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JANUARY 2019
Steps to a
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elcome to this New Year edition of Innovators
Magazine, which is being distributed at the
annual conference of the Industrial Biotechnology
Innovation Centre (IBioIC) in Glasgow.
Finding solutions to the long list of global grand challenges is
the only pathway that leads to a sustainable future for humanity.
The fate of tomorrow’s generations, like never before, now de-
pends on the actions industry and government leaders
choose to take today.
Step forward biotechnology, which has a major role to play
in developing innovations that can deliver a majority of the UN
Sustainable Development Goals, or what has been labelled the
‘blueprint for a better future’. Exploring this argument further
inside this edition, we look at what fast-tracking the transition to
a sustainable bioeconomy would mean for eforts to tackle the
climate crisis, defne the future of food, and create a more
circular economy.
Pointing the way, Joanna Dupont-Inglis, Secretary General of the
European Association for Bioindustries, EuropaBio, writes about
how efective cross-sector collaboration can speed up the pro-
cess. While Bruce Friedrich, Executive Director of the Good Food
Institute, looks at the mainstreaming of the plant-based food rev-
olution. Dr Rocio Ortego, our expert analyst on global health and
climate issues, also discusses the work Doctors Without Borders is
doing to raise awareness of the links between
health and climate. And in our special feature
section on IBioIC, we highlight how the market
in Scotland is impacting biotech at a national
and international level.
IN THIS ISSUE
TEAM
Editor’s word
Iain
Robertson
Editor
4 Europe
6 Climate
8 Food
22 Circular Economy
14 IBioIC Feature
Industrial Biotechnology for a
Sustainable Future
In the spotlight:
10 Bouygues
12 INFORS HT
We accept no responsibility for any efects from errors or omissions.
All material is copyright and reproduction is not permitted without express permission. All rights reserved.
innovatorsmag.com
@innovatorsmag
connect@innovatorsmag.com
innovatorsmag
Engagement | Editorial Carlotta De Toni
Design | Creative Blair Carrick
Partnerships | Publishing Susan Robertson
Insight | Analysis Dr Rocio Ortego
Research | Editorial Ebba Engstrom
Strategy | Editorial Iain Robertson
Insight | Analysis Marc Buckley
GET IN TOUCH
Welcome
BIOTECH
SUSTAINABILITY +
Made in Germany
Innovators is a
onepoint5media publication
Fostering partnerships and
collaboration to realise the
potential of Bioeconomy in Europe
Make the
connection
ver the past couple of years,
the European bioeconomy has
become a key discussion point
for policy makers, scientists and industry
alike. The European Commission aims
to move towards a more low-emissions
and innovative economy “reconciling
demands for sustainable
agriculture and
fsheries, food
security, and the
sustainable use of
renewable biological
resources for industrial
purposes, while ensuring
biodiversity and environmental
protection”. Investing solely in the
development and commercialisation
of new sustainable technologies and
products is not enough to achieve such
an ambitious goal. One important point to
realise the potential of the bioeconomy
is strong mobilisation and collaboration
between actors in the bioeconomy and
the bio-based industries, throughout
all segments of the value chain. New
partnerships can result in new ideas
which in turn can help to more rapidly
deploy bio-based solutions, including at
regional and local level. Cooperation, new
initiatives, eforts and knowledge exchange
between actors such as entrepreneurs,
brands, local communities, policy makers,
scientists, producers and journalists are
thus key factors to raise awareness about
the potential and benefts of the
bioeconomy. Several alliances,
partnerships, clusters, and
projects have been put in
place over the last years
and will remain important
vehicles for change,
not least in view of the
implementation of the
recently updated European
Bioeconomy Strategy.
These important endeavours
have included the creation in 2015 of
the European Bioeconomy Alliance,
where EuropaBio is a founding member.
This group is composed of 12 members
representing sectors active in the
bioeconomy, namely agriculture, forestry,
biotechnology, sugar, starch, vegetable
oils, pulp and paper, bioplastics, renewable
ethanol, and research & innovation.
Bringing critical mass, connecting key
sectors and creating new value chains in
the bioeconomy are amongst the driving
forces behind the Bio-Based Industries
Joint Undertaking (BBI JU), launched in
2014. EuropaBio played a leading role
as founding partner in the initiation
and development of this €3.7 billion
public-private partnership between
the European Union and the Bio-Based
Industries Consortium. BBI JU has a
diverse project portfolio, covering value
chains based on agro-food by-products,
forest biomass, bio-waste and aquatic
biomass, and the activities are well-
balanced between research & innovation
actions, demonstration, fagship and
coordination and support actions. Due
to these BBI JU projects, sectors that may
have never collaborated before, are now
working together under one pan-European
structure. By building bridges between key
stakeholders from across a diverse range of
relevant industrial sectors, including large
companies and SMEs, academia, regional
and technological clusters, relevant
knowledge is combined to achieve
innovation objectives and leverage
investments. It will be important to keep
building upon these successes.
Another initiative that promotes a more
Joanna
Dupont-
Inglis
By Joanna Dupont-Inglis, Secretary General, EuropaBio
cohesive approach amongst stakeholders
throughout the bio-based communities
is EFIB, the European Forum for Industrial
Biotechnology and the Bioeconomy.
Initiated twelve years ago with a few dozen
participants, the annual forum now brings
together more than 500 delegates in
search for collaboration and engagement
with new interlocutors from the bio-based
community. Finally, a recent and important
milestone in the context of the European
Bioeconomy was the publication by the
European Commission in October 2018
of the updated European Bioeconomy
Strategy. The revision of the strategy clearly
paved the way to a more integrative plan of
action, aiming to create a sustainable and
circular bioeconomy in the EU. Initiated by
the 2012 European Bioeconomy Strategy,
the Bioeconomy Stakeholder Panel, a pan-
European group made up of NGOs, trade
unions, regional organisations, technology
platforms, academia and industry
representatives set out to align on guiding
principles, actions and recommendations
for the future development of a sustainable
bioeconomy. A milestone event in this
respect was the adoption of the European
Bioeconomy Stakeholders Manifesto in
November 2017.
I would conclude by emphasising the
importance of breaking through
traditional silos in our quest to reduce,
reuse, recycle and to produce smarter,
more sustainable, renewable products.
The bioeconomy has shown that it is no
longer a niche sector but encompasses a
vast landscape of disciplines and industries
and pools national and regional assets,
strengths, and skills. The ability to learn
from one another and implement locally
by connecting the dots between the
multi-actor bio-based networks will be
essential in accessing sustainable solutions
to deliver on this updated European
Bioeconomy Strategy. As can be seen,
many partnerships and achievements
have already been realised. However, a
lot of work is still to be done if we want
to reach the enormous potential that the
bioeconomy has to ofer, but there is also
great motivation to reach concrete results
and to work together in this endeavour.
EFIB 2018, Toulouse
Delivering the European Bioeconomy Stakeholders Manifesto to Commissioner Moedas.
hat is one of the key fndings in a
recent report from Médecins Sans
Frontières (MSF), which translates to
Doctors without Borders, an organisation
I am sure many of you are aware of. It is a
worldwide movement of more than 42,000
people that provides medical assistance to
people afected by confict, epidemics, and
disasters. At the recent COP24 in Poland, I
caught up with Dr Maria Guevara, Senior
Operational Positioning and Advocacy
Advisor at MSF, for this biotech and
sustainability edition of Innovators Magazine,
to fnd out about the links between health
and climate change and the work MSF is
doing to raise awareness about it.
“There remains a ‘global denial’ on just how
connected climate change is with health,
much less with humanitarian action, and
the work to raise awareness of the issues is
as much within the organisational fold as it
is in the larger community,” Dr Guevara said.
“Unfortunately, emergencies are increasingly
becoming more complex. Unless we actually
begin to see how interrelated emergency
situations, whether due to confict, natural
disasters, or epidemics, are with climate
change, we will fail to respond efectively to
the needs. As it is, the international response
capacity today is already ill-equipped.”
MSF, which works globally in the most
underserved areas, and in the worst climate
afected hotspots, is stepping up its eforts
to end the denial. At COP24 Dr Guevara
presented a briefng paper that integrated
the fndings of the 2018 report of the
Lancet Countdown (lancetcountdown.
org) on the connections between climate
change and health, with MSF’s on-the-
ground experience in treating some of the
world’s most vulnerable populations, with
a view to highlighting the dramatic health
consequences already unfolding.
“This report is our frst foray into climate
change discussions and is a glimpse of our
initial refections into making the linkages
between climate change and health as an
organisation,” she said. “We need to be better
prepared, improve our knowledge-base,
work more closely together and bring each
of our collective advantages to the table.
Seeing the reality on the ground of some of
the larger health and humanitarian impacts
places MSF at the heart of the issue, and we
‘The health impacts of climate change
demand an urgent response, with
unmitigated warming threatening to
undermine health systems and core
global health objectives’.
Climate
crisis
+ health
By Dr Rocio Ortego,
contributing expert analyst on global health and climate
have the data to contribute greatly to help
bridge the knowledge gap.”
Among the fndings, is a call for greater
cross sector collaboration and improved
planning to ‘build the specifc skills and
capacities of humanitarian organisations’ to
better tackle the many challenges that are
arising. You can fnd a link to the briefng at
lancetcountdown.org/the-report.
“Climate Change is real, the impacts of
global warming are real, and as emergencies
become increasingly more complex we are
falling further behind the eight ball. The
reality is that the international
community is not
equipped enough to
manage the growing
humanitarian crisis
globally,” added Dr Guevara. “It is important to
remember that the impact of climate change
is disproportionately afecting the ‘already
vulnerable’. While the resilience of the global
community is important, this will be a longer-
term goal. Today the immediate concern is to
go where the biggest needs are and where
the most vulnerable people need help
now. We need governments to act now,
and enact policies to treat people with
humanity and provide the resources needed
for climate change action that include health
and humanitarian responses.”
Dr. Maria S. Guevara & Dr Rocio Ortego
Acknowledgements:
The MSF brief was written by Bruno Jochum,
Carol Devine, Dr Philippe Calain, Dr Maria
Guevara, Patricia Nayna Schwerdtle, Linn
Biorklund Belliveau, Dr Syed Imran Ali, Léo
L. Tremblay, Dr Lachlan McIver, Ken Xue,
Geza Harczi, Dr Wendy Lai, Sarah Lamb,
Olivia Collet and Dr Simba Tirima, with
contributions by Dr Kiran Jobanputra, Dr
Micaela Serafni and Natasha Reyes, and
critical review provided by Dr James Orbinski.
Contributions and review on behalf of the
Lancet Countdown were provided by Dr
Courtney Howard and Dr Nick Watts.
Go to
msf.org
to learn more about the
issues and fnd out how you
can get involved.
Changing
What we eat
By Bruce Friedrich, Executive Director, The Good Food Institute
“If we can grow the meat without the animal,
why wouldn’t we?”
t’s a great question posed last August
by then-CEO of global meat giant Tyson
Foods, Tom Hayes.
Why not indeed, particularly when
producing animal-free meat could solve
some of the greatest global issues of our
time while paying serious dividends to the
bright minds who make it possible.
It’s a question that a growing number of
innovators have asked themselves as they
race to bring the most compelling solutions
– plant-based and clean meat – to market.
Since speaking to Innovators Magazine in
January of last year, the momentum of this
work to transform the global meat industry
has been startling. This trillion Euro market is
growing rapidly, but its inherent
inefciency makes it ripe for innovation.
It can’t happen soon enough, given the
damage industrial animal agriculture causes
to the environment, food security, public
health, and animals.
That is why The Good Food Institute
exists – to shift our supply from slaughter-
based meat to plant-based and clean meat
- which is real meat grown directly from
cells. The potential has been recognised by
governments, big food, and some of the
world’s largest meat producers, who, just
like Tyson Foods, have made substantial
investments in the space.
The success of established plant-based
meat companies like Beyond Meat and
Impossible Foods continues to boggle
my mind. Despite expanding production
facilities and adding new shifts, neither
company can keep up with the demand
for their products, which now feature at
popular restaurant chains like TGI Fridays
and White Castle.
Perhaps even more surprising have
been the advances in clean meat. Startups
working in this space are now closer than
ever to commercialising their products,
already achieving milestones that some
had predicted to be far in the future. For
example, California’s Finless Foods aims to
bring its bluefn tuna to market by the end
of 2019, and Dutch company Mosa Meats
has announced plans to sell clean meat
beef by 2021.
Funding continues to pour into these
companies, coming from global venture
capital frms to the world’s leading meat
companies like Tyson, Cargill, and PHW
Group – which is the largest chicken
company in Germany.
Canada’s largest meat producer Maple
Leaf Foods acquired plant-based meat
companies Field Roast and Lightlife. Also in
2018, Mosa Meats announced that it raised
$8.8 million in funding with the support of
Bell Food Group, one of Europe’s leading
meat processors.
These investments have been a pleasant
surprise, given that years ago, it was an
open question as to whether the meat
industry would work to stife innovation
in meat production. But instead, more and
more meat companies have embraced
plant-based and cell-based meat as
they work to diversify their oferings to
match consumers’ changing appetites.
And research shows that consumers are
hungry for slaughter-free meat, refecting
a growing concern around the health,
ethical, and environmental impacts of
conventional meat production.
Plant-based meat sales are soaring, with
The Good Food Institute’s most recent
survey with Nielsen showing that one in
every fve U.S. households are buying these
products. Sales are up by 23 percent in just
one year. If this growth rate continues like it
did for plant-based milks, the market could
soon be worth more than $10 billion.
There is also widespread interest in clean
meat, with most Americans saying they
would be willing to try it and would
consider replacing conventional meat with
these slaughter-free products. Fully 40%
say they would pay a premium for clean
meat. And that’s before any products are
available on the market!
There is striking evidence to support our
goal of transforming the meat industry to
better means of production. From scientifc
breakthroughs and investor excitement to
industry support and consumer demand, it
could not be clearer that plant-based and
clean meat will be the future.
These are the felds where innovators can
do an amazing amount of good in the
world, while doing very well for themselves
in the process.
gf.org
Bruce
Friedrich
MOSA MEATS
10
In December last year, the UK government published their
bioeconomy strategy; Growing the Bioeconomy: A national
bioeconomy strategy to 2030. Echoing many of the key messages
highlighted in the European Bioeconomy Strategy, the UK paper
emphasised the strength of our sector both in terms of societal
impact and fnancial value.
The strategy presents itself as the result of extensive consultation
between government, industry specialists and the research
community and defnes bioeconomy as “the economic potential of
harnessing the power of bioscience and biotechnology.”
As ambassadors of the UK bioeconomy, we are well aware of what
our industry is worth. From the production of more sustainable food,
to the development of environmentally friendly bio-fuels, the growth
of the bioeconomy benefts us all. But the UK Bioeconomy Strategy
also impacts the Clean Growth Strategy, the Life Sciences Strategy,
the Industrial Strategy and of course the overarching European
Bioeconomy Strategy. The importance of getting the UK bioeconomy
right, is enormous.
Then there’s the national economic impact of a thriving
biotechnology sector. The UK bioeconomy is currently responsible
for up to 5 million jobs in the UK, with an estimated worth of
£220billion GVA; yet the government has ambitions for further
growth, where the UK is a global leader in bio-based solutions. The
government predicts that the UK bioeconomy will double in size
in the next 10-15 years and with the global market for biorefneries
alone set to soar to £550billion by 2021, this prediction doesn’t
seem at all unlikely.
“The bioeconomy represents the economic
potential of harnessing the power of bioscience
and biotechnology”
Richard Harrington, Parliamentary Undersecretary of State,
Minister for Business and Industry said: “A strong and vibrant
bioeconomy harnesses the power of bioscience and biotechnology,
transforming the way we address challenges in food, chemicals,
materials, energy and fuel production, health and the environment.”
“The strategy sows the seeds to grow a world-class bioeconomy,
building on the UK’s strength to develop solutions that are
economically and environmentally sustainable.”
Four key challenges
Growing the Bioeconomy delineates the government’s approach
to transformation by outlining a wide range of opportunities ac-
cessible to the UK, enabling us to boost national productivity and
address key challenges such as food, chemicals, materials, energy
production, health and environment.
This is articulated through four high-level goals
1. To capitalise on the UK’s “world-class” research, development and
innovation base.
2. To maximise the potential of bioeconomy assets to increase
productivity from our existing renewable biological resources.
3. To support industry in order to delivery positive benefts for
the UK economy.
4. To create fair conditions in national and international markets to
allow innovative bio-based products and services to thrive.
Facilitating the strategy
These are the actions required to facilitate the growth of the UK
bioeconomy, but to be successful continued collaboration between
government, industry and research organisations is vital. Bouygues
Energies & Services is one of the key players and contributors to the
UK bioeconomy and they have a history of working in collaboration
with the leading UK research organisations. From experience of
working with a variety of highly innovative and pioneering clients,
they agree that although the technology and ideas exist, there’s a
requirement for improved high-level investment process, better
collaboration and knowledge exchange between the
diferent stakeholders.
By accepting the challenge of investment for businesses operating
in the biotechnology sector, hopefully the new bioeconomy
strategy will pave the way for improved opportunities - especially for
disruptive start-ups and spin-ofs - potentially through the creation
of lucrative Sector Deals like those that have been established for Life
Sciences and Construction.
Refecting upon this approach, Zeb Ahmed, Deputy Managing
Director, Bouygues Energies & Services stated: “With an
unprecedented demand for resources, Bouygues Energies &
Services fully endorse and support making the UK the global
bouygues-es.co.uk
PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
DEFINING OUR ROLE
By Bouygues Energies & Services
IN THE UK’S
BIOECONOMY
STRATEGY