Bioenergy as an obstacle to biobased chemicals
The policy in support for biobased energy proves to be an obstacle to better applications of biomass, in the view of BioBTX and KNN, two Groningen based companies. This policy drives upward the price of biomass, to the detriment of biobased chemicals production (less GHG emissions, more added value). Subsidy and quota schemes have clearly
A very successful SME program gets no follow-up
Sorry, we publish this article on Dutch innovation policy only in Dutch.
Correct decision, wrong arguments
The European Parliament has decided. The share of biofuels in the fuel mix will be reduced from 10 to 6% in 2020. Is that disastrous or beneficial, on the contrary? And why? According to European figures, biofuels would contribute a lot to food price increases by 2020. And they would cause irresponsible land use changes
A perverse effect of subsidies
Subsidies play a difficult but unavoidable part in the stimulation of new technologies. With subsidies, new and superior technologies can compete with incumbent technologies. Subsidies protect them temporarily from the chilly force of the market. But subsidies, so it appears, have a reverse effect as well. They cause subsidised technologies to win the competition with
Coca-Cola blunder: non-information on the plant bottle – latest in a series of incidents
Last month, the Danish ombudsman spoke out against Coca-Cola. His verdict amounted to the assertion that the soft drink bottling company had greenwashed the plant bottle: suggested matters to be greener than they were. The company hardly reacted. The project leader’s statement amounted to the assertion that determining environmental effects is uhh… difficult. The four
Open-source biotech receives support from US Supreme Court
Whereas many biotechnological companies pursue patents that allow them to valorise their knowledge, the US Supreme Court recently ruled that DNA sequences in nature (or parts thereof) are not patentable as such. This requires the biotech community to rethink the relationship between open source and patentable knowledge – just like in the case of computer
Sugar as a feedstock: competition in the market
Just a month ago, on August 3rd, we wrote that the European sugar market will open up in 2017, and that in preparation for that event, Dutch farmers/cooperatives now already offer 2 million tons, at fixed contracts, as a feedstock for chemical industry. True, but there are rivals in the field: sugars on the basis
