Evonik expands its green venture capital activities into Asia

Marco Reus. Evonik is popular as main sponsor of German Football team Borussia Dortmund
Marco Reus. Evonik is popular as main sponsor of German Football team Borussia Dortmund

Evonik expands its green venture capital activities into Asia. The German company announced last Thursday an investment in the Chinese venture capital fund GRC SinoGreen Fund III (GRC III). The parties agreed to not disclose the amount of the investment. As a result, the company is now represented in the most important venture capital regions of North America, Europe, and Asia. GRC invests in private, green technology companies with unique strengths and substantial growth potential in Greater China. Target sectors include energy and resource efficiency, cleaner transportation, sustainability, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

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New report: In EU5 the bioeconomy is worth €1.27 trillion and employs 7 million people

Sustainable Intesa Sanpaolo's Pavillion at Expo 2015 in Milan
Sustainable Intesa Sanpaolo’s Pavillion at Expo 2015 in Milan

In 2013, bioeconomy in Italy has shown a production potential amounting to 244 billion euro, equal to 7.9% of the total value of national production, employing approximately 1.5 million people. Italy – only country among EU5 still without a National strategy on bioeconomy – is in third position. Germany is first with a production worth €343 billion and France second with €295 billion. Spain is fourth (€219 billion) followed by the UK (€170 billion). In these five countries, the bioeconomy is worth €1.27 trillion and employs 7 million people.

The Intesa Sanpaolo Research Department (Intesa Sanpaolo is one of the major banking group in Europe) and Assobiotec presented their second report dedicated to bioeconomy, which, in line with the definition of the European Commission, was defined as the set of activities using renewable natural resources to produce goods and energy, generating great advantages in terms of sustainability.

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Global Bioenergies and LanzaTech strenghthen cooperation to build the world bioeconomy

Jennifer Holmgren, Ceo of Lanzatech
Jennifer Holmgren, Ceo of Lanzatech

Global Bioenergies and LanzaTech announce the signature of a new collaboration agreement to broaden the feedstock flexibility of Global Bioenergies’ Isobutene process and the product-portfolio of LanzaTech’s carbon capture technology.

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French biotech company Global Bioenergies widens cooperation with Audi

The chemical site of Leuna, Germany Copyright InfraLeuna GmbH / Horst Fechner
The chemical site of Leuna, Germany. Copyright InfraLeuna GmbH / Horst Fechner

Global Bioenergies, French biotech company that is developing a process to convert renewable resources into hydrocarbons through fermentation, and Audi announce the signature of a new collaboration agreement to further broaden the feedstock flexibility of Global Bioenergies’ Isobutene process.

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It’s a real boom for Il Bioeconomista in 2015. Thank you and happy new year!

happy-new-year-2016-photosDear Readers,

thank you very much, heartily. 2015 ended with excellent results for Il Bioeconomista: over 46% more visits to our blog. It is a real boom, which shows 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.

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In Italy the world’s first facility for the production of PHAs bioplastics from glycerol

Marco Astorri
Marco Astorri

Bio-on and SECI Spa, part of Gruppo Industriale Maccaferri holding, signed an agreement to build the world’s first facility for the production of PHAs bioplastic from biodiesel production co-products, namely glycerol. The two companies will work together to build a production site with a 5 thousand tons/year output, expandable to 10 thousand tons/year.

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The 10 Most Innovative Bioeconomy Chief Executive Officers in 2015

Bioeconomy every day @ BioBased World 2015 in Frankfurt am Main
Bioeconomy every day @ BioBased World 2015 in Frankfurt am Main

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 ask 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 is the result in 2015:

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Southern Italy re-starts. An interview with Pasquale Granata, GFBiochemicals

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Pasquale Granata

Caserta re-starts from the bioeconomy. If the Southern Italian city between the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries was known everywhere for the quality of its silk, today can aspire to become a center of gravity of the new sustainable bio-based economy. Here, GF Biochemicals launched last July the commercial-scale production of levulinic acid, using biomass as feedstock. The levulinic acid is a chemical building block that is used in various industrial sectors, from pharmaceuticals to cosmetics, from personal care to flavors and fragrances, from coating to fuel additives. In 2015 the company has produced 2 thousand tons and aims at producing 10 thousand tons in 2017 and up 50 thousand tons by 2019. A revolution, if we think that the company located in Caserta is certain to offer to the market in a few years the bio-based levulinic acid to a price of one dollar per kilo, versus the current 4-5 dollars per kilo for the corresponding product from oil, offering the same performance.
The protagonists of this bio-revolution, which is a key to economic development crucial for Italy and the Southern Italy in particular, are Pasquale Granata, young local entrepreneur, and Mathieu Flamini, the famous Arsenal player, former AC Milan, who unveiled a few days ago his involvement in the company in an interview with the Sun on Sunday.
In this exclusive interview is Pasquale Granata to talk with us about GFBiochemicals and the bioeconomy, as a key to regional regeneration to create economic development and new jobs within a framework of eco-sustainability.

Interview by Mario Bonaccorso

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Stora Enso is increasingly a renewable materials company

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Karl-Henrik Sundström, Ceo of Stora Enso

Another important step on the road to Stora Enso’s transformation into a renewable materials company. The pulp and paper manufacturer headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, inaugurated yesterday the new Innovation Centre for biomaterials in Stockholm, that will host research, application, business development and strategic marketing under one roof.

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Intesa Sanpaolo becomes a Global Partner of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation

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Ellen MacArthur and Carlo Messina yesterday in Milan

Intesa Sanpaolo, Italian major banking group, has become a Global Partner of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, demonstrating its intention to become a key player in the network of stakeholders supporting the transition to a circular economy. The partnership was signed yesterday by Carlo Messina, CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo, and Ellen MacArthur, Chairman and founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. In its role as Global Partner, Intesa Sanpaolo will help to redefine business strategies to capture new opportunities, and will ensure financial support for investments used to re-design the industrial system.

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