Plastics in the Circular Economy are hot. The last EFIB-conference in October 2019 featured a track dedicated to ‘The future of plastics’. The last edition of Dutch magazine Agro&Chemie also featured an article on bio-plastics. And the recently announced European … Read more
During a workshop at the latest European Forum on Industrial Biotechnology (EFIB) in Brussels, the BBI JU funded ReSolve-project introduced a number of newly developed, less hazardous, viable bio-based renewable solvents. These new solvent molecules proved to have better performance … Read more
Dutch primary education has a huge problem, that also affects bio-economy developments. There’s a substantial shortage of teachers, the teaching profession is not appreciated much, and the pay gap with secondary education is decently described by the sector as ‘not … Read more
The Dutch Cabinet has determined missions to tackle major societal issues, and Dutch knowledge sectors are currently drawing up Knowledge and Innovation Agendas on how to support the realisation of these missions. I just finished reading the joint innovation agenda … Read more
In September 2016, Henk Kamp, then Minister of Economic Affairs in the Netherlands, opened Upcycling Gemert, a plant that processes mushroom waste into compost, fuel and heat. Only two weeks later, a press release announced another project, called BIOrescue, that … Read more
The past World Bio Markets Conference in Amsterdam proved an interesting happening, not so much because of what was said, but more explicitly because of what was not dealt with. Sustainability was the overarching conversation topic of the conference. Although … Read more
The Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking, BBI JU, one of seven JUs under the Horizon2020 program, recently published their next Call for Proposals, the sixth one on the path towards 2020. At an info day in Brussels, visited by over 600 … Read more
Brexit and The Wall not only generate news. These issues also provide for interesting comments that ultimately can apply to other, or much broader, areas like the bio-economy. Where continuous development is hampered by risk aversion, learning to identify and … Read more
The Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking, abbreviated as BBI JU, is in the final stages of the procedure to award funding for new research and development proposals. BBI JU is a €3.7 billion Public-Private Partnership between the EU and the Bio-based … Read more
BiofuelsDigest, the world’s most widely read biofuels daily, as they proudly claim, concluded in May this year that ‘The pace of invention and change is just too strong … to highlight annual or even quarterly or monthly rankings and summaries … Read more
Some two months ago, Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad opened with the news that biodiesel caused accelerated corrosion of unlined steel storage tanks in use at Dutch petrol stations. Being a natural product, biodiesel promotes build-up of bacteria that are attached … Read more
At first glance, World Bio Markets in Amsterdam appeared to be another one of those biobased conferences with little news. There were speeches that told us how well companies were doing, whilst only few breakthroughs or research developments were presented. … Read more
Ahoy Rotterdam was the scene of the Material Xperience trade show. The show exhibited a large number of new and innovative materials. ‘Meet the future of materials’, was the slogan of the trade show, and bio-based, circular economy and sustainability … Read more
Upon evaluating my visit to the 10th EFIB conference in Brussel, last October, I realized there was a disappointingly limited number of new and interesting topics. Many of the topics discussed at the conference concerned old wine: that also were … Read more
Last week I visited a network meeting focusing on rural development. This focus area lies at a somewhat greater distance from direct bio-based developments, but nevertheless will be impacted by the bio-based economy. One of the participants mentioned the lack … Read more
The COSMOS Horizon 2020 EU research project aims at reducing the dependence of Europe’s oleochemical industry on imported tropical vegetable oils. It now imports much coconut, palm, palm kernel and castor oil for the production of products like plastics, detergents … Read more
At the last EFIB, October 2017, in Brussels, there were indications that national bio-economy strategies are beginning to lag behind market developments and vision. Current company bio-based strategies move towards a circular economy, and go beyond just low carbon and … Read more
Bio-based park benches in Bergen op Zoom were in the news during the first week of September. The initiative to acquire eleven bio-based benches, constructed from a composite of lightweight concrete with fibres of elephant grass, came from the Bergen … Read more
At the end of May I visited a ‘Green Deal’ network meeting in Amersfoort, The Netherlands. The meeting itself wasn’t really interesting, but it was organized at a nice location, I met a number of interesting people during the drinks … Read more
In an interview about digitization of education, Onderwijs moet de voordelen van ICT gebruiken, published in the Dutch newspaper NRC, May 8th, 2017, the president of the Dutch Education Council, also a professor educational economy, was asked whether programming and … Read more
A number of American companies offer Do-It-Yourself genetic engineering kits on the internet, in order to practice Synthetic Biology and Biological Design at home. With these biokits one can alter the genetics of living organisms such as E. Coli-bacteria or … Read more
In her lecture at the European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology (EFIB), last October in Glasgow, Professor Dame Anne Glover, Vice-Principal External Affairs, University of Aberdeen, lectured about effectively communicating about science, engineering and technology. And a couple of weeks later … Read more
Separation and purification are essential processes in the production of bio-based chemicals. This is challenging because bio-based compounds can only be manipulated under mild conditions. Scientists and engineers are trying to overcome these challenges and at the EFIB-event in Glasgow, … Read more
Synthetic Biology (SynBio) includes a large field of applications. Within this area biochemists combine engineering concepts and techniques with biology to design new genes that produce a specific protein. When this protein is an enzyme, bacteria and yeast in which … Read more
Last year, at the symposium Het Groene Brein Roots!, I met a Programme Coordinator from the teacher training course at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, RUAS. He mentioned that he was working on a project on teaching sustainability, in order … Read more
Everybody involved in the bioeconomy should understand that standardization is a requirement for a successful institutionalisation of biobased markets. Standardization is a prerequisite for trade One of the basic assumptions is that market parties need to establish standardization because they … Read more
Two weeks ago I visited Cyprus to discuss a pilot project as part of our Alyssum initiative. The alyssum plant can absorb nickel and can concentrate extremely high levels of this metal in its tissues when grown in the right … Read more
Recently I attended several biobased networking events where utilization of waste and by-products was discussed. I found these interesting talks; both because my company Abstraction partners with ARN to supply a tool to register by-products, and because it surprises me … Read more