Bioeconomy is the topic of the Science Year 2020. At the opening event in Berlin on 16th January, Federal Research Minister Anja Karliczek stated that the bioeconomy is a key to sustainable life and a future-proof economy. In the framework of the Science Year, the concept of the bioeconomy with all its potential and challenges will be made accessible from different perspectives.

On 15th January 2020, the Federal Cabinet adopted the National Bioeconomy Strategy. Federal Research Minister Anja Karliczek and Federal Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner presented the strategy in Berlin. It is designed to significantly support sustainable development. The sustainability goals of the United Nations provide an important framework.

Illustration: Florian Sänger for BMBF

At the BioSC Forum 2019, the Supervision Award was once again presented to junior research group leaders for outstanding achievements in supervising doctoral candidates. This year, the prize went to Dr. Thomas Drepper (HHU Düsseldorf) and Dr. Stephan Nock (Forschungszentrum Jülich).

On 18 and 19 November 2019 the 4th International BioSC Symposium took place in Cologne with about 180 participants. The speakers' contributions covered a broad spectrum from research to product development and market launch and reflected very different expertise and points of view. In addition to the presentations, 49 posters, three of which received awards, were points of contact for intensive scientific discussions. The conference once again demonstrated the need for an integrated approach to bioeconomics and provided a platform for interdisciplinary scientific discussions and future collaborations.

On November 8, the annual science night "Fünf vor zwölf" took place at RWTH Aachen University. For the BioSC, Prof. Andreas Jupke from the Aachen Process Engineering Department gave a lecture on the use of renewable raw materials. At the BioSC information stand, the research topics of the BioSC were presented and bioeconomy products that are already available on the market today were shown. Both the lecture and the stand were well attended and met with broad interest.

A team from the BioSC FocusLab greenRelease was awarded 1st prize in this year's Competition "Bio-Gründer Wettbewerb" of the Competence Centre Bio-Security. A total of 40 teams competed for the 4000 € prize, which was awarded in the fields of agriculture and food industry, biotechnology and biochemistry and related fields.