The bioeconomy speaks French. Yesterday the Government led by François Hollande endorsed its national Bioeconomy Strategy. After Spain and Italy last year, France is one of the last major biobased EU Member States to publish an official framework for the production and valorization of renewable resources.
Antoine Peeters, Head of External Relations and Partnerships at IAR – The French Bioeconomy Cluster, talks to Il Bioeconomista.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
Scandinavian company Stora Enso is investing 12 million euro to build a new production line that will manufacture biocomposite granules at Hylte Mill in Sweden. Biocomposite granules enable the use of renewable wood to substitute a large portion of the fossil-based materials in products typically produced in plastics. Production is scheduled to begin during the first quarter of 2018. The annual capacity will be approximately 15 000 tonnes per year. The ramp-up of the new production line and a new type of manufacturing is expected to take 2–3 years.
Avantium, the Dutch leading chemical technology company and forerunner in renewable chemistry, has acquired the assets of Liquid Light Inc., a renowned developer of electrochemical processes. Liquid Light has developed proprietary process technology to make major chemicals from low-cost, globally-abundant carbon dioxide (CO2). The acquisition combines the technologies of both Liquid Light and Avantium to develop a world leading electro-catalysis platform and to commercialize new process technologies using CO2 as feedstock to produce sustainable chemicals and materials. The integration of the Liquid Light assets into Avantium is complete and effective immediately. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Global Bioenergies expands in the Netherlands. The French biotech company led by Marc Delcourt signed a contribution agreement with the shareholders of Syngip B.V. to transfer all Syngip shares to Global Bioenergies S.A. The transaction’s completion remains subject to the fulfilment of several suspensive conditions including approval by the shareholders of Global Bioenergies.
Dear Readers,
thank you very much, again. 2016 was another great year for Il Bioeconomista: 14% more visits to our blog. This shows us how the bioeconomy is increasingly a phenomenon that attracts the attention of global public opinion and gratifies us as journalists, observers of a reality that we have always defined as the industrial revolution of the Third Millennium.
“In 2015 the UK Government published its first report demonstrating how important the bioeconomy is to the UK. They commissioned a second report in 2016, ‘Evidencing the bioeconomy’, which estimated the bioeconomy generated £220bn in Gross Value Added and supported over five million jobs in the UK”. Margaret Smallwood, CEO of BioVale, an innovation cluster supporting development of the bioeconomy in Yorkshire and the Humber, talks to Il Bioeconomista. In this exclusive interview she talks about the bioeconomy in UK after Brexit and the election of Donald Trump as US President.
Interview by Mario Bonaccorso
Our readers have voted: the most innovative bioeconomy CEO 2016 is Ken Richards, CEO of Leaf Resources, the Australian company focused on making sustainable products from plant biomass.
We heartily congratulate him on this important recognition and sincerely thank our readers for the great participation in the survey. Our blog has seen a boom of visits in these two days. The bioeconomy revolution is a reality thanks to visionary managers like Ken Richards, the other nine selected along with Richards in the list of the 10 most innovative bioeconomy CEOs and to all those who in different roles contribute to research, develop and commercialize new bio-based products.
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. This year we want to engage our readers, asking you to choose the most innovative CEO responding to our survey.
This is the result in 2016 (in alphabetical order)
Leaf Resources, the Australian company which is focused on making sustainable products from plant biomass, today announced a collaboration with Novozymes, the world’s largest producer of industrial enzymes, to further increase the yields and efficiency associated with Leaf Resources’ innovative biomass conversion technology, Glycell, which is a unique combination of well-established process engineering and advanced chemistry.
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