As part of the bioeconomy strategy published in 2020 "Zukunft.Bioökonomie.Bayern" ("Future. Bioeconomy. Bavaria"), the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs has launched a funding program to strengthen the industrial bioeconomy. With "Bioeconomy Scale-Up", companies are supported in setting up production facilities that use renewable raw materials with high added value and positive climate effects. These include biorefinery concepts and bioproduct plants.

Since 2014, the Association for General and Applied Microbiology (VAAM) has annually selected a significant organism from the field of microbiology. With this year's decision for the eukaryotic unicellular organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the choice has fallen on one of the oldest and best-known production organisms in biotechnology.

Chocolate, potato chips and organic fuel all have one thing in common - they all contain the popular resource palm oil. However, the cultivation of palm oil is controversial. Worldwide, around 19 million hectares of rainforest have already been cleared for this purpose. This not only releases large quantities of the greenhouse gas CO₂, but also destroys important habitats for flora and fauna.

The European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator has distributed €627 million to 99 startups and SMEs in its latest and largest funding round to date. Twelve German companies were among the beneficiaries - including BIOWEG, CO2BioClean and Genome Biologics. The funds come from the Horizon Europe program.

Whether cables, car tires, packaging or children's toys: many everyday objects are made of plastic. The versatility of plastic is enabled by plasticizers, which not only make the material softer, but also more flexible, elastic or resilient. But plasticizers, like conventional plastics, also consist largely of petroleum, which is neither climate-friendly nor infinitely available. In the "Bioplasticizers" project, partners from research and industry have therefore been researching a sustainable alternative since 2017.

Around one third of Germany's agricultural land is used for meadows and pastures. In its natural state, grassland is one of the world's most species-rich ecosystems and, according to experts, can even compete with the species richness of rainforests. Meadows and pastures are not only an important source of food for insects, they are also resistant to storms and can store carbon in the soil for a long time.

In view of a growing population and dwindling resources as a result of climate change, alternative protein sources are becoming increasingly important. A wide range is available: legumes, algae, fungi and insects, as well as proteins obtained by cell-based or fermentative processes, are suitable as a source of raw materials for a healthy, environmentally conscious and sustainable diet.

It comes in red, pink, creamy white - and now also in cinnamon, bright lemon yellow and even bicolor: the poinsettia. Originally from Central America, the tropical plant with the Latin name Euphorbia pulcherrima is the second most popular ornamental plant in this country after the orchid. And despite a wide range of colors - the red poinsettia is still considered the favorite.