The supplier perspective will be given by the guest speaker, Dr. Joachim Schulze, Head of Biotechnology at ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions who run a polylactic acid (PLA) demonstration plant in Leuna, Germany. Dr. Schulze will present his views on the future of the PLA value chain and evolution of the PLA business in general.

To register for the webinar, please click here.

BIO-TIC is keen to get your feedback on their roadmaps and hear your comments both during and after the webinar. For more information on the BIO-TIC project, please visit the project website.

Biobased plastics
Today, biobased plastics have an established market and are rapidly growing both in Europe and on a global scale. Between 2008 and 2013, biobased plastics showed a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20% in the EU. In 2013, Europe was both the largest biobased plastics consumer and producer, supplying one-third of the global biobased plastics output.

Concerns about plastic waste issues, GHG emissions and oil price fluctuation are pushing the public sector, businesses and consumers towards more sustainable alternatives to conventional plastics. Biobased plastics are a heterogeneous group consisting of:

• Biodegradable and/or compostable biobased polymers (e.g. PLA and PHAs)
• Non biodegradable biobased polymers (e.g. biobased PE, partially biobased PET and PTT) and thermosets (e.g. partially biobased polyurethanes and epoxies)

With the drop in fossil fuel prices, the cost-competitiveness of EU biobased plastics production compared to other regions is expected to become  increasingly difficult. On top of this, several other hurdles are impeding the development of the bioplastics industry in the EU. These include:

• Lack of government support for biobased plastics
• Difficulties in translating research into concrete products
• Lack of public awareness of biobased plastics and their benefits
• Further technology development required in some sectors to improve functionality

More information on BIO-TIC
BIO-TIC is a three-year European Commission-funded project which aims to identify the hurdles to industrial biotechnology 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
• Biobased plastics
• Biosurfactants
• Advanced biofuels
• CO2 based chemicals

A final BIO-TIC action plan for developing the industrial biotechology sector in Europe, along with its three separate roadmaps on market, R&D and non-technological aspects focusing on the opportunities above, will be delivered by the project in summer 2015.

Save the date: BIO-TIC Final Conference 23 June

The SusChem inspired FP7 BIO-TIC project will be holding its final conference entitled ‘From bugs to business! Unlocking the Bioeconomy in Europe’ on the afternoon of 23 June 2015 in central Brussels. The conference will provide all you need to know about industrial biotechnology (IB) in Europe in one compact and easily digestible event. It will be the place for you to embark on the bioeconomy journey! Registration for the event is now open and is free of charge.

The conference: ‘From bugs to business! Unlocking the Bioeconomy in Europe’ will start at 13h30 and will close at 17h30 with a networking cocktail reception. The event will take place at the Royal Flemish Academy for Sciences and Arts in Brussels. The full programme will be confirmed soon and will consist of two parts:

• Part 1: Setting the scene - which will use case studies gathered during the project to illustrate the state of industrial biotechnology in Europe today
• Part 2: Making industrial biotechnology happen – during which expert panel sessions will focus on how the recommendations that have emerged from the work of BIO-TIC can be implemented

The half-day conference will enable you to:

• Learn about the opportunities provided by this key enabling technology
• Witness the state of play of industrial biotechnology in Europe with keynote speeches from companies and government bodies
• Engage in discussions during dedicated panel debates on the implementation of recommendations to build a booming industrial biotechnology sector and the European bioeconomy
• Discuss with policy makers, industrial players, entrepreneurs and academia during the networking cocktail
• Explore industrial biotechnology products and tools in the exhibition space

In addition on the following day (24 June) there will be an opportunity for delegates to visit the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant facility in Ghent.

More details of the conference will be published on the conference website and the twitter hashtag #bioeconomy4EU has been created for the event.

IB for development
As well as examining the potential for the impact of industrial biotechnology in Europe, the BIO-TIC final links in with the focus for the European Year of Development (EYD2015) during the month of June, which is ‘Sustainable Green Growth, Decent Jobs and Businesses.’

The green economy and the bioeconomy have particular relevance for developing countries, as many are vulnerable to external shocks such as climate change, natural disasters or food and fuel crises. Sustainable green growth should be able to simultaneously alleviate poverty, protect the natural environment and ensure decent work with labour rights and standards, social protection and social dialogue all upheld.

Businesses are job creators and lead innovation and change, they are key to ensuring decent work and forging responsible and sustainable development. At the end of the day, development is about making investment and economic activity work for everyone, while also protecting our planet.

This ethos is very much at the heart of what SusChem and projects like BIO-TIC are striving to enable.

About BIO-TIC
This conference marks the final stage of the BIO-TIC project. BIO-TIC was launched in 2012 with the vision to investigate hurdles and critical success factors to deploy industrial biotechnology in Europe. Find out more at the project’s website.

SusChem wishes you all the very best for 2015!

Best wishes for a prosperous and sustainable 2015 from the SusChem team! 2014 was a great year for SusChem and we are looking forward to even more success in 2015.

A date for your 2015 agenda is the SusChem Stakeholder event that will take place on 8 and 9 June in Brussels.

And early in the New Year will see the official publication of the new SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA). This will set out SusChem’s research and innovation priorities for the medium term under Horizon 2020 and other funding European, national and regional programmes. We expect the document to add value to the societal, scientific and industrial debate in Europe and help all SusChem stakeholders to concentrate on the significant challenges that we all face.

Keep in touch in 2015
There are plenty of ways to keep in touch with SusChem activities. As well as this news blog you can follow SusChem on Twitter (we already have almost 1500 followers - it would be great to pass this target early in 2015) and don’t forget to ‘like’ the platform on Facebook. You can find the SusChem Facebook page here.

And, of course, the SusChem website is full of information on our activities.

We look forward to a great 2015 for sustainable chemistry in Europe – and hope to see you at one of our events during the year!

Book for final BIO-TIC Workshop on Bioplastics now!

The final Bio-Business workshop organized by SusChem’s FP7 BIO-TIC project will take place in Brussels on 1 December, 2014. The workshop is entitled "Bio-based Plastics – How do we grow the EU Industry?” Today, bio-based plastics have an established market, demonstrating rapid growth both in Europe and globally. But what is the future for this market?

“While Europe is currently the largest producer and user of bio-based plastics, this situation is expected to change in the future with production increasingly being based in countries where feedstocks are cheaper and where production costs are lower,” says Pierre Barthélemy, Innovation Manager at Cefic. “Even with increasing fossil fuel prices expected to make bio-based plastics more competitive compared to fossil-derived plastics, ensuring the cost-competitiveness of EU bio-based plastics production compared to other regions globally is expected to become an increasingly difficult challenge.”

The workshop on 1 December will give participants the opportunity to discuss the main hurdles that impact the use of industrial biotechnology in the bioplastics market segment and propose concrete actions to overcome these hurdles.

The BIO-TIC workshop is organized in connection with the 9th European Bioplastics Conference that is being hosted in Brussels on 2 and 3 December. 

Registration for the BIO-TIC workshop is free of charge and can be accessed via a dedicated website.

Objectives

With this series of five workshops, the BIO-TIC project has brought together industrial biotechnology end users (downstream) with technology providers (upstream), innovation agencies and decision makers to stimulate discussion and knowledge exchange.

The objectives of the workshops are to:

• identify technological, non-technological and market hurdles for the uptake of industrial biotechnology in these sectors, 
• develop recommendations and solutions to overcome the identified hurdles, 
• contribute to the development, testing and fine-tuning of the BIO-TIC roadmaps,
• bring together industrial biotechnology end users (downstream) with technology providers (upstream), innovation agencies and decision makers to stimulate interconnected discussion and knowledge exchange platforms and processes,
• collect data to develop draft indicators to measure the socio-economic and environmental impact of Industrial Biotechnology and the use of renewables-based products in the European Union.

More information

For more information on the BIO-TIC project and the business-case workshops visit the project website or contact Pierre Barthélemy at Cefic.

BIO-TIC Workshops: Building blocks, Biofuels and Bioplastics

Three Bio-Business workshops are being organised by SusChem’s FP7 BIO-TIC project during Q4 2014. The workshops will help shape BIO-TIC’s strategic agenda to boost the uptake of industrial biotechnology (IB) in Europe. The workshops cover three major IB product segments that promise significant potential for Europe’s industry and society: Chemical Building Blocks, Biofuels and Bioplastics.

Building blocks
The first workshop takes place on 1 October in Reims, France as part of the major IB event: the European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology and the Biobased Economy (EFIB 2014). Its title is: "Chemical Building Blocks – What do we need to do to build sustainable foundations for the bio-based chemical industry in Europe?”

“The objective of this workshop is to collect input from stakeholders interested in chemical building blocks, discuss the main hurdles that impact the use of IB in this market segment and develop concrete actions to mitigate these hurdles,” says Pierre Barthélemy, Innovation Manager at Cefic. “The information collected during this and the other workshops will be included in the final version of the BIO-TIC roadmap that will be published in mid-2015.”

Biofuels
The second workshop is organised in London on 23 October and covers "Advanced Biofuels – Fuelling the Industry in Europe." Although at present the production of advanced biofuels world-wide is still quite low, various policy drivers both in the EU and elsewhere provide a significant incentive for their future development. However, many hurdles exist to the full exploitation of advanced biofuels production in the EU.

The outputs of this workshop will be used in the development of a roadmap to identify research and innovation funding priorities within the EU and will help shape the EU research and innovation agenda to 2030.

You can download a flyer for this workshop here.

Bioplastics
Finally a workshop entitled "Bio-based Plastics – How do we grow the EU Industry?” will be held on 1 December in Brussels. Today, bio-based plastics have an established market, demonstrating rapid growth both in Europe and globally. While Europe is currently the largest producer and user of bio-based plastics, this situation is expected to change in the future with production increasingly being based in countries where feedstocks are cheaper and where production costs are lower. Even with increasing fossil fuel prices expected to make bio-based plastics more competitive compared to fossil-derived plastics, ensuring the cost-competitiveness of EU bio-based plastics production compared to other regions globally is expected to become an increasingly difficult challenge.

“Stakeholders interested in bioplastics will have the opportunity to discuss the main hurdles that impact the use of industrial biotechnology in the bioplastics market segment and propose concrete actions to overcome these hurdles,” explains Pierre Barthélemy.

Registration for all the workshops is now open and can be accessed via a dedicated website.

Objectives
With these workshops and two previous events, the BIO-TIC project consortium aims to bring together industrial biotechnology end users (downstream) with technology providers (upstream), innovation agencies and decision makers to stimulate interconnected discussion and knowledge exchange platforms and processes.

The objectives of all the workshops are to:

• identify technological, non-technological and market hurdles for the uptake of industrial biotechnology in these sectors, 
• develop recommendations and solutions to overcome the identified hurdles, 
• contribute to the development, testing and fine-tuning of the BIO-TIC roadmaps,
• bring together industrial biotechnology end users (downstream) with technology providers (upstream), innovation agencies and decision makers to stimulate interconnected discussion and knowledge exchange platforms and processes,
• collect data to develop draft indicators to measure the socio-economic and environmental impact of IB and the use of renewables-based products in the European Union.

More information
Input from the market and experts in industry and research are critical to build a basis for the BIO-TIC roadmaps and to ensure that actions are developed which best fit the needs of this sector. SusChem, Cefic, EuropaBio and all the BIO-TIC partners welcome any comments on the current draft documents. You can submit comments via email.  

For more information on the BIO-TIC project and the business-case workshops visit the project website or contact Pierre Barthélemy, Innovation Manager at Cefic.

BIO-TIC: Register now for ‘Bio Business’ Workshops

Registration for five 'bio-Business case' workshops organised by SusChem’s FP7 BIO-TIC project is now open. By participating in these workshops you can help shape the strategic agenda to boost the uptake of industrial biotechnology (IB) in Europe. In addition BIO-TIC has just released a series of videos that describe the project’s rationale and objectives and the IB business roadmaps that it is developing.

The BIO-TIC project is organising five 'bio-Business case' workshops during the Autumn of 2014. These events will look into five major product segments and applications of Industrial Biotechnology (IB) in Europe that promise significant potential for Europe’s industry and society by 2030.

The workshops are organised around the following topics:

• Use of IB in Biosurfactants on 3 September 2014 in Berlin, Germany
• CO2-based Chemicals Business Case on 24 September 2014 at CPE Lyon, France
• Chemical Building Blocks: 'What do we need to do to build sustainable foundations for the bio-based chemical industry in Europe?' on 1 October 2014 in Reims, France
• Biofuels on 20 October 2014 in London, United Kingdom.
• Bio-based Plastics: 'How do we Grow the EU Industry?' on 1 December 2014 in Brussels, Belgium

Registration for all of the workshops is now open and can be accessed here via a dedicated website.

Knowledge exchange
With these workshops, the BIO-TIC project consortium aims to bring together industrial biotechnology end users (downstream) with technology providers (upstream), innovation agencies and decision makers to stimulate interconnected discussion and knowledge exchange platforms and processes.

The objective of the workshops is to:

• Identify technological, non-technological and market hurdles for the uptake of industrial biotechnology in these sectors
• Develop recommendations and solutions to overcome the identified hurdles
• Contribute to the development, testing and fine-tuning of the BIO-TIC roadmaps
• Bring together industrial biotechnology end users (downstream) with technology providers (upstream), innovation agencies and decision makers to stimulate interconnected discussion and knowledge exchange platforms and processes
• Collect data to develop draft indicators to measure the socio-economic and environmental impact of IB and the use of renewables-based products in the European Union

BIO-TIC videos
Funded by the European Commission, BIO-TIC was launched in 2012, as an FP7 project, with the aim to establish an overview of the barriers to biotechnology innovation and propose solutions to overcome them.

BIO-TIC has now published a series of videos that explain the rationale and objectives of the project and the three roadmaps that it is developing.

In the first video Antoine Peeters, Manager for Industrial Biotechnology at EuropaBio, gives an overview of the BIO-TIC project; its main activities and current status; the business cases, the project’s anticipated impact and future actions. This video is embedded at the end of this blog

Pádraig Naughton, Cefic innovation manager, features in a video explaining Cefic's role in the BIO-TIC project and outlining how wider use of industrial biotechnology (IB) can help the chemical industry grow.

A major milestone in the BIO-TIC project is the development of three roadmaps: market, technological, and non-technological. The project has recently released the second draft versions of the roadmaps which can be downloaded from the project website.

Anna Saarentaus, Principal at Pöyry, talks about the market drivers related to the various product segments and gives an overview of the projected use of IB in Europe by 2030. This video gives a comprehensive overview of the market potential for industrial biotechnology and of the value chain composition and stakeholders in various product segments and is an excellent introduction to the market roadmap.

The technological roadmap aims to gain insight into the R&D related hurdles that are impeding the full realisation of Europe’s IB market potential in 2030. In addition, the roadmap seeks to set priorities in terms of R&D and other actions to overcome the R&D barriers. In the video introducing the technological roadmap Elsbeth Roelofs, Senior Business Consultant at TNO, gives an overview of the R&D hurdles in Industrial Biotechnology in Europe and explains how the BIO-TIC roadmaps can help to overcome them.

The non-technological roadmap aims to identify regulatory and non-technological hurdles that may inhibit innovation and prevent the realisation of the market and technological potential of IB. Furthermore, the non-technological roadmap seeks to propose solutions to these hurdles by confronting theory and practice. The non-technological roadmap is introduced in a video with Antoine Peeters of EuropaBio who gives an overview of the non-technological hurdles of IB and explains how the BIO-TIC roadmaps will contribute to further develop the non-technological opportunities for IB applications in Europe.

More information
Input from the market and experts in industry and research are critical to build a basis for the roadmaps and to ensure that actions are developed which best fit the needs of this sector.  SusChem, Cefic and the BIO-TIC partners welcome any comments on the current draft documents. You can submit comments via email.

For more information on the BIO-TIC project and the business-case workshops visit the project website or contact Pierre Barthélemy, Innovation Manager at Cefic.

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.

SusChem: The Story So Far

As part of our 10 year anniversary celebrations an extended video on the how, what and why of SusChem has been produced. Featuring a host of SusChem personalities that have been involved in SusChem over its first 10 years, the video covers the launch of the platform, its challenges, how we work together and its key achievements so far. The video then goes to look at the new Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda (SIRA), our PPPS (SPIRE and the BBI JTI), the platform's future aspirations and, most importantly, how you can get involved with our activities now. Enjoy! 

Happy Birthday SusChem!

You can download an executive summary of the draft SusChem SIRA here.

To find our more about SusChem and its activities visit our website or contact Jacques Kormonicki, the SusChem coordinator at Cefic. Join us today!

Bio Based Industries JTI: A Major Advance towards the Bioeconomy

Today (July 9) the European Technology Platform (ETP) for Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem) welcomes the launch of the Bio Based Industries Joint Technology Initiative (BBI JTI). This major Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) represents a significant step forward to the realisation of a European bioeconomy.

SusChem has actively supported the development of the BBI JTI and looks forward to working with the initiative to deliver a sustainable, competitive economy for Europe able to tackle some of our biggest societal challenges and bioeconomy opportunities.

The BBI JTI is being launched with six other JTIs (including JTI on ‘Fuel Cells and Hydrogen’ and ‘Innovative Medicines’) at an event with European Commission President Barroso, Vice Presidents Neelie Kroes and Siim Kallas, and Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science (all pictured below at the BBI JTI stand). Together, the JTIs represent a significant joint public-private investment in research and innovation for Europe’s future.

Bio Based Innovation
The BBI JTI will enable a €3.7 billion injection into the European economy between 2014 and 2024, with €975 million provided by the European Commission and €2.7 billion from the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC), to develop the emerging bioeconomy. The JTI will finance research and innovation projects and create new and novel partnerships across industry sectors (including agriculture, technology providers, forestry/pulp and paper, chemicals and energy).

The aim of the BBI is to use Europe's untapped biomass and wastes as feedstock to make greener, sustainable everyday products and renewable feedstock.

“At the heart of this initiative are advanced biorefineries and innovative technologies that use sustainable chemistry to convert renewable resources into sustainable chemicals, materials and fuels,” says Dr Gernot Klotz, Executive Director Research at Cefic and SusChem board member.

“The BBI JTI can help develop the building blocks needed to shift from a fossil- and imports-based society to increase the EU’s rate of economic growth, boost jobs – especially in rural areas, rejuvenate industries and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” he continues. “New bio-based industries can increase the competitiveness of the European economy through re-industrialisation and sustainable growth along with other Key Enabling Technologies.”

Four of the six main Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) identified to be critical to strengthening Europe’s industrial and innovation capacity are from the chemical sector: advanced materials, industrial biotechnology, nanotechnology and advanced manufacturing.

BBI launch

Opening the launch of the JTIs this afternoon José Manuel Barroso (above), President of the European Commission, said: "Only if the best brains from academia, industry, SMEs, research institutes and other organisations come together can we successfully tackle the huge challenges that we are facing. This is what public-private partnerships are about, the joining of forces to make the lives of Europeans better, create jobs and boost our competitiveness. We are committed to prioritising the impact of the European budget on the recovery, and these partnerships are doing just that, with first calls for proposals for € 1.1 billion to be matched by industry, within a package representing an overall € 22 billion boost to growth and jobs creation over seven years. They will continue delivering results that no single country, company or even the European Union as such would achieve alone."

The launch of first calls comes almost exactly one year after the European Commission put forward the Innovation Investment Package, a set of proposals to establish seven public-private and four public-public partnerships (including SPIRE, see below).

Commenting on the BBI launch today Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, said: "The bioeconomy has huge potential that is attracting investments all around the world. With this new partnership, we want to harness innovative technologies to convert Europe’s untapped renewable resources and waste into greener everyday products such as food, feed, chemicals, materials and fuels, all sourced and made in Europe."

Peder Holk Nielsen, CEO of Novozymes, added on behalf of the industry partner, the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC): “The BBI is an unprecedented public-private commitment because of its focus on bringing bio-based solutions to the market. It is an opportunity to deliver sustainable growth in European regions and to reverse the investment trend currently going to other regions of the world.”

Concluding the launch event Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn (above) said: "As we heard earlier today, only through joint investments in developing our research and innovation capacity can we create the new jobs and growth to overcome the current economic crisis. The challenge is, of course, to make sure that such investments deliver tangible impacts: to help accelerate the development of new technologies and innovations, to generate new markets for innovative products and services; and to deliver good jobs and major benefits to society. I am confident that the JTIs presented here will live up to this challenge. The first calls for proposals illustrate the kind of activities that JTIs will support in our goal of accelerating the deployment of great ideas from the lab into the market – for example large scale demonstrators, testing and prototyping."

BBI and SPIRE together
The BBI JTI builds on ‘SusChem inspired’ projects such as EUROBIOREF: one of three large FP7 projects in a joint call on advanced biorefineries that responded to SusChem’s visionary project: ‘The Integrated Biorefinery’. Innovations from other SusChem FP7 projects such as the F3 Factory will also contribute to the integration of bio based processes into the economy.

“The BBI JTI is one of two major PPPs that SusChem is proud to have inspired: the other being the Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency (SPIRE) PPP,” says Dr Klotz. “SPIRE and the BBI JTI will work closely together along defined areas of common interest and will use their synergies to help deliver high resource and energy efficiency that can lay the foundation of the circular economy in Europe, alongside the materials programme of SusChem.”

BBI explained 
The BBI JTI is a €3.7 billion Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the EU and the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC). The BBI is dedicated to realising the European bioeconomy potential, turning biological residues and wastes into greener everyday products through innovative technologies and biorefineries, which are at the heart of the bioeconomy. The Bio-based Industries Consortium - the industrial partner in the PPP - is constituted by a unique mix of sectors including agriculture, agro-food, technology providers, forestry/pulp and paper, chemicals and energy. A short video  explaining what the BBI JTI is all ablout has also been published (see below).


A fact sheet on the BBI and its activities is available and more information can be found at the BBI website.

An Info Day on the BBI will take place on 2 September 2014 in Brussels and will be a 'must-attend' event for all stakeholders interested in understanding the BBI rules for participation.

Five value chains
Organised in five value chains – that range from primary production to consumer markets – the BBI will help fill the innovation gap between technology development and commercialisation, sustainably realising the potential of bio-based industries in Europe.

The BBI is a shift from a fossil- and imports-based society to increase Europe’s share of sustainable economic growth, and is expected to create tens of thousands of jobs (80% in rural areas), revitalise industries, diversify farmers’ incomes, and reduce GHG emissions by at least 50% in comparison to fossil-based applications.

The aim of the BBI is to use Europe's untapped biomass and wastes as feedstock to make fossil-free and greener everyday products. At the heart of it are advanced biorefineries and innovative technologies that will convert renewable resources into sustainable bio-based chemicals, materials and fuels.

The BBI will manage the investments in the form of research and innovation projects that are defined in annual Calls for Proposals and implemented across European regions. In line with Horizon 2020 rules, all stakeholders are invited to submit innovative proposals and demonstrate progress beyond state-of-the-art.

The BBI is dedicated to realising the European bioeconomy potential, turning biological residues and wastes into greener everyday products through innovative technologies and biorefineries, which are at the heart of the bioeconomy.

The BBI is about connecting key sectors, creating new value chains and producing a range of innovative bio-based products to ultimately form a new bio-based community and economy.

Bio-based Industries: using renewable natural resources and innovative technologies for greener everyday products developing new value chains for bio-based industries, from primary production to consumer markets;

• Using innovative technologies to turn biological residues and wastes into greener everyday products;
• Moving from fossil-based to biobased products: planting the seeds for the European circular economy;
• Supporting regional development by diversifying the local economy;
• Promoting the opening of new markets for bio-based products and applications “Made in Europe”.

The BBI JTI will help create new jobs, especially in rural regions, and offer Europeans new and sustainable products sourced and produced locally. New bio-based industries can increase the
competitiveness of the European economy through re-industrialisation and sustainable growth.

The development of new bio-based products and markets based on smart and efficient use of resources will diversify industries’ revenue streams.

The BBI is expected to bridge European research knowledge with commercial scale bio-based products, making full use of European scientific and technological knowledge. The BBI should benefit all Member States where regions can play an important role through their Smart Specialisation Strategies.

Seven JTIs
The BBI was one of seven JTIs launched at a special event in Brussels on 9 July. Fact sheets on all seven JTI are available via the links below:

• Bio-based Industries
• Clean Sky 2
• Electronic Components and Systems
• Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2
• Innovative Medicines Initiative 2
• SESAR
• Shift2Rail

For more information, please visit the SusChem website or contact Esther Agyeman-Budu, Cefic communication manager for research and innovation.

An extended SusChem 10th Anniversary video describing the platform, its achievements and its contribution to BBI has also been published on YouTube.

BIO-TIC Workshop on CO2 based chemicals

BIO-TIC has announced the date of its second ‘bio-business workshop’. The theme will be the “CO2-based chemicals business case” and the workshop takes place in Lyon, France on 24 September. This is the second workshop out of a series of five workshops looking at product segments and applications in the bioeconomy that BIO-TIC have identified as having significant potential for European industry and society by 2030.

The potential to use greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) as a feedstock for producing new materials is a hot topic currently and could help to develop a true circular economy. SusChem speakers presented on this and related topics at Green Week this week (5 June).

The “CO2-based chemicals business case” workshop will precede the major “Large-volume CO2 Utilization: Enabling Technologies for Energy and Resource Efficiency, 3rd Edition, The CO2 Forum, International Sustainable CO2 Chemical and Biochemical Recycling” Conference organised by CPE Lyon. This means that many leading experts in the field will already be in Lyon, increasing the effectiveness and participation in the workshop and the benefits of attending both events. The BIO-TIC event will be organised as an official satellite event and registration for the event will be opening soon!

Why attend the workshop? 
Input from the market and experts in industry and research are vital to build a basis for BIO-TIC’s roadmaps. Therefore, the BIO-TIC team is working to engage with multiple stakeholders across different value chains with activities on a range of technological domains from chemistry and engineering to health and the environment.

To define the opportunities and hurdles in the “CO2 to Chemicals” business case, the BIO-TIC workshop will explore the role of industrial biotechnology in:

• Direct production of chemicals through the transformation of CO2 (see some possible chemical targets below)
• “Artificial leaves”, using CO2, water, sunlight and a (semiconductor) catalyst to produce glucose as a feedstock for industrial biotechnological processes to produce chemicals

The objectives of the workshop are to:

• Identify technological, non-technological and market hurdles for the uptake of industrial biotechnology as a basis for use of CO2 as a feedstock;
• Develop recommendations and solutions to overcome the identified hurdles;
• Contribute to the development, testing and fine-tuning of the BIO-TIC roadmap;
• Bring together industrial biotechnology end users (downstream) with technology providers (upstream), innovation agencies and decision makers to stimulate interconnected discussion and knowledge exchange platforms and processes; and
• Collect data to develop draft indicators to measure the socio-economic and environmental impact of industrial biotechnology and the use of renewables-based products in the European Union

The BIO-TIC workshop will take place from 12:00 to 18:00 on 24 September 2014 at CPE Lyon - Ecole Supérieure de Chimie Physique Electronique de Lyon and will be free to attend.

For more information about our workshop download the BIO-TIC – CO2 workshop flyer or contact the BIO-TIC secretariat.

Enabling CO2 Utilization

How can we transform large volumes of CO2 into materials and fuels needed for quality of life and sustainable development? How does the field of CO2 recycling contribute to the current policy objectives in the field of climate change mitigation?

The CO2 Forum on 25 to 26 September will address the latest answers to these questions with leading international academics, industrialists and policymakers to assess the emerging chemical, bio-engineering, and process innovations based on renewable energy sources.

CO2 chemical and biochemical recycling is a desirable environmental solution and a viable business and research opportunity. The CO2 Forum aims at reinforcing such position by bringing together relevant policymakers, corporate business, and academia researchers in an open 2-day conference for an update on three main topics:

• Current policy and environmental context (including CO2 taxation, CO2 regulation, and socio economic analyses)
• Business opportunity (“negative cost” chemical)
• Scientific and technologic innovation with sustainable energy source 

For more details on the CPE CO2 Forum visit the conference website.

What is BIO-TIC? 
Funded by the European Commission, BIO-TIC was launched, as an FP7 project, with the aim to establish an overview of the opportunities and barriers to biotechnology innovation and propose approaches to address them.

Modern use of industrial biotechnology (IB) is critical in a bio-based economy. Deploying the full potential of biotech innovation will enable the European industry to deliver high-value products to consumers and create new commercial opportunities. New feedstock demands will lead to synergies amongst SMEs and large industrial partners. New technological developments will boost European export of technology and facilities by bringing some of Europe’s top sectors together: chemical industry, engineering and renewables.

However to date, major hurdles continue to hamper the full exploitation of biotechnology in Europe. These hurdles may vary from technological bottlenecks to limited availability of venture capital and fragmented policy frameworks.

BIO-TIC seeks to define product segments and applications that promise significant potential for Europe’s industry and society by 2030. We have now identified five major “bio-business cases” which are EU-competitive and have the potential to introduce cross-cutting technology ideas.

These are:

• Bio-plastics Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and polylactic acid (PLA) 
• Building blocks 
• Bio-fuels 
• Bio-surfactants 
• CO2-based chemicals 

Based on these business cases, we are 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 version of the roadmaps is 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 visit the project website.