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Experts, enthusiasts and inventors from over 70 cities from 37 countries took part in the international event to exchange ideas and numerous prototypes of the circular economy of tomorrow. Two years ago, the French/German founders of the association Circular came up with the idea behind the events. More than 900 participants came to this year’s OSCE Days in Berlin. The challenges of the circular economy were discussed in presentations, podium discussions, exhibitions and work groups. This year’s focus was on designer fashion from recycled textiles or the second life of wood waste. The Friedrich Ebert Foundation presented a study on the current state of the circular economy in Germany.

The founders of the Berlin association Circular have big plans. They imagine a world without any kind of waste. “We want to see the economy as circular, instead of a value chain, as it’s currently viewed,” explains Simon Lee, who studied maths in Berlin and now wants to set up an experimental field for the circular economy of the future. “We’re talking about using raw materials in the best way possible, and to also continue to utilise the product lifecycle.” With this idea in mind, Lee launched “Circular Economy Lab” (CRCL Lab) on the Berlin Agora collective premises.

Berlin brewery reborn as an experimental field for circular economy

A laboratory focused on the circular economy and sustainable solutions will be built on the site (1000 square metres) of the former Berliner Kindl brewery. The idea behind it sounds simple at first: creative minds want to put an end to the throwaway society by developing innovative products. Similar laboratories already exist in London and Utrecht, and now an open space for artists and entrepreneurs will be built in the German capital. The conversion of the Kindl brewery will be financed by the foundation Edith Maryon Foundation, among others. The foundation buys up properties worldwide for speculative building, and subsequently makes them available for social projects.

Small businesses will soon move into the basement of the Berlin property and there are already plans to build apartments on other floors in two years time. Until then, the initiators want to continue pushing forward the idea of a sustainable economy, and anchor their vision in the minds of fellow campaigners as much as possible. “The term circular economy is unfortunately associated with recycling,” says Lee. However, the focus of a circular economy is not just on waste recycling, but also on a fresh approach of product composition and product design. Open Source is also of great importance, says Lee. Ideally, there would be no more waste; the items are either re-built or broken down without residue into the biosphere.

OSCE Days: debating ideas for a circular economy

But how can companies earn money in a circular economy? What incentives have to be set up so that new business models can emerge? What waste streams can be utilised more efficiently today? Questions like these were at the centre of the Open Source Circular Economy Days, which took place in mid-June in more than 70 cities in 37 countries. It was only two years ago that the Berlin-based founders had the idea for a series of events with open workshops, in which anyone can take part. Due to the success of the first OSCE Days, the founders decided to repeat the event concept this year. From 9th to 13th June, the organisers working with Simon Lee welcomed more than 900 participants to the Kindl site in the Berlin district of Neukölln. District mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) stressed in her opening speech, the waste issue is of great importance for the city, but also for each individual. “We have to ask ourselves what we want to do with the waste and how we want to live,” she said.

FES study on the circular economy:Germany still has a long way to go

Many other mini-seminars also took place over the four days. Whether edible natural cosmetics, sustainable financing strategies or Open Source business models, the variety of the topics discussed was large. The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) used the event to present a current study on the state of the circular economy in Germany. It summarises the results of a FES technical discussion series, which was carried out with experts from politics, science, administration, business and trade unions on behalf of the FES’ working group for structural policy. According to the study, Germany is, in terms of its recycling rate, world champions. “However, there is still a long way to go before the circular economy is achieved,” according to Henning Wilts from the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, who led the study.

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Bayer’s new partner, based in Redmond, Washington is involved in a wide range of space-based enterprises, including asteroid mining. With the new deal, Bayer intends to purchase data from Planetary Resources to create new agricultural products and improve existing ones. The new collaboration will be part of Bayer’s Digital Farming Initiative. Financial details were not disclosed.

By combining the technologies from the two companies, farmers will be able to time their irrigation systems more effectively, which will save water, receive planting date recommendations and re-planting advice as well as assess their soil’s water-holding capacity. Another project is a canopy temperature scout, which will optimise how crops are grown, saving both time and money for farmers. All projects undertaken by the collaboration will be part of Bayer’s Digital Farming Initiative (www.digitalfarming.bayer.com)

Powerful tools for crops worldwide

“The sensors from Planetary Resources can become a powerful tool that can provide a new level of information on crops anywhere in the world,” Liam Condon, member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG and head of the Crop Science Division, said in a statement. “The combination of Bayer’s scientific and agronomy expertise and Planetary Resources’ unique sensor capability will greatly improve our ability to deliver truly practical intelligence to growers anywhere on the planet.”

In a statement Chris Lewicki, Planetary Resources CEO said: “We are currently conducting airborne Research and Development campaigns over a variety of agricultural targets. ” He added, “Bayer is interested in supporting these activities with scientific and agronomic expertise in order to accelerate R&D, product validation and creation.”

Efficient and environmentally-friendly farming

Bayer aims to provide farmers all over the world with practical decision-making aids based on the precise evaluation and combination of diverse data such as weather data or topographic maps. Using these individualised recommendations, farmers will be able to optimise their business management and lower costs. In addition to leading to higher yields and therefore an improved income, it would also lead to more efficient and environmentally compatible deployment of resources.

Planetary Resources was founded to develop low-cost sensor platforms to better understand and manage humanity’s resources on Earth and in space. Its Earth observation system, named Ceres, is initially being deployed to collect a new level of crop intelligence for the global agricultural industry.

Monsanto stalls in deal talks

Besides strengthening its activities in digital farming via strategic investments such as its recent partnership with Planetary Resources, Bayer is currently in negotiations to buy Monsanto, the world's largest seed company. After turning down Bayer’s $62 billion acquisition bid “as incomplete and financially inadequate” in May, Monsanto said it was open to engaging in further negotiations.

The aim is to build up a world-leading position for furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and the polyethylenefuranoate (PEF) based on it. The recyclable PEF is tougher than conventional plastics, making it particularly suitable for food and beverage packaging films and plastic bottles. Building on Avantium’s YXY process for the production of FDCA, the JV will produce and market FDCA and also market the resulting PEF. Not least, it will construct a reference plant for the production of FDCA with an annual capacity of up to 50,000 metric tonnes per year at BASF’s Verbund site in Antwerp, Belgium.

“With the planned joint venture, we want to combine Avantium’s specific production technology and application know-how for FDCA and PEF with the strengths of BASF,” said Stefan Blank, President of BASF’s Intermediates division. “Partnering with the number one chemical company in the world provides us with access to the capabilities that are required to bring this technology to industrialisation,” added Tom van Aken, CEO of Avantium.

Bio-waste collaboration

Meanwhile, established bio-fuel player Deinove and fellow French biotech Arbiom have started a collaboration to demonstrate how their combined technologies can utilise non-food plant biomass previously considered waste. Deinove has already demonstrated that its technology is adaptable to forest residues, plant biomass that had been pretreated with the Arbiom tech. Now, further tests are to show which molecules can be produced by the fermentation.

“We are pleased that our technology also works on wood, opening the way to multiple applications for the valorisation of wood residues,” said Emmanuel Petiot, CEO of Deinove. “Our goal is to contribute to the development of a responsible bioeconomy. This collaboration with Deinove broadens the range of applications of our bio-refineries and the solutions we offer to industry,” added Gilles Amsallem, CEO of Arbiom. The stated goal of the two companies is to develop “a ‘carbon-free’ chemical industry”.

Earlier this year, Monsanto let Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta slip through its hands. After several rejected takeover attempts, Syngenta eventually agreed to be acquired by Chinese chemical corporation ChemChina for €39bn. Now, Monsanto is apparently on the lookout for new expansion targets.

According to reports by Reuters, sources says that the US company has approached Bayer AG with an interest towards acquiring the German company’s crop science unit. A potential takeover would be worth more than US$30bn, the reports says.

According to reports by Reuters, sources says that the US company has approached Bayer AG with an interest towards acquiring the German company’s crop science unit. A potential takeover would be worth more than US$30bn, the reports says. According to the sources, Bayer does not currently plan to sell its crop science business and was merely looking to sound out Monsanto’s offers.

Neither Monsanto nor Bayer has yet commented on the reports.Crop science is one of of Bayer’s core businesses. In 2015, it had sales of €10.4m and the unit is recording a steady growth.

With the inauguration of the TUM Catalysis Research Center (CRC) at the Garching campus, the Technical University of Munich (TUM) wants to advance catalysis research. Scientists from different departments at the TUM will collaborate with industry partners at the CRC to research new ways of using the catalysts for a sustainable economy. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) contributed €84 million to the total construction cost of the newly erected facility.

Catalysts such as salt in soup are indispensible in the chemical and food industry, and are key to the sustainable value chain, for example, in energy and resource conserving chemical conversion of materials. They can significantly contribute to better use of biogenic raw materials and improve the production, storage and conversion of energy. Many issues, such as how the catalytic use of natural gas (methane) can be used to produce more refined chemical intermediates, have so far not been solved. But this should change in the future.

With the construction of a new research building, the Technical University of Munich has taken the road to international catalysis research. On 9th May, the Research Campus Garching officially inaugurated the TUM Catalysis Research Center (CRC) – in close proximity to the building of the Department of Chemistry. “In future, the product range of our leading technology society will only be displayed when constructed using specific catalysts value products, reduced abundance products and pollutants are avoided," stresses TUM president, Wolfgang A. Hermann.

Research without borders

Scientists from five faculties as well as international cooperation partners will collaborate on research under one roof to meet the challenges of energy and resource saving production of chemical raw materials, fine chemicals and pharmaceutical products. The research will be conducted in state-of-the-art laboratories at the new complex. “In this kind of research, there are no longer borders anymore between the classic disciplines of engineering and science,” continues Hermann.

Parallel to the building of the new catalyst centre, the spectrum of professorships of bio-organic chemistry, computer-aided biocatalysts, industrial biocatalysts or industrial biocatalysts has been extended. Converging synergies effectively “With the new Catalysis Research Center, we have now created a site at which the existing synergies can converge and become effective,” stressed Stefan Müller, parliament state secretary for the BMBF at the official opening of the research centre.

The German Federal Research Ministry invested €29 million in the Garching research facility. The centre is also home to the strategic research alliance “Munich Catalysts” (MuniCat) in which TUM scientists work together with researchers from Clairant AG in the field of chemical catalysts. Furthermore, the CRC is also associated with the research activities of the Competence Center for Renewable Raw Materials in Straubling, where among other things, ethanol is produced bio-catalytically from agricultural products.

This gives the new TUM School of Bioengineering (MSB) a strong accent as an Integrative Research Center. Synthetic biotechnology integrates the methodological research approaches of biochemistry, bioinformatics, catalysis, and industrial or “white” biotechnology. The scientific groundwork was done by a research team headed by the chemist Prof. Thomas Brück, who, following an industrial career, received a call to the newly created Chair of Industrial Biocatalysis at TUM.The grant, through which the Werner Siemens Foundation has created this new focus, will be used to upgrade the laboratories in Garching, fund the new chair for Synthetic Biotechnology and create an associated student/teacher laboratory to attract particularly talented students.

State-of-the-art algae laboratory is already up and running

An existing highlight is the algae laboratory on the Ludwig-Bölkow Campus in Ottobrunn, which was recently opened as a worldwide novelty. It serves the technical cultivation of algae as an innovative, environmentally friendly raw material for aircraft fuels and industrial chemicals.

From greenhouse gas to insulin

“We dream of biological systems that produce insulin, for example, out of light and carbon dioxide,” explains Prof. Thomas Brück. “To this end we need to couple an energy-supplying photosynthetic unit with an insulin-producing system. Current research results indicate that this strategy is promising.”With the advanced methodologies of bioinformatics and simulating biological processes, making predictions is becoming evermore viable. Coupling feedback from computer simulations and experimental data acquisition accelerates the gain in knowledge and insight.

On this basis, a central task of synthetic biotechnology is to illuminate structure-function relationships in enzymatic systems. One goal of this research is the development of artificial enzymes with customised catalytic activity and artificial cell systems with optimally structured metabolic networks that enable the mass and energy-efficient production of chemical products.

A foundation for pioneering initiatives

The Werner Siemens Foundation fosters research and teaching in the fields of technology and natural sciences, education, training and the promotion of young talents. A prerequisite for a funding priority is that pioneering results have been previously achieved.“With this new centre for synthetic biotechnology, we are strengthening and bundling our competencies in catalyst research, white biotechnology and bioinformatics to form a hitherto unrivalled new branch of research,” says TUM President Wolfgang A. Hermann. “Synthetic biotechnology applies the understanding of biological processes to then targeted development of biological synthesis processes in industrial applications. This approach puts us ahead of our time.”

The research initiative coordinated by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) aims at quantifying the sensitivity of ecosystem functions and their subsequent ecosystem services to environmental pressures in representative agriculturally dominated landscapes in Europe. The project receives funding within the BiodivERsA/FACCE initiative.

In order to advance the sustainability in long-term development of agro-ecosystems STACCATO ("SusTainable AgriCultural ChAnge Through ecological engineering and Optimal use of natural resources") plans to quantify the sensitivity of ecosystem functions and the generated services to environmental pressures in representative agriculturally dominated landscapes in Europe.

Research to mitigate impacts of climate and land use change

The research consortium, combining the expertise of scientists from various fields of study from several different European countries, will focus on investigating land use intensity at local as well as regional scale, the prevalent socio-economic backgrounds of farmers and stakeholders, and the potential impacts of future climate and land use change on biodiversity and the affiliated ecosystem functions and services.

Case studys in five different regions

During the kick-off meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria in April this year, the scientists agreed on methodologies to be used for data acquisition in five pre-selected case study areas in Romania, Bulgaria, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden. Landscapes will comprise annual crops, like winter wheat or oilseed rape, and semi-natural grasslands.

"In particular, we intend to investigate the interactions between annual crops and the surrounding landscapes including the sprawling urban areas, and the potentials of ecological engineering as a tool for eco-functional intensification," explains project coordinator Prof. Dr Josef Settele, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ).

"The overall objective is the elaboration and testing of generally applicable principles within the frame of ecological engineering, and to contribute to the loss of valuable soil and land for agricultural productivity," he adds.

New kid on the block

Ecological Engineering is an emerging discipline, concerned with design, monitoring and construction of agro-ecosystems in order to maximise ecosystem services through exploiting natural regulation mechanisms instead of suppressing them.As a core output, STACCATO aims at developing guidelines for optimising ecosystem functions and services provision and their stabilisation under future climate and land use change. Therefore, STACCATO will analyse the potential of ecological engineering as a tool for eco-functional intensification.

“There is not a single global bioeconomy. It's local by nature.” According to the Lodz Declaration of Bioregions, drafted at the European Bioeconomy Congress Lodz 2016 and published by stakeholders of the Central and Eastern Regions today, the bioeconomy must be first developed in local biocommunities, i.e. biovillages, biocities or bioregions. “Global problems such as limiting greenhouse gas emissions, protecting the climate and promoting healthy life, and the use of alternative energies can be dealt with effectively at the local level,” the stakeholders headed by Christian Patermann, the inventor of the knowledge-based bioeconomy, write in their manifesto. 

They propose three key actions to unite the principles of the circular economy, which is aimed at recycling natural resources and at preventing waste in production processes, and the bio-based economy, which delivers bio-based carbon-neutral, renewable, multifunctional products with novel properties.

1. Use the EU’s structural and innovation funds (ESIF) to implement a circular bio-economy at the local level through “sustainable bio-based growth, reduced impact on the environment, or local renewable energy supply”. 

2. Networking of regions in order to define joint strategies and actions, share best practises or perform joint research. For that purpose, a Central and Eastern European Bioregions Forum was established for knowledge transfer.

3. Create an integrated research effort that involves education of the civil society on basic prinicples of sustainability. “We cannot afford life styles, which are not sustainable in terms of overconsumption of energy, food, water and increased impact of environment,” according to the Lodz Declaration. 

In an Annex, the Lodz Declaration outlines concrete actions to be taken at the local level such as small agro-biorefineries or locally sourced value chains. “Mankind is facing serious challenges related to climate change, demographic explosion, shrinkage of raw materials, shortages of water, increasing pollution, and the decline of biodiversity,” the declaration suggests. “A significant part of these can be solved or limides by application of sustainable bioeconomy principles.” The Declaration shows the way how to integrate the circular economy and the bioeconomy and in this sense represents a blueprint for the EU’s review of the bioeconomy strategy and action plan.

A single gene regulates the length of female reproductive organs, thus helping avoid self-fertilisation. This discovery means that plant geneticists working with Michael Lenhard at the Institute for Biochemistry and Biology at the University of Potsdam have solved a centuries-old puzzle. Together with colleagues from England, Switzerland and Japan, the researchers wrote up their findings in the scientific journal eLife. The gene produces an enzyme that subtly alters the flower's hormonal balance.

Flower's reproductive organs separate

Female and male reproductive organs are found within the same flower of many plants. In many such cases, plants have evolved adaptations to prevent self-fertilisation. Thus they can avoid the negative effects of inbreeding. Instead, cross-pollination facilitated by insects is encouraged. "One of the most fascinating adaptations in the evolution of plants is heterostyly, i.e. different types of styles", says Michael Lenhard, "this means that female and male reproductive organs are separate from each other".

The flower's female reproductive organs are located in the pistil: Together, the styles and the stigma form the vertically protruding part responsible for pollination. The ovary and its ovules are located below them. The male reproductive organs form the stamens with their pollen. Individuals of species with differing style lengths can be divided into two classes. One form has a long female style with short male stamens, whereas in the other the lengths are reversed.

Even Darwin was fascinated

The importance of heterostyly was discovered by none other than Charles Darwin. It fascinated the father of evolutionary theory so much that he wrote extensively on the topic. Yet well over a century later the genetic and molecular basis for the phenomenon of heterostyly remained unknown.

The primrose variety primula veris supplied the researchers from Potsdam with the key to solving the mystery of the flower. The primrose has two forms, with long and short styles, respectively. The research team at the University of Potsdam compared all of the active genes in short-styled flowers with those in long-styled ones to identify which were responsible. That comparison led the researchers onto the trail of a gene present only in the short-styled form, where it is specifically active in the style. The gene is missing in the long-styled form altogether.

Enzyme releases growth hormone

The gene contains codes for an enzyme that releases a plant growth hormone. The hormone is a brassinosteroid that primarily promotes cell elongation. The difference in style lengths is a result of differences in cell elongation. To demonstrate that the candidate gene was indeed responsible for the difference in style lengths, the scientists experimented on a wide variety of primroses and closely related species that were unique in that they contained flowers with both long styles and long stamens.

As predicted, in all such cases the cryptically named gene CYP734A50 was either missing entirely, mutated and inactive, or could not be read. As predicted, compared with the longer styles, the short ones contained only modest quantities of the plant growth hormones. When the researchers deliberately added a few drops of the plant hormone to the flowers with short styles, the style length increased to that of the long-styled ones.

Possible use in hybrid breeding

The findings of the geneticists from Potsdam and Gatersleben are not only important for reconstructing the evolution of heterostyly. Their results may also find application in plant breeding, for example, with so-called hybrids. To increase crop yields, modern agriculture uses hybrid seeds that have to be created again and again by crossing genetically differing parents. If it were possible, as in the case of the primrose, to engineer two forms of agricultural crops that would breed with each other but not self-pollinate, it would greatly facilitate the production of hybrid seeds and as a result, be of direct benefit to farming.

With its 'high-tech strategy', the German government has paved the way for more sustainable economic activities. But how can the topic of sustainability be anchored more firmly in Germany whilst at the same time strengthening the country’s position as an innovation and technology hub? This is the question that the 'Sustainable Management' ('Nachhaltiges Wirtschaften') Expert Forum, part of the German government's Hightech Forum advisory group, has put at the top of its agenda. Their recommendations were presented to Research Minister Johanna Wanka and Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks during the Green Economy Conference held in early November in Berlin. Their ministries had provided support for the preparation of the paper.

Designing sustainability

During the conference, over 300 experts from business, science, society and politics discussed ways of orienting economic activities and innovation systems towards a sustainable form of management.

The experts determined five central recommendations for action: German research and innovation must be aligned with global UN sustainability goals. The area of sustainability must be made competitive and evaluable. The state must adopt an exemplary role in this area, both in its internal activities (sustainable orientation of the administration) and in its external influence (via control instruments). In addition, the topic should be disseminated at an early stage in educational establishments with a view to engendering competence regarding research and innovation. Also, social dialogue must be promoted, with the realms of science, economics, politics and civil society exchanging their views on equal terms.

Expediting biomass research

The 47-page paper includes implementation examples from the chemical and foodstuffs industries as well as the financial sector to show how this can be achieved. Thus the authors recommend that companies using non-renewable resources should always bear the entire value chain in mind. Furthermore, research is seen as a driver that increasingly enables fossil raw materials to be replaced by sustainably generated biomass. The research agenda also includes recommendations to tap new sources of carbon for industrial use as well as the oceans as new sources of food and raw materials.

"Sustainability does not represent a contradiction in respect of economic growth, but it can take the form of a competitive advantage," as Johanna Wanka emphasized at the congress in her opening speech. However, this would require powerful impulses from the research sector and a broadly based consensus in support of Green Economy. Wanka announced her intention to inaugurate a new scientific platform before the end of the year with the aim of enabling more sustainable innovation through closer cooperation. "This platform will help to forge new alliances and locate new partners for sustainable management," said the minister. The Ministry for Education and Research will be providing a total of 350 million euros for sustainability research by 2018.

Environment Minister Hendricks also pointed out in Berlin that structural change would only be possible in a concerted effort and that here, too, sustainability in financial dealings is necessary. "Sustainable investment options must come out of their niches and take over the mass market," demanded Hendricks.

It’s about 15% lighter than synthetics but 100% biodegradable. Built from the biologic Biosteel fiber, the adidas Futurecraft Biofabric prototype shoe represents the strongest fully natural material available, German sportswear company adidas said at the Biofabricate Conference in New York City. At the show, adidas announced a long-term partnership with German biotech company AmSilk, the developer of the biosteel production process.

“In a year of ground-breaking innovations from adidas, the announcement of our partnership with AmSilk – and the unveiling of the adidas Futurecraft Biofabric shoe – is another step in our commitment to redefining the sports industry,“ said James Carnes, VP Strategy Creation at adidas. AmSilk-CEO Jens Klein added: “The shoes are the first product worldwide with a high-performance material made of nature-identical silk biopolymers.”

Founded in 2008 as a spin-off from Technical University Munich, AmSilk in 2013 spun the world’s first yarn at lab-scale that copied the physical properties of spider silk. The silk protein itself had been produced recombinantly from fast-growing E. coli bacteria, freeze dried and solublised to spin an endless “multifilament”.

Floods and droughts are presenting increasing challenges for agriculture throughout the world. For many years, therefore, research efforts have been focussed on the search for more resistant plants that can cope with the environmental challenges. "To do this, we need to gain a better understanding of important crop plants such as rice, which is reckoned to be the world's most important source of food," explains Michael Riemann of the Molecular Cell Biology working group at the KIT's Botanical Institute. To this end, Riemann's group of biologists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology has teamed up with computer scientists to create a system that will aid in breeding new plant varieties. The system is called Risegran – Rice Seedlings Growth Analysis-System – and it was developed together with the startup da-cons with a view to analysing the growth rates of rice seedlings with the aid of a camera.

Measuring the effect of light on seedlings

The system consists of a box measuring 50 cm x 50 cm with internal illumination provided by 20 infra-red LEDs.  No light can penetrate the box from the outside. The grains of rice are allowed to germinate in a sealed plate in water agar, a transparent growth medium that also supplies the seedlings with water. At first, they grow in the dark. They are cultivated in the dark in order to make them especially sensitive to light, so that the effects of light can be measured.  A camera embedded in the wall of the box records the growth of the plants at hourly intervals. "The appearance of the seedlings changes completely depending on whether they are growing in the dark or not. However, the system is designed only to observe, not to influence. Therefore the box is constructed in such a way that no visible light impinges on the seedlings," explains Riemann.

The images taken by the camera are registered in detail by the Risegran system and evaluated automatically. The algorithm developed by da-cons uses the images to determine the length of the seedling, of the first leaf and of the root in each case. Also, the computer transfers the images automatically to a server from which the researchers can view them at any time.

New knowledge about familiar genes

The advantage of the system: By comparing genetically different types it is possible to work out the functions of certain genes that are responsible for resistance against all sorts of stress factors. "The system allows us to deduce hitherto unknown characteristics of known genes. The measurements can underpin molecular biological investigations aimed at identifying genes that make plants more resistant to certain stress factors such as soil salinization," says Riemann. The new camera system already makes it possible to determine the time of germination or measure the growth of certain tissue very exactly.

Building up an online database

The researchers' aim is to feed all the data into an online OpenData platform where scientists can publish their data and make it available to others. "Generally, the technical background processes and the user interface can be developed more effectively with genuine data than with test data," says da-cons development head Michael Kreim. The IT company uses the data records from the Risegran project to find out what the platform needs to be able to deliver and to test it.

Lactic acid bacteria, also known as lactobacilli, are in popular demand as aids and additives in the food industry. However, these useful microorganisms have considerably more potential, as the Organobalance company from Berlin has demonstrated in a clinical study. In its own proprietary collection of bacteria and yeast strains, the Organobalance researchers have now found an organism that can help to soothe dry skin: the bacterium Lactobacillus brevis DSMZ17250.

Extract mitigates inflammation and protects skin

During the study, the effect of a lactic acid bacteria extract was tested on test persons who suffer from chronic dry skin. After the four-week course of treatment, it could be seen that Lactobacillus brevis not only has an anti-inflammatory effect, but also promotes the colonization of the skin by protective, symbiotic microorganisms, as the team reports in the journal 'Beneficial Microbes'.

Bacteria improve microbiome of the skin

Daily use of the cell-free Lactobacillus extract then led to a significant improvement in the damaged skin. The lactic acid bacteria helped to reduce the loss of skin moisture, and therefore also markedly relieved symptoms such as itching, dryness or stinging. Also, the skin microbiota improved, and the proliferation of various bacterial strains such as Staphylococcus epidermidis, that have positive, protective effects on the skin, could be shown to be promoted.

Basis for new skin care products

"The extract that we have gained from natural bacteria can serve as the basis for various skin care products," says Organobalance's CEO Christine Lang. Organobalance has been developing products based on probiotic bacterium cultures as well as yeast production strains for foodstuffs, cosmetics, animal fodder, agriculture and the pharmaceutical industry since 2001. These products include probiotic active agents against caries, stomach disorders and body odour caused by bacteria. As of September, the bio-technology company from Berlin belongs to the Danish enzyme specialist Novozymes. Following the successful study, the skin-friendly bacterium extract will also be used in cosmetic products. To this end, the new candidate has been licenced out to Organobalance Medical AG, which will operate under the name of Belano Medical AG in future.

Even so, the pressure of competition is also increasing amongst the German producers of Gouda and other cheese. The demand for new flavours of cheese is rising and production processes must be optimized. In cheese manufacturing, raw materials alone account for 87% of the costs. Nutrition researchers at the Hohenheimer University in Bonn now aim to advance an era of 'Cheese 4.0' by establishing a new technology platform. The new process is aimed at simplifying the production of sliced cheese, in particular, which has a market share of 30%, and increasing its variety. "We have developed a completely new approach to two steps of the traditional cheese-making process: We simplify the lengthy forming and pressing stage and allow for the addition of new, flavour-inducing microorganisms at a later period," explains dairy scientist Jörg Hinrichs.

Making cheese production flexible

The technique will allow cheese manufacturers to make flexible modifications to both the taste and the shape of the dairy product in question without any extra effort. As Hinrichs explains, the most cost-intensive and elaborate part of cheese-making is the forming and pressing. "When the whey has been separated the remains must be pressed into a form for several hours so that it coagulates again. The forms have to be cleaned thoroughly, too," as Hinrichs points out.

An extruder forms the cheese faster

This is where the researchers from Bonn use an extruder. In a single step, the individual cheese fragments are subjected to pressure and temperature so they revert to a coherent mass of cheese. "If you then press this mass into a mould, the raw cheese already takes on its final shape – round, rectangular, oval or even heart-shaped. That process requires less time and space – without compromising quality," emphasizes Hinrichs.

More taste through modified flavour injection

Cheese gets its flavour from microorganisms. Normally, they are mixed into the milk at the very beginning, prior to the forming and pressing stage. Here, too, the researchers have adopted a new approach. "If one injects the aroma-generating microorganisms after the forming process, each wheel of cheese can ripen with its own individual aroma," explains Hinrichs. Not only can different microorganisms be tested faster, but also new flavours of cheese can be developed more quickly.

The project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, involves mathematicians as well as nutrition researchers at the Hohenstein University. The mathematicians use differential equations to determine the best location in the cheese for injecting the microorganisms so that the flavouring agents are distributed uniformly during the six weeks in which the cheese matures.

To avoid competition with food production, the EU research consortium "Bioconsept" was launched four years ago. Bioconsept is 13 million euro EU-funded research project, which converts second-generation biomass into valuable platform chemicals and bioplastics. It has developed manufacturing processes for two platform chemicals, which are derived from inedible biomass – such as wood or old vegetable oil. Twenty-nine European partners from industry, science, research and technology organisations, as well as small and medium sized enterprises have collaborated to implement these processes on an industry relevant scale. A balance was drawn up at a meeting in the Ständehaus in Merseburg on 10 and 11 November.

The four-year EU-funded BioConSepT research project has developed production processes based on non-edible biomass. In comparison to current processes for bioplastic production, they do not compete with food production and processes aim to be cheaper and more sustainable. The second-generation biomass used includes non-edible oils and fats, as well as lignocellulose (wood and straw). They are transformed into intermediates like biobased polymers, resins, plasticisers and solvents, which can be applied in bioplastic production.

Progress from biomass to applications

The whole production chain, from feedstock to final applications, is reflected in this European collaborative project. Chemical, enzymatical and microbial processes convert second-generation biomass, which cannot be used in food production, into valuable platform chemicals used for example in bioplastics. Robust enzymes and microorganisms, continuous processes, new bioreactors and selective purification technologies were important factors to reduce production cost.

Large-scale production

Upscaling of processes closes the gap from the lab to industrial production. The successful demonstration of production of furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and epoxides in product-relevant amounts shows the potential of second-generation biomass. Bioreactors with up to 1m3 produce about 100kg of both platform chemicals. They can be applied in packaging, in textiles as high strength fibres or in coatings and adhesives.

Final conference in Merseburg, Germany

The consortium invited the international chemical industry to Merseburg, Germany, from 10th – 11th November to showcase BioConSepT results. The conference focused on the upscaling of production of FDCA and enzymatic epoxidation to an industrially relevant scale. It included a visit to the piloting facilities of Fraunhofer CBP in Leuna, where some of the processing steps have been conducted. The consortium also presented the project’s most promising results from other bio-based chemical production chains.The EU consortium has tested the production of platform chemicals from biomass at pilot plants like this one at the Fraunhofer Research CBP in Leuna.

The Bioeconomy Council of the German Government had invited delegates from all over the world to Berlin to attend this first Global Bioeconomy Summit from 24 - 26 November. At the end, the participants agreed on a final communiqé, highlighting five priorities. Summing up with regard to the Sustainable Development Summit in New York and the upcoming climate negotiations in Paris, Christine Lang, Co-Chair of the Bioeconomy Council, said, "Sustainability is one of the top issues on the political agenda. 2015 is the year of major international negotiations. The Global Bioeconomy Summit layed the foundations to integrate the bioeconomy in this process."

About 700 participants from 82 countries came together for the first time in Berlin to exchange views on how the bioeconomy will play an even greater role in the future at an international level, and how it can be included in the agendas of existing negotiating processes.

At the end, they defined a common goal: to use fewer fossil resources and to use renewable resources instead. However, there are a great number of challenges to overcome along this route. In a final communiqué (more information: PDF Download) the participants of the Global Bioeconomy Summit defined five priorities of a global political agenda on sustainable bioeconomy:

• To use renewable resources, ensure food security and protect the ecosystem.
• The bioeconomy's contributions towards the Sustainable Development Goals should be rendered measurable
• Economic and scientific collaboration should be promoted and
• Education, joint learning and dialogue should be driven forward, and
• Not just individual sections but the bioeconomy as a whole should be considered in the global negotiations for COP 21, the Sustainable Development Goals and trade.
• The film presents some highlights of the conference.

Bioeconomy is unterrepresented as international policy issue

Daniel Barben, member of the Global Bioeconomy Summit conference committee, said, "In view of the fact that 45 countries in the world are pursuing bioeconomy strategies, the bioeconomy is underrepresented as an international policy issue. This Summit has shown that we are taking a step in the right direction."

More than 100 international speakers presented policy concepts and concrete examples on over 60 posters and eleven discussion rounds during the conference in Berlin. The FAO, the OECD, the European Commission and the International Energy Agency also took part in the Summit with their own workshops. The German Bioeconomy Council presented comprehensive studies on the bioeconomy: an analysis of the global political importance of the bioeconomy  and a Delphi study featuring flagship projects (more information: PDF Download).

Need of international coordination

The overall aim of the Global Bioeconomy Summit is to strenghten the global visibility of bioeconomy. Joachim von Braun, Co-Chair of the Bioeconomy Council, said, "Germany has a global top position in bioeconomy. This brings us in a responsible position to share our knowledge. Together with our partners we will ensure that the results of the Summit are incorporated in international discussions." The Bioeconomy Council's goal, therefore is for the Global Bioeconomy Summit to take place again in two years' time. "We await suggestions for the next location", Christine Lang said in her final remarks.

© bioökonomie.de/sw

According to Gilles Laroche, Head of Unit F1 – Bioeconomy Strategy– at DG Research and Innovation, “the review won’t be finalised before mid-2017 and the results will be available only in autumn 2017”. Prior plans foresaw the announcement of the results at the end of 2016. “The review will provide the Commission with the facts and figures on how the strategy has been implemented over the last three years, which will enable us to robustly underpin decisions about the future orientation of the strategy”, John Bell, Director for Bioeconomy, told European Biotechnology in an interview. 

A Brussels insider said he was concerned about the fate of the bioeconomy programme, which has already attracted huge investments from the biotech industry. The European Commission’s (EC) working plan 2016/17, which lays the foundation for future funding calls, didn’t mention the bioeconomy once. The review of the bioeconomy strategy and action plan is thus thought to form the foundation for a decision on whether the bioeconomy will be funded independently or absorbed into the circular economy strategy, a huge waste prevention programme. In the programme, promoted by EC Vice President Frans Timmermans, biotech’s role is still up in the air. “Bioeconomy is a broader concept than the circular economy”, the insider stressed, “It’s renewable, carbon-neutral, and offers reusability in cascades and products with completely new properties.”

Currently, the EC is setting up an expert group, including experts from national bioeconomy councils, that will review the strategy and action plan adopted in 2012. According to Laroche, a European Manifesto for Bioeconomy is also in preparation and is due to be published around mid-2017.

BASF and Avantium have formed a joint venture for the production and marketing of the green building block furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and the drop-in bioplastic polyethylene furanoate (PEF) made from FDCA. Synvina will be headquartered in Amsterdam and will invest several hundred millions euros to build a plant producing 50,000 metric tons annually at BASF’s Verbund site in Antwerp, Belgium, to demonstrate feasibility of manufacture at industrial scale and to license production.

FDCA will be manufactured from biomass such as maize, which is degraded to fructose prior to using Avantium’s  YXY process. Synvina will be a major competitor to PLA and FDCA producer Corbion Purac, which has developed a technology that allows production of non-outgazing, lightweight, 100% bio-based PEF bottles in extisting production plants. However, also other competitors such as DuPont, Eastman Kodak and AVA Biochem have developed appropriate platforms to produce PEF and its bio-based building blocks.

Back in 2014, Avantium Technologies BV announced it will build the world’s very first industrial production plant with financial support of Swire Pacific, The Coca-Cola Company, Danone, and ALPLA.

FDCA is a promising platform chemical and a building block for PEF polyesters suitable for food and beverage packaging as well as for fibers for carpets and textiles. For the packaging industry, PEF offers improved characteristics compared to commodity plastics such as PET, such as improved barrier properties for carbon dioxide and oxygen, leading to a longer shelf life of packaged products. It also offers a higher mechanical strength, thus thinner PEF packaging can be produced and fewer resources are required. PEF is suitable for foil pouches, bottles for carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks, water, dairy products, still and sports drinks and alcoholic beverages as well as personal and home care products. Alongside the polyester PEF, FDCA can be processed to polyamides for engineering plastics and fibers, to polyurethanes for foams, coatings and adhesives and to esters for personal care products and lubricants.

With Mitsui, Synvina will work on developing PEF thin films and PEF bottles in Japan. Furthermore, Synvina aims to continue the development partnerships with The Coca Cola Company, Danone, ALPLA and other companies on the Joint Development Platform for PEF bottles.

The researchers' report on their discovery in the 'PNAS' specialist journal. In addition to carbon dioxide, methane is a climate killer that presents a long-term threat to life on earth. However, for many terrestrial and marine microorganisms this greenhouse gas is the elixir of life. The microbes oxidize the carbon dioxide and extract energy from the process. This means that they can exist under extreme conditions without oxygen, e.g. in hot wells. It has long been surmised that some microbes feed on rust as well as methane. Now, for the first time, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology have found the evidence to confirm this. Together with researchers from the University of Radboud they encountered a hitherto unknown microbe that converts methane to carbon dioxide with the aid of iron.

As reported in the journal PNAS by the team led by MPI microbiologist Boran Kartal, the conversion process releases reduced iron that is then available for use by other organisms. This sets a whole avalanche of processes going, and the rust-eating microbe exercises an influence on both the iron and the methane cycles.

Primaeval microbe discovered in the laboratory

The iron-dependent methane oxidizer is a so-called archaeum (literally: 'ancient thing'). The researchers actually found the organism in an environmental sample that had been kept in the laboratory for years. The material came from the Twentekanaal in the Netherlands. "We took a look at this microorganism's genetic fingerprint and guessed that it could metabolize particulate iron – which is basically what we call rust – in the course of oxidizing methane. And lo and behold – it can," reports Boran Kartal.

The skill-set needed to clean waste water

The researchers are sure that the newly discovered archaeum plays an important role regarding emissions of the greenhouse gas methane. But that is not all. "That is important for wastewater treatment," says Kartal, who just recently transferred from Radboud University to the Max Planck Institute in Bremen. "It is possible to build a bioreactor containing two different microorganisms which can metabolize both methane and ammonium without oxygen. One could use the reactor to extract ammonium, methane and oxidized nitrogen from the wastewater simultaneously, with harmless nitrogen and carbon dioxide gas being produced as a result," explains Kartal. This study closes a significant gap in our understanding of anaerobic methane oxidation. In the next step, Kartal and his team want to establish which protein complexes are involved in this process.

Deforestation and climate change are putting more and more pressure on the forest ecosystem. Not only are the habitats of many animals under threat, the capacity of forests to absorb CO₂ and emit oxygen is diminishing as well. A comprehensive international study now reveals the positive influence of biodiversity on global forest productivity. The investigation, published in the journal 'Science', covers around 30 million trees, including 8,700 species ranging from mangroves to tropical wet forest trees, Central European trees, trees in tundras and dry savannahs and Mediterranean trees. Researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) also participated in this study. Over 770,000 sample sites in 44 countries were evaluated. "A gigantic amount of data on biodiversity and productivity from nearly 50 countries throughout the world was processed, something that has never been done before in this scientific field," as co-author Hans Pretzsch from the TUM's Chair of Forest Growth and Yield Science points out.

Understanding the forest ecosystem better

The study is the first major undertaking of the new Global Forest Biodiversity Initiative (GFBI), a network established just this year. The international and interdisciplinary research group intends to deepen our understanding of interrelationships concerning the world’s largest forest ecosystems. The GFBI study includes the most important forest ecosystems throughout the world. It reveals that loss of species diversity leads to massive reductions in the productivity of forests. That is not all, however. Forests with different tree species such as mixed forests with beech and pine not only enjoy many ecological and social advantages, but they also produce significantly more wood. "The inventories and experimental plot data going back over 150 years show how the wood yield reduced in parallel with the number of species, and how reverting from monocultures to mixed stands enables it to increase again," explains Pretsch.

In Germany, too, many mixed forests were converted to monocultures during the 1950s and 1960s. This strategy is now a thing of the past. Pretsch reports: "These days, forestry regulations in many countries state that stands of trees should consist of two or three species wherever possible." As early as 2007, the German government began to implement the 'National Biological Diversity Strategy' (NBS) by supporting innovations to protect and sustainably develop biodiversity. The 'BioHolz' joint project was inaugurated nearly a year ago. Funded with 3.2 million euros, the project will investigate new options for sustainable forestry.

Loss of diversity costs billions

The study also puts a figure on the losses that continued loss of diversity would cause for the forestry industry: The authors assume that a loss of diversity of 99% would lead to loss of yield as well, and this would equate to a value reduction of between 166 and around 490 billion US dollars. In such a case the losses would exceed the costs of worldwide efforts to maintain biodiversity by a factor of two. In addition, the loss of genetic diversity and of protection and recuperation capacities would also be significantly greater than the anticipated reduction in wood yield.