Research • Educate • Connect
Towards a sustainable bioeconomy

Research • Educate • Connect
Towards a sustainable bioeconomy
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Sustainable bioeconomy!?

What is it? And how can research and education contribute to the transformation to a bio-based economy?

The Bioeconomy Science Center explanatory film provides a first insight into bioeconomy. It describes how interdisciplinary and integrative research cooperation on a regional scale can be organized and what is required to develop solution approaches for the challenges of the 21st century.

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Food security
Climate protection
Resource management
Energy supply

Integrative bioeconomy  |  Finding solutions for societal challenges

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Challenge Food security

How can we succeed in supplying a growing world population with high quality foods?

Unfavorable and complex constraints such as limitation of agricultural areas, competing uses of renewable resources – energetically or materially – and changing consumption habits call for new cross-disciplinary approaches from the field of sustainable bioeconomy. 

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Challenge Climate protection

How can the impacts of human activity on the earth’s climate be minimized?

The sustainable production of energy and renewable resources through resource-efficient processes and the development of a closed-cycle economy is an important aspect of adapting to climate change. Already today, the concept of a sustainable bioeconomy offers many solutions for improving climate protection.

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Challenge Resource management

How can we meet requirements for resources and energy production that are both secure and economical?

This can only be achieved through sustainable management of our natural resources, including air, water, climate and ecosystems. A sustainable bioeconomy can provide a number of promising solutions in this area.

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Challenge Energy supply

How can renewable fuels for mobile applications and bioenergy be made available sustainably and for the long term?

Its storage capability is what makes bioenergy such an important part of the future energy mix. It is an indispensable component that can compete with energy sources such as wind and solar energy that are not always available. The sustainable bioeconomy offers solutions for developing integrated production processes for sustainable production.

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Current news

30.04.2026

"Meet the Circular Economy": A Successful Kickoff

For the fifth year in a row, the lecture series “Meet the Circular Economy,” led by Prof. Dr. Sandra Venghaus, takes place at RWTH Aachen University during the 2026 summer semester. At the first session, Dr. Stefanie Eiden of Covestro and Wolfgang Köster of WEPA presented their companies’ concepts for the circular use of polymers respectively paper and pulp fibers.

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17.03.2026

LipiTune receives funding from The Materials Lab Incubator

Congratulations to the team of LipiTune for receiving the Warpspeed Fund from The Materials Lab Incubator with a total budget of 200,000€. The team behind LipiTune consists of four people from the RWTH Aachen: Marcel Mann, Benedikt Riedel, Paul Richter, Thomas Steimann. The project had its beginnings in the Boost Fund 2.0 project NextVegOil.

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13.03.2026

BioSC at the Circular Valley Convention 2026

Many stimulating conversations at the Circular Valley Convention have once again shown the essential role of research and systemic knowledge for a sustainable bio-based and circular economy. With LipiTune and re.solution, two startups that originated from BioSC projects could be presented. Thank you to our conversation partners, the organizers, and to BioökonomieREVIER for setting up a joint booth!

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18.01.2026

New BioSC projects in 2026

Eight new interdisciplinary SEED FUND 3.0 projects and a White Paper have been launched around the turn of the year. Topics include the optimization of enzymes, production organisms and crops using synthetic biology and bioinformatics, the development of bio-based materials for pharmaceutical and agricultural applications, and the investigation of soil properties and quality in innovative cultivation systems.

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You can find an overview of all news articles here.

Topics

BioSC Spotlights 2026

"Green Chemistry for a Sustainable Bioeconomy"
22 June 2026 | Aachen
"Towards a future automated agriculture - From mission to implementation"
2 July 2026 | Jülich
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Meet the Circular Economy - Nachhaltige Innovation in der Praxis

The public lecture series is held during the summer semester 2026.
Tuesday | 16:00 h- 19:00 h | RWTH Aachen

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Christian-Wandrey-Preis 2026
Apply now!

Registration deadline: July 31, 2026

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Publications

Grebe, LA, Richter, P, Altenkirch, T, Mann, M, Müller, MJ, Büchs, J and Magnus, JB (2025). Sampling-free investigation of microbial carbon source preferences on renewable feedstocks via online monitoring of oxygen transfer rate. Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering 48(3): 413-425.   NextVegOil

Halle, L, Höppner, D, Doser, M, Brüsseler, C, Gätgens, J, Conen, N, Jupke, A, Marienhagen, J and Noack, S (2025). From molasses to purified α-ketoglutarate with engineered Corynebacterium glutamicum. Bioresource Technology 416: 131803.   BioPlastiCycle

Schoofs, L, Weidener, D, Leitner, W, Klose, H and Grande, PM (2025). Lignocellulose Treatment Using a Flow-Through Variant of OrganoCat Process. ChemSusChem 18(3): e202401063.   LignoTex

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Calls

Bioeconomy International 2027
Deadline: June 3, 2026
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Eureka Biotech Call for Network Project
Deadline: September 25, 2026
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Generation B(ioeconomy)

Research plus mentoring - Funded by the Marga and Walter Boll Foundation

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Events

next event: 11.05.2026
Mainz, Germany
11.05.2026 - 13.05.2026

Himmelsfahrtstagung on Bioprocess Engineering 2026

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Aachen, Germany
23.06.2026 - 25.06.2026

Fuel & Chemical Science - From Production to Application

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Bonn, Germany
03.09.2026

Agrarforschungstag NRW 2026

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