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

30.04.2025

Kick-off for the public lecture series “Meet the Circular Economy” in the summer semester 2025

For the fourth time in a row, the lecture series “Meet the Circular Economy” is taking place at RWTH Aachen University under the direction of Prof. Dr. Sandra Venghaus, with the support of BioSC and others. The first event on April 29 focused on the circular economy in the chemical industry, with Dr. Wolf Klöckner from Covestro and Dr. Balint Simon from the Mitsubishi Chemical Group. The lecture series will be followed by an Innovation Challenge, in which students will develop solutions to current challenges faced by the participating companies and present them to a jury on July 8.

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29.04.2025

"RWTH Late Night" on the topic of bioeconomy

At the opening of the new exhibition “The future grows back” in the Oecher Lab on 29 April, poetry slammer Oscar Malinowski spoke with BioSC members Prof. Dr. Andreas Jupke, process engineer at RWTH Aachen University, and Dr. Marcel Gaussmann, co-founder of the start-up re.solution. The entertaining talk focused on the prerequisites for the bioeconomy and the circular economy and the specific example of textile recycling. The combo of the RWTH BigBand provided musical support for the evening.

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03.04.2025

BioSC Forum 2025: Successful internal retreat

On April 1, the 11th BioSC Forum took place in the Central Library of Forschungszentrum Jülich. After an overview of the last 15 years of the BioSC as a bioeconomy research hub in NRW, long-term developments in the fields of bioplastics, fibers, functional molecules and process technologies were presented. In breakout sessions and a subsequent panel discussion, the relevance of bioeconomy research for societal challenges such as climate change was discussed. In the afternoon, new results from ongoing BioSC projects on a wide range of topics were presented. Extensive networking rounded off the successful day.

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26.02.2025

Political kick-off for the Transformation Cluster BioökonomieREVIER

With the funding commitment of 5.83 million euros from the federal and state governments, the Rhenish mining area can continue on its way to becoming a model region for the bioeconomy. NRW Science Minister Ina Brandes and Dr. Mandy Pastohr, President of the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA) as the responsible approval authority of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection officially launched the project in Merzenich-Bürgewald on February 24, 2025.

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You can find an overview of all news articles here.

Topics

Meet the Circular Economy - Nachhaltige Innovation in der Praxis

The lecture is held during the summer semester 2025.

Next date:
May 27, 2025 | 16:00 h- 19:00 h | RWTH Aachen

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ICA Webinar
"Building Learning Communities for stimulating transformations to the Bioeconomy"

May 19, 2025 | 13:00 CET

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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

Bio-Gründer Wettbewerb
Deadline: Juni 30, 2025
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Zukunftstechnologien für die industrielle Bioökonomie (BMBF)
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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: 26.05.2025
Bremen, Germany
26.05.2025 - 28.05.2025

Himmelfahrtstagung on Bioprocess Engineering 2025

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Aachen, Germany
27.05.2025
BioSC EVENT

"Meet the Circular Economy - Nachhaltige Innovation in der Praxis"

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Turku, Finland
02.06.2025 - 04.06.2025

RRB2025 - International Conference on Renewable Resources & Biorefineries

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Aachen, Germany
03.06.2025
BioSC EVENT

"Meet the Circular Economy - Nachhaltige Innovation in der Praxis"

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Aachen, Germany
03.06.2025 - 05.06.2025

13th International Conference; Fuel Science - From Production to Propulsion"

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