Bioeconomy News

Garden plant remains will soon be used to barbeque – even in German gardens.

Waterproof items are popular with the young and old. However, the waterproof layer made from chemicals is does not degrade well.

The bioeconomy – economy based on biological knowledge and resources can help to achieve key points of the UN sustainability goals and is central to the implementation of climate and sustainable goals.

Buildings are built to last, at least that is the intention. Over time, however, moisture can destroy the mortar that binds together bricks or stones, for example, when cracks from as a result of frost.

It could be one of the largest acquisitions in the chemical industry. Yet the planned Bayer billion dollar takeover of Monsanto is faltering.

These voices have weight. The debate on genetically modified plants in agriculture has garnered new nourishment from the ranks of top-level research. In an open letter to the governments, 110 Nobel Prize winners, including six German Laureates, have campaigned for the deployment of green genetic engineering.

Thanks to new innovations, and not just in biotechnology, speciality chemical company Evonik has increased the value of its innovation projects by half a billion euros.

The world of oceans and seas is the focus of the current Science Year 2016*17. It also wants people to be made aware of the largest ecosystem on Earth, which as a result of global warming, economic efficiency and pollution, is under immense environmental pressure.

Chemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer have formed an agreement with US aerospace company Planetary Resources to develop applications and products based on satellite imagery.

The agenda of the Open Source Circular Economy Days (OSCE Days) held in Berlin from 9 to 13 June showed how a circular economy without waste can work in practice.

The primary mission of the new EU-funded BiodivERsA project "STACCATO" is to advance the long-term sustainable development of land use systems against risks of global change.

The Technical University of Munich is expanding its activities in the area of synthetic biology in teaching and research. With a grant of €11.5 million, the Werner Siemens Foundation has kick-started the launch of the teaching and research domain Synthetic Biotechnology at the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

Catalysts such as enzymes can stimulate chemical processes. They are also the key to transforming chemical substances in efficient and resource-saving ways. The sustainable potential of these helpful compounds for the global economy is huge.

Specialty chemical manufacturer Evonik plans to increase its use of sustainably produced ingredients for cosmetics in the future.

The Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) announced the results of the first study on the European bioeconomy at its general assembly.

Spurned by Swiss Syngenta earlier this year, Monsanto is still looking to expand. According to press reports, the US agribusiness giant is in talks with Bayer concerning the German company’s seed and crop protection business.

German chemicals giant BASF is negotiating with Dutch chemical technology company Avantium to launch a joint venture producing polymer building blocks from renewable resources.

Since the discovery of the gene editing technique CRISPR/CAS9, the celebrated genetic “scissors” have become a staple of the genome editing toolbox, along with other methods such as TALENS and ZFNs.

Chicory is popular as a lettuce for its slightly bitter taste and can be eaten raw, baked, roasted or stuffed. Favoured for its yellowish-white creamy head of leaves, chicory is grown underground in the absence of sunlight to prevent the leaves turning green or opening up, with only the tips of the leaves showing above the surface.