Do you miss a subject, a perspective or would you like to write an article for this site? Contact us!
- Wisdom demands a new orientation of science and technology towards the organic, the gentle, the non-violent, the elegant and beautiful. E.F. Schumacher
Latest
LEDucation PANEL DISCUSSION: GREENISH. Wednesday, March 17, 2021 • LEARN MORE: lnkd.in/dgQ6TQX Panelists will explore the 17 UN Sustainability Goals and discuss how the lighting ecosystem can contribute to their attainment. #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #Sustainability pic.twitter.com/KkER3y7D1T
28 seconds ago from LEDucation's Twitter via Twitter Web App
Taking care of the #planet is important to us; that's why we seek to make our #products not only #degradable in water but also to have a #circular life cycle that is to say that after being degraded, its #residue serves as #fertilizer for #plants making them 100% eco-friendly. pic.twitter.com/mvS0BQcfda
28 seconds ago from hidrobagcorp's Twitter via Twitter Web App
In celebration of #IWD2021, Susan Zhang shares how her upbringing helped her succeed in the male-dominated #Tech industry and how our #Sustainability Leadership & #CorporateResponsibility programme is helping her make a positive #SocialImpact: ow.ly/AH9M50DPSq4 #ESG pic.twitter.com/G9A9mUFSHM
55 seconds ago from London Business School's Twitter via Hootsuite Inc.
#Biodegradable #denim is a another step towards eliminating the damaging amount of clothing that goes to landfill every year. @Drapers #SustainableFashion #Sustainability #EcoFashion #sustainable drapersonline.com/insight/ana…
About a minute ago from Dr Alice Dallabona's Twitter via Twitter Web App
Dr Petra Ágota Szilágyi from @QMULSEMS was one of the Women in Engineering Society's top 50 #WomenInEngineering last year for her contributions to #sustainability- qmul.ac.uk/media/news/202… #WorldEngineeringDay twitter.com/INWED1919/stat…
About a minute ago from QMUL Sci & Eng News's Twitter via Twitter Web App
#sustainablelifestylechallenge #bærekraft #bærekraftiglivsstilsutfordring #teachSDGs #SDGs #Sustainability pic.twitter.com/inUpXLqXm9
About 2 minutes ago from Barbara Anna Zielonka's Twitter via Twitter Web App
Valuable #training coming up on 10th March, in the excellent approaches & techniques of #Asset Based #CommunityDevelopment (ABCD), a methodology for anyone wanting to develop #sustainable communities. Essential part of any toolkit for #regenerative communities & economies twitter.com/DevComsTogethe… pic.twitter.com/QeDv64PCb2
About 2 minutes ago from New Prosperity Devon's Twitter via Twitter Web App
#climatechange #sustainability #co2emissions #savetheenvironment #environmentchange #plantatree #wastelogics
About 2 minutes ago from Waste Logics Software Ltd's Twitter via Twitter Web App
Join our webinar on Green & Sustainable chemistry which is held on March 22nd,2021 For more info: greenchemistryannualmeeting@gmail.com #Green #Sustainable #Chemistry pic.twitter.com/KzJkhQCZzH
About 2 minutes ago from chemical informatics's Twitter via Twitter Web App
Conferences: old wine in new bottles
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 treated much more comprehensively when I first learned about them.
Photo: Agi Nyeki, Freeimages.
The problem isn’t limited to the EFIB-event. There are more bio-based related events that neglect the latest developments in the field or where actual topics are not discussed at all. Whereas, when a conference is very up to date on the most recent developments, it is immediately much more interesting. Like when topics involving synthetic biology were discussed at the EFIB-conference in Glasgow in 2016. There, next to a comprehensive workshop, an impressive number of industrial bio-tech projects explained the role that synbio plays in their development.
As EFIB proclaims, they ‘…provide a platform … for highlighting the latest in groundbreaking innovation in industrial biotech.’ However, the last EFIB-event mainly presented innovations that were at best groundbreaking years ago. During the networking reception on the first day attendees wondered why this was. They attended the event to learn more about the latest research and developments and to be able to discuss these with peers.
Photo: Jacqueline Munoz, Freeimages.
Conferences can ‘drop dead’
It could be that the development stage of conferences plays a role. Many years ago I was on my way back from a disastrous international recycling conference in Geneva. A fellow traveler, involved in organizing large international events, explained to me over a beer that quite often successful conferences ‘drop dead’ after about ten editions: they become settled and easy going, they make the wrong choices, the money runs out, politics changes or public interest dwindles or all of the above.
The EFIB Advisory Board for the 2017 event included a large number of representatives of settled bio-based industry. Understandably these industries are starting to feel the need to protect their own interests. Typical consequences: an increasing number of presentations is preceded by a formal disclaimer and the content of these presentations is already known to everyone who’s kept up with bio-based developments in recent years. Future developments, plans and expectations are also not discussed.
Offering unreserved support
But events like EFIB should not be about protecting established bio-based industries. Event organizers need to be advised about the latest developments, and should be offered unreserved support to include these in their event programs. I think it is for example disappointing that there are often only a few universities and research institutions present. Because that’s where new developments often emerge, and all academic research institutes are longing to talk about what they are doing.
The bio-based industry is not even at the beginning of being fully developed. A lot of known and unknown unknowns need to be clarified to help build a robust and sustainable bio-based economy. Conferences that want to showcase the latest in industrial biotech need to maintain sufficient and independent information channels. They needs to keep eyes and ears open to learn about contemporary fields of bio-based interest, and about new developments.
In order to support their own developments, companies and institutes nowadays are much more geared to make knowledge available. In comparison to this, Intellectual Property and closed organizations are lagging. Conferences can play a role in stimulating knowledge sharing and propelling the bio-based industry forwards.
Also published on Wijnand’s personal blog.
Interesting? Then also read:
Lost in translation: dysfunctional science communication
Synbio is gearing up
Specialty carbohydrates: a very specialised biobased industry
on: 4 February 2018