OMAF and MRA - UofG KTT Bioeconomy Seminar
The Bioproducts Discovery and Development Centre (BDDC) and Professor Amar Mohanty hosted a public Bioeconomy Seminar as part of the OMAF and MRA-UofG KTT program on June 5th, 2013 at Cutten Fields in Guelph, Ontario. Three world renowned speakers from the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States shared their international perspective for a sustainable bioeconomy by highlighting current research and development in the areas of bioproducts, biofuels and bioenergy.
The first speaker was Dr. John Williams, the Head of Materials for Energy & Industry for The National Non-Food Crops Centre in the United Kingdom. His presentation summarized the key role of biomaterials in Europe’s strive for a low carbon economy by combining policy delivery, market analysis, strategic thinking and technology evaluation.
The second speaker was Dr. Manfred Kircher, Chairman of the Advisory Board for Cluster Industrial Biotechnology CLIB2021 in Germany, who gave an overview of the commercial and technical challenges of establishing value chains in the bioeconomy by describing the industrial drivers of sustainability, innovation and feedstock resources. Dr. Kircher also compared the logistics of fossil vs bio-based value chains and emphasized the importance of small and medium enterprises in the bioeconomy.
The third speaker Dr. Robert Fireovid, the National Program Leader for the Biobased Products for Industrial Applications, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service, gave insight into the ongoing research taking place at USDA-supported laboratories. Dr. Fireovid described exciting new developments in bio-based products and materials, stressing the importance of industry support for increased innovation.
A record of over 100 participants from academia, industry as well as federal and provincial government organizations participated in the seminar. The participants had the opportunity to interact with the speakers and contributed to an engaging roundtable discussion. This bioeconomy seminar received very positive feedback from audience members. In particular, Urs Eggimann, vice-president of the Ontario Biomass Producers Co-op explained that, "With the quality of speakers Amar manages to bring on, there is an opportunity for everyone to acquire new industry knowledge."
Picture taken at the biocomposite footbridge made of wood fibre and polymer at Cutten Fields. (From the left: Alan Lyons, Amar Mohanty, Mohini Sain, Manju Misra, John Williams, Manfred Kircher, Khurshid Sahara, Rachel Campbell Murdy, Frank Maine, Robert Fireovid, Atul Bali, Steve De Brabandere)
Links to Presentations:
