The 2018 DECHEMA Prize has been awarded to a BioSC member. Prof. Dr. Dörte Rother from RWTH Aachen University and Forschungszentrum Jülich receives the prize in recognition of her pioneering work in the development of efficient synthetic enzyme cascades for the production of high-quality chiral substances. The prize is worth € 20,000 and will be presented at the DECHEMA Day event in Frankfurt on 23 May 2019.

Prof. Dr. Stefanie Bröring, Dr. Felix Jakob and Dr. Michael Wustmans represented the BioSC at this year´s Farm&Food 4.0. While Prof. Dr. Stefanie Bröring delivered a keynote speech on disruptive technologies, new business models and the AgriFood system of the future, Dr. Felix Jakob and Dr. Michael Wustmans from the BioSC greenRelease FocusLab welcomed round table discussion to debate new strategies for reducing pesticide usage.

The Supervision Award 2018/19 goes to Dr. Anita Loeschcke from the Institute of Molecular Enzyme Technology of the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf and the leader of the BioSC FocusLab CombiCom.

On 12-13 November 2018, the 3rd International BioSC Symposium took place in Bonn, attended by around 170 participants. The event was opened by MinR`in Andrea Nooske from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. National and international speakers from academia and industry presented recent results and new developments for a sustainable bioeconomy. Besides the oral presentation, 48 posters, three of which were awarded, initiated lively discussions.

The BioSC Forum 2018 took place on November 12 at the conference hotel of Gustav-Stresemann Institute in Bonn with around 130 participants. All projects funded in the frame of the NRW Strategy Project BioSC in 2018 were presented. Moreover, four Core Groups presented their bioeconomy activities beyond the NRW Strategy Project. Dr. Anita Loeschcke, HHU Düsseldorf, received the BioSC Supervision Award 2018.

The third 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.