The 3rd International BioSc Symposium with around 170 participants took place in Bonn on November 12th and 13th, 2018. National and international speakers from academia and industry presented current results and new developments for a sustainable bioeconomy. In addition to the lectures, 48 posters – three of them honored - provided connecting points for intensive scientific discussions.

On November 12^th, the fifth internal retreat for BioSC members took place in the Gustav Stresemann Institute in Bonn. All ongoing projects from phase 2 of the NRW BioSC Strategy Project were presented. In addition, four core groups presented successful bioeconomy activities outside the NRW Strategy Project. Dr. Anita Loeschcke (HHU Düsseldorf) received the 2018 BioSC Supervision Award.

The core group leaders of the four BioSc locations elected new representatives to the Executive Board who have now been confirmed. In addition, the BioSc welcomes a new core group: Prof. Dr. Eike Lüdeling heads the Horticultural Sciences Department at the University of Bonn. Dr. Stephani Baum has strengthened the team of the BioSc office since August.

Plants are essential for a sustainable bioeconomy. They form the basis for the provision of the growing world population with food- and feedstuff, biomaterials and renewable energies. At the 4^th BioSC Spotlight on October 29^th, 2018, guests from academia and industry as well as BioSC members presented research activities the aim of which is to ensure yield and quality with simultaneous reduction of pesticide and fertilizer usage. The 47 participants used the event for a lively exchange.

The National Research Center ”Kurchatov Institute”, Moscow, and the IBG-2 Plant Sciences, Forschungszentrum Jülich, hosted an initial seminar featuring bilateral presentations and discussions of bioeconomy activities in Russia and Germany. The workshop was held September 20-22, 2018 in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Purification and recycling of agriculturally used water is an issue that is receiving more and more attention. Algae can accumulate large quantities of nitrate or phosphate, for example, and thus have the potential to clean agricultural effluents as well as to be used as nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers. A BioSC workshop on this topic with international participation took place at Forschungszentrum Jülich on September 6 and 7, 2018.

For successful and sustainable development of the bioeconomy, it is necessary to assess the consequences of new technologies on the environment already during the development process. There is a long history of expertise in the field of ecotoxicology and bioanalytics in teaching and in research at the Institute for Environmental Research at the RWTH Aachen University. Newer research focuses include green toxicology and life cycle assessment.

On October 16^th, Prof. Ulrich Schwaneberg as responsible lecturer opened the lecture series “Bioeconomy – Routes to a Sustainable Economy”, which is taking place at the RWTH Aachen University during the 2018/19 winter semester. The lecture series is organized by the interdisciplinary RWTH teaching project LEONARDO and the Biotechnological Student Initiative e.V. Aachen in collaboration with the BioSC. Close to 200 students registered for the lecture at the beginning of the semester. 

The 3rd NRW-wide Doctoral Students Day, this time on the subject “Future Bioeconomy” with around 70 participants at the Lindner Congress Hotel Düsseldorf, was again a great success. The main focus was perception and representation of the bioeconomy in industry. Following keynote speeches in the morning, there was opportunity for direct and intensive exchange between representatives of bioeconomy-oriented companies and doctoral students within small groups in the afternoon.

On February 4, 2019, the 5th BioSC Spotlight “Moving the BioEconomy from Mind to Market” takes place in Bonn. Registration is open!

More information is available here: