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.