The quest for engineering life is an infinite ‘marketplace’ for science, commerce and society. They are the very stakeholders that will have to decide on the rules of the game: responsibility and control. An almost impossible task, but one that … Read more
The birth of the hiv-resistant gentech twins Lulu and Nana in China has stirred up the debate on methods and results of modern biotechnology. Rightfully so. The gap between what science can do, and what is ethically responsible in the … Read more
The Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking, abbreviated as BBI JU, is in the final stages of the procedure to award funding for new research and development proposals. BBI JU is a €3.7 billion Public-Private Partnership between the EU and the Bio-based … Read more
‘Again and again, new products fascinate us: the smartphone, the airplane wing that can be glued, new medicines,’ says Ton Schoot Uiterkamp, ‘but we do not think in terms of chains and generally ignore the indirect effects of these inventions. … Read more
In September 2017, the FAO released a report on hunger in the world. According to this report, in 2016 11% of the global population experienced hunger, i.e. 815 million people, 38 million more than in the preceding year. This is … Read more
Fifty years ago, the Club of Rome was founded; in its own words ‘an organisation of individuals who share a common concern for the future of humanity and strive to make a difference…. Our mission is to promote understanding of … Read more
‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’ (Nelson Mandela). Hans Tramper is professor emeritus in Bioprocess Technology at Wageningen University and reflects on the development of his subject in a series of essays. … Read more
BiofuelsDigest, the world’s most widely read biofuels daily, as they proudly claim, concluded in May this year that ‘The pace of invention and change is just too strong … to highlight annual or even quarterly or monthly rankings and summaries … Read more
In the entire discussion on biotechnological rejuvenation, very few researchers ask the question why this should be a goal worth pursuing. In a series of articles (July 25, July 28 and July 31) we explore the potential of biotechnology to … Read more
Biotechnology has now reached the point that some researchers target rejuvenation as their goal, ultimately in humans. With a slight hint of immortality behind the horizon. But if we look more carefully, they are still far removed from those targets. … Read more
What will come after healthy aging? In biotechnology, advances have been so swift over the past few decades, that some scientists have started thinking of ways to tackle aging itself, that ultimate and fatal disease of mankind. Even with some … Read more
An interesting article in the Guardian, last week, shed light on new strategies to combat insect attacks on food and commercial crops, through genetic modification. But in such a way that the modified genes will not show up in the … Read more
The real sustainability revolution in farming is New Breeding Techniques like CRISPR. Why are organic farmers blocked from using them? This article by David Warmflash was originally published on the site of Genetic Literacy Project. Organic farming opposes genetic engineering … Read more
Some two months ago, Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad opened with the news that biodiesel caused accelerated corrosion of unlined steel storage tanks in use at Dutch petrol stations. Being a natural product, biodiesel promotes build-up of bacteria that are attached … Read more
The many ways in which mankind can produce natural compounds with biotechnology, impresses me. Smells, tastes, maybe texture in the near future, remember the synthetic burger, they are excellently produced by the bioreactor. One would expect that food industry would … Read more
Two concepts, the bioeconomy and the circular economy, have much in common but seem to belong to different universes. Proponents of the circular economy treat the bioeconomy as a fringe phenomenon, that circles around biodegradation; whereas the bioeconomy does not … Read more
Last January, the news that a Chinese team of scientists had cloned macaque monkeys drew a lot of attention. Discussion was quick – too quick – to focus on the question if cloning monkeys could lead to cloning humans. But … Read more
Upon evaluating my visit to the 10th EFIB conference in Brussel, last October, I realized there was a disappointingly limited number of new and interesting topics. Many of the topics discussed at the conference concerned old wine: that also were … Read more
One of today’s economic bestsellers is Doughnut Economics, written by the British economist Kate Raworth. Her book is an outright attack on the dominant neoliberal economic theory. Permanent growth is impossible! In growing permanently, we will transgress social and ecological … Read more
Encouraged by Dutch top scientist Robbert Dijkgraaf, some internationally reputed scientists got a podium on TV to fantasise on the future, last 16 July. They gave their imagination free rein. For many scientists, it appears to be difficult to stay … Read more
Mankind will have to grow more food on less land, so Hidde Boersma and Joost van Kasteren argue in the recently published volume (in Dutch) Ecomodernism, Rethinking Green and Growth. Genetic modification will play a major role in this process. … Read more
There’s always a time lag between the development of a new technology and a dawning awareness of its social impact. Then follows a debate among scientists, possibly followed by a public debate. This process starts by people asking difficult questions, … Read more
The term bioplastics causes much confusion and will continue to do so, according to my conviction. The public does not seem to grasp the difference between bio as in biobased and bio as in biodegradable. As the plastic soup problem … Read more
A number of American companies offer Do-It-Yourself genetic engineering kits on the internet, in order to practice Synthetic Biology and Biological Design at home. With these biokits one can alter the genetics of living organisms such as E. Coli-bacteria or … Read more
In her lecture at the European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology (EFIB), last October in Glasgow, Professor Dame Anne Glover, Vice-Principal External Affairs, University of Aberdeen, lectured about effectively communicating about science, engineering and technology. And a couple of weeks later … Read more
According to Piet Borst, a highly respected Dutch cancer researcher, those deserving to receive the Nobel Prize for the development of CRISPR-Cas technology, will not get it. With that he means the microbiologists who did the painstaking fundamental research and … Read more
In his book The Revenge of Gaia (2006) James Lovelock reasserts his idea that the earth, living and mineral, is a self-regulating system. A system that is now put to an extreme test by mankind by the vast amounts of … Read more
Imprisonment is the worst criminal punishment available to a European citizen. The long-term loss of freedom is loathsome for human beings, and the incarcerated almost always long for freedom. That is why stories involving prisons so often involve prison breaks, … Read more
Recently Ecover, the ‘sustainable cleaning company’, announced a plan to use oil from genetically modified algae as a feedstock for their detergents. They were denounced in the strongest terms by Friends of the Earth and other NGOs. As if this … Read more
Scientists again called for a slowdown of gene technology, last August in Science. A group of 26 researchers called for safety measures in the area of gene drives. As a matter of fact, for a moratorium. This was not the … Read more
Many social scientists make an appeal to fundamental laws of nature in order to sustain their arguments. Fine, if their interpretation is tenable from a scientific point of view. But often, this is not the case. Economists tend to look … Read more
On this site we have always been concerned with the question of the shape and size of industry in a bioeconomy. Could it be much less dangerous? Concentrated in major industrial areas or strewn across the countryside, close to farmers, … Read more
Early this year, the Ellen McArthur Foundation published a policy report ‘The New Plastics Economy, Rethinking the Future of Plastics’. This is an important document, as it wraps up responsible thinking about the mounting problem of plastic waste, and what … Read more
With great sadness we announce that Paul Reinshagen has passed away, one of the founders and editors of this website. He died this week, 78 years of age. Paul Reinshagen was a happy man. All his life, he had the … Read more
Last week, Reverdia and BioAmber announced that they signed a ‘non-assert agreement’. The companies are both involved in the production and commercialisation of biobased succinic acid. They agreed that BioAmber can make use of parts of Reverdia’s Biosuccinium™ technology, ‘in … Read more
When in the seventies the discussion on the environmental problem erupted, Wiero Beek, then research director at Unilever, was one of the first industrialists who took the problem seriously. He devoted all his intellectual capacities to that task. Admirably so: … Read more
Recently I attended several biobased networking events where utilization of waste and by-products was discussed. I found these interesting talks; both because my company Abstraction partners with ARN to supply a tool to register by-products, and because it surprises me … Read more
Ecomodernism! It could be a breakthrough in the stalemate between proponents of economic growth and those of radical reforms, e.g. to prevent climate disasters. The term combines elements of both sides. So with great expectations, I started reading ‘An Ecomodernist … Read more
Poor Rabobank! Potentially it is one of the main financiers of the biobased economy. But will it have to say goodbye to its successful cooperative model, whereas the biobased economy seems to need it now? Cooperative banking has powered its … Read more
In the tension between sustainability and efficiency something strange is going on: it seems as though the concepts belong to two different worlds, with separate languages. As becomes apparent from reading “The Master and his Emissary”, a 2010 book by … Read more
Today and tomorrow is Global Divestment Day, the day when concerned citizens around the world ask institutional investors like universities and pension funds to withdraw their investments from fossil fuel companies. Because, as gofossilfree.org puts it, ‘as governments fail to … Read more
Sorry, we publish the review of this book ‘Connecting Industries’ only in Dutch.
At first sight, the discussion was quite adequate at the meeting ‘A sustainable bioeconomy in 2030: are we on the right track?’. Organised by the Dutch Commission on Biomass Sustainability Issues, usually called Corbey commission after its chairwoman. But beneath … Read more
Roel Bol Sorry, we publish this review of the Biobased Economy team of the Dutch ministry of Economic Affairs, headed by Roel Bol, in Dutch only.
Our website biobasedpress.eu looks for input from our readers. Are you aware of interesting articles that have appeared in your country, or of actual developments in your sector? We would appreciate it very much if you’d inform us, or even … Read more
In my increasingly eurosceptical home country, The Netherlands, intellectuals take a renewed interest in Europe. The squarely pro-European essay by the Austrian author and essayist Robert Menasse has been translated into Dutch. And the major study of the Belgian researcher … Read more
As of today, the name of our website will be biobasedpress.eu. This is a better expression of who we are. Our twitter account was already called @biobasedpress. From now on, we will use this name in all our communications. Our … Read more
The world needs a fantastic amount of knowledge, for its sustainable development, and in order to feed all new mouths. According to the OECD, we need to open three new universities every week of 30,000 students each, in order to … Read more
Human error is the label stuck on accidents that cannot be directly explained by the failure of a device, be it mechanical, electric or electronic. But the other side of such errors might well be the variation in the way … Read more
The far Northwest of the Groningen province is a rather unknown part of the Netherlands. Reitdiep, originating in Groningen town, there ends in the former Lauwerszee, called Lauwersmeer from 1969 onwards, when the sea was dammed. The 1953 floodings in … Read more