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.

From June 26 to July 9, Prof. Gregory LeFevre, University of Iowa, stayed in the Core Group of Prof. Ulrich Schwaneberg, RWTH Aachen. Main topics of his research are biotransformations in relation to the impact and fate of various contaminants in the environment.

On 15th May, industry leaders and junior scientists were invited together to a one-day symposium. The event focussed on the research areas “Antibiotics research” and “Plant innovation”.

The bioeconomy has yet to be appropriately included in international fora on innovation, climate, biodiversity and sustainable development policy. Therefore, bioeconomy needs its own independent global forum. This is what the 700 participants agreed upon at the second Global Bioeconomy Summit 2018 in Berlin.

The Innovation prize is being awarded annually for excellent ideas in the areas of life sciences and biotechnology. In the frame of the German Biotechnology Days 2018, Dr. Felix Jakob, Prof. Ulrich Schwaneberg und Prof. Andrij Pich received the prize which is endowed with 2.000 € and sponsored by the journal BIOSpektrum. The Jury stated that the development of microgel containers for controlled release of nutrients and protective agents has the potential to solve important problems in agriculture.

Integrative research approaches promoting the transition towards a sustainable bioeconomy in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) – this is the objective of the two new "FocusLabs" which will be funded for three years from 2018 onwards. These FocusLabs are part of the Bioeconomy Science Center (BioSC), NRW’s scientific centre of excellence for sustainable bioeconomy.