There is a new partnership in the Italian bioeconomy. Bio-on, a leading player in the new eco-sustainable chemical industry, signed a strategic agreement with Kartell, through its parent company Felofin which takes a 2% stake in Bio-on with a 10 million euro investment.
Society
From Helsinki the bioeconomy stakeholders call for action: “It’s time to deliver!”

“It’s time to deliver!” This is, extremely briefly, the message that comes from the second edition of the Bioeconomy Investment Summit, which was held in Helsinki last Thursday, December 14. In this invitation made at the opening of the summit by the former Swedish prime minister, Göran Persson, it can be synthesized the will of over 300 summit participants to move rapidly towards the creation of new markets for the bioeconomy and to accelerate the transition to a new, more sustainable economy, which finally could leave the GDP behind as an indicator of welfare of the countries. “From the sustainable perspective, GDP is a misleading measure of success”, said Robert Costanza, professor at the Australian National University.
World bioeconomy stakeholders meet in Helsinki to move the bioeconomy from niche to norm

The second edition of the Bioeconomy Investment Summit is going to start today in Helsinki, Finland, at Finlandia Hall, organized by the European Commission and the European Forest Institute. Over 30 speakers from across the globe are going to share their views on how we can bring together the economy and the environment.
Tony Duncan, CEO of Circa Group, is the Most Innovative Bioeconomy CEO 2017
Our readers have voted: the most innovative bioeconomy CEO 2017 is Tony Duncan, CEO of Circa Group, the Australian company headquartered in Melbourne that is converting waste biomass into advanced biochemical materials. For the second consecutive year is the CEO of an Australian company to win the award (in 2016 was Ken Richards, CEO of Leaf Resources).
The 10 Most Innovative Bioeconomy CEOs in 2017. Now choose the number 1
The bioeconomy is innovation, the result of the skills and passion of researchers and managers able to create value and new high-qualified jobs. At the end of 2014 Il Bioeconomista launched a new initiative: The 10 Most Innovative Bioeconomy CEOs.
We have asked a panel of world bioeconomy experts to tell us the Chief Executive Officers that have stood out as the most innovative during the last year.
Now we ask you to choose the most innovative CEO responding to our survey (open till December 7 at 2 pm, Western European Time).
This is the result in 2017 (in alphabetical order)
Mossi Ghisolfi is for sale: Versalis, Total and Chinese industrial groups are interested

Mossi Ghisolfi is for sale. According to different rumors in Italy, Versalis, the chemical division of the oil giant Eni, and various European (such as the French oil colossus Total) and Asian industrial groups would be interested in acquiring the Italian chemical company which is one of the world’s largest PET manufacturer with a capacity of nearly 1.6 million tonnes per year and plants in Brazil, Mexico and the United States.
ThinkForest Seminar: Circular bioeconomy can create a sustainable, renewable society

“There would be a mainstreaming of the development of the bioeconomy over the next year, and its embedding in other policies. Bioeconomy can reach parts of society and economy that other policies can’t reach”. To say this was John Bell, Director for Bioeconomy at DG Research and Innovation, at the ThinkForest seminar which took place in Brussels last 7 November.
Rome: the eternal city becomes the bioeconomy city
More than 300 delegates from EU, USA, Russia, Turkey, Israel, Latin America and Canada, 40 presentations, 20 scientific posters and a round table on “The role of Shared pilot facilities in fostering the bioeconomy”. These are the numbers of IFIB, the Italian Forum on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioeconomy, which opens today to the world in Rome at Palazzo Rospigliosi.
An interview with Marco Astorri, CEO of Bio-on. “It is necessary to make a step forward to more circular processes”

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
Elopak and Stora Enso launched Pure-Pak cartons made of natural brown paperboard

Elopak, an international supplier of paper based packaging solutions for liquid food, based in Norway and wholly owned by the Ferd Group, and Stora Enso has launched the first gable top carton made from natural brown unbleached paperboard, creating the Naturally Pure-Pak® carton with a highly distinctive, natural look and feel.