In order to strengthen the bioeconomy location of North Rhine-Westphalia, the state government has decided to establish the Bioeconomy Council NRW which will be involved in developing a bioeconomy strategy for North Rhine-Westphalia over the next two years. Among the 15 experts from industry, science and civil society are three members of the BioSC, Prof. Dr. Monika Hartmann, Prof. Dr. Ralf Pude and Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schurr, as well as Prof. Dr. Stefanie Bröring, BioSC member until 2022.

Two research teams led by Dr. Till Tiso (Institute of Applied Microbiology, RWTH Aachen University, and member of the BioSC) have successfully acquired research projects to continue work from the BioSC projects SurfIn, Bio² and NovoSurf, among others.

(Photo: iAMB, RWTH Aachen)

Four members of the BioSC have been honoured this year as "Highly Cited Researchers" by the analysis platform "Web of Science": Björn Usadel (Forschungszentrum Jülich/HHU Düsseldorf), Hendrik Poorter (Forschungszentrum Jülich), Frank Ewert (University of Bonn/ZALF Müncheberg) and Matin Qaim (University of Bonn). A total of 6,849 people from 67 countries and regions were honoured this year. They are authors of publications that have been among the 1% most cited in their field(s) and publication year(s) in the last ten years.

The 29th BioSC Lecture took place on 10 November 2023 as part of the Jülich Biotech Day. Prof. Dr. Verena Siewers from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg presented the establishment of yeast as a platform organism for the synthesis of flavonoids in a microbial consortium, using metabolic biosensors and directed evolution methods.

The 7th International BioSC Symposium on 6 and 7 November 2023 once again covered a broad spectrum of topics. At the LVR Landesmuseum Bonn, around 130 participants from academia, industry, civil society and politics discussed current topics and developments, from primary production and the development of new products and concepts to sustainability assessment and social transformation. The presentations and discussions were complemented by 39 posters, three of which were awarded prizes.

The 8th NRW PhD Day "Future Bioeconomy" took place on 25 October 2023 in Neuss with around 70 participants, this year on the topic of "Biomass as feedstock". PhD students from all over NRW from a wide range of disciplines took the opportunity to exchange ideas and network, both with the speakers and among each other. The speakers gave very realistic reports on the challenges and obstacles in the transformation from fossil to bio-based raw materials.