The Industrial Biotechnology Leadership Forum newsletter

Leading IB: A UK Showcase takes Westminster by storm...

Industrial Biotechnology Leadership Forum

Newsletter March 2013

Photo: Leading Industrial Biotechnology Event

exposure to oil prices. As the underlying biomass for bioplastics is grown, CO2 is converted into the polymer structures that form these innovative materials. This CO2

is held in the plastic’s structure until it is released through the materials eventual degradation that can range from months to decades later – depending on the required lifespan.

Biome Bioplastics is a leading innovator and supplier in the emerging bioplastics market. We provide a range of naturally sourced plastic polymers that have a high sustainable content and can recycle back to nature. When we learnt about the Industrial Biotechnology Leadership Forum’s (IBLF) plans to host the UK’s largest showcase of industrial biotechnology in January this year, we were keen to get involved and inspire others to access the growing global bio-economy.

In collaboration with the IBLF, Biosciences and Chemistry Innovation Knowledge Transfer Networks (KTNs) we decided to

thanks to their low production costs and ability to be rapidly mass produced.

However, with rising oil prices and pressing environmental concerns, attention is increasingly turning to viable natural alternatives to conventional oil based plastics and product materials – here’s where bioplastics can offer a long-term solution and challenge the dominance of their “petro” cousins.

Conventional wisdom regarding bioplastics sees them used in shopping bags, short-life packaging and disposable items – thus reducing the huge contribution these products make to landfill. But they can increasingly be used for longer life applications as their attributes are enhanced. Bioplastics can, but don’t have to, decompose rapidly. Advances in science allow them to perform their required uses for decades if required.

Today’s bioplastics are derived from sustainable plant sources, reducing their

How did a potato-based, fully biodegradable Union Jack flag showcase UK success in Industrial Biotechnology innovation? Paul Mines, CEO at Biome Technologies explains.

Society is facing important questions. How do we live sustainably and enjoy a high quality standard of living? How will our developed world function beyond cheap oil? Can we continue to throw away so much of what we make? Bioplastics are part of the answer.

Conventional, oil based plastics are everywhere. Many were invented in the early 20th century and since the 1950s they have become ingrained in our daily lives throughout our homes and places of work. They range from short life packaging products that are used for a day and then discarded, through consumer durables and electronics, to long life physical infrastructure that lasts for decades. Oil based plastics have become so integral to our lives, largely

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Company News

Flying the (potato) flag for UK Biotechnology

develop a Union Jack flag that originally started life as a humble potato and ended up flying proudly at Leading IB: A UK Showcase. We wanted to demonstrate that modern bioplastics can already be used in a wide range of sometimes surprising applications and the flag helped to showcase the innovative bio-based materials and products that this country can develop.

To share the wonder and potential of bio-based materials, Chemistry Innovation and Biosciences KTNs also commissioned a short film illustrating the production of the flag. The film, produced by Life Size Media, follows the unusual journey of a rejected potato as it braves sorting, starch factory, plasticisation and printers before flying proudly over the London skyline. The film was a way of showing what’s possible in material innovation when we think outside the box.

The flag is just one example of the potential to replace traditional processes with new, naturally-sourced products – using emerging technologies we can take this even further. For example, at Biome Bioplastics we are currently exploring opportunities for the manufacture of bio-based materials through the use of synthetic biology, an area which offers exciting commercial and technical possibilities. Last year, the government identified the commercialisation of synthetic biology as an area of high priority where the UK can build a world leading position and access part of the £10 billion global market that will exist over the next decade.

Biome has a small number of early-stage collaborations with both academic and industrial partners that explore the innovative industrial applications of synthetic biology. To secure this research, we currently have an application for funding under consideration by the Technology Strategy Board as part of their £6.5 million funding programme, in collaboration with the leading Research Councils. Collaboration and partnerships like these will be vital to ensuring that laboratory-based discoveries have the opportunity to become practical applications and secure the sustainable future we all need.

The film can be found by clicking here

BBC’s Bang Goes the Theory were so inspired by the story that following the Showcase they featured Biome Bioplastics and the flag in a clip called ‘Can we make plastic from potatoes?’ View it here.

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industrial practice” says McNeil. The consortium’s plans have successfully progressed through two funding rounds to date, one of which requested specific evidence of industry commitment to the Centre. As a result, an Industry Task Group was created in preparation for the next phase of the SFC Innovation Centre bid process. The Group, chaired by Kevin Moore OBE, recently held a workshop event that delivered a clear strategic drive for the establishment of the Centre, demonstrating its strong industrial roots.

“The IBIC will be governed by an industry board, with an experienced commercial director, supported by an appropriate Industry Chairman and all funding and strategic decisions will be based on industry drivers” says Moore. “This structure will be particularly relevant when partners have the opportunity to bid for research funding supplied by the Centre; applicants will be required to demonstrate industrial relevance and how each project could meet commercial priorities. Relevant best practice from industry will be used in managing all projects. This approach will encourage industry to take a sustained and active approach to the Centre utilising some of the world class academic IB expertise found here in Scotland and within collaborating institutions and centres.”

The Centre will exist as a distributed model with the University of Strathclyde as a likely contender for the academic base, given its strong track record of delivering knowledge transfer activities including programmes such as the Continuous Manufacturing and Crystallisation (CMAC) centre. A final funding decision is expected in June 2013.

A new £10 million Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre has been proposed to join up distributed capabilities and support commercial potential for global and SME businesses across industrial sectors.

It would be truly life changing if Scotland could welcome its first ever centre designed to foster IB knowledge transfer from academia to industry, providing the holistic capabilities businesses need to capitalise on global economic opportunity.

In April 2012, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) announced a round of funding to foster the creation of Innovation Centres in key economic areas. The aim is to place UK and particularly Scottish industry at the forefront of rapidly developing technologies and secure the competitiveness of its offerings. In response, a consortium of academic and industrial partners, including Scotland’s largest user of Industrial Biotechnology, GSK, put forward a proposal for the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBIC).

The consortium currently involves sixteen industrial partners and nine academic institutions – led by the University of Strathclyde. Brian McNeil, Professor of Microbiology, has been leading the academic side of the consortium “IB is advancing rapidly, and the skills and enabling technologies needed by industry already exist within Scotland’s Higher Education Institutes. Currently, however, there is no single point of access to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and industrial commercialisation. If successful with our bid, IBIC will be driven by industry demand with a strong focus on how academia can catalyse step-changes in

Scottish Plans to Deliver Industrial Biotechnology Innovation to Industry

believe that we have together created the right kind of supportive environment in the UK to catalyse and accelerate the innovation, commercialisation and growth potential of Industrial Biotechnology and realise an increment of £10 billion pounds to the economy by 2025.

The Showcase provided a great chance to celebrate the success that we have achieved so far and look towards future ways to harness the power of Industrial Biotechnology to drive change and create new collaborations. It was a welcome sight to see government so engaged with the event, particularly the attendance of Business Minister Michael Fallon and key IB funding announcements from Science Minister, David Willetts.

Willetts revealed that government will help bridge the valley of death between discovery and commercialisation of IB research using a series of network funding opportunities linking universities and industry. In addition, a catalyst fund will be established and managed by the Technology Strategy Board which will offer companies that are interested in developing IB techniques like-to-like funding for every pound of private sector

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IBLF News

A word from the chairIndustrial Biotechnology is not an industry within itself. It is a toolkit that can be used by many industries to make their processes more renewable and sustainable, whilst also reducing costs. There was no greater reminder of IB’s potential to connect fundamental research with industry and secure the UK’s competitive advantage in this area than at Leading IB: A UK Showcase.

The event, hosted by the Industrial Biotechnology Leadership Forum (IBLF) earlier this year, brought together academics, industry leaders and policy makers to review how far the UK has come in realising the IB opportunity. As someone who operates within this pioneering community on a daily basis, even I was taken aback by the diversity, depth and breadth of activity that was shared at the event. It was the first time that I have witnessed every area of the process industry come alive with IB to develop or manufacture goods in a more sustainable way. On this evidence I really

investment. Both of these measures will ensure that the UK can capitalise on the rapid growth of the international IB market – estimated to have almost doubled in the past five years alone.

But our work promoting IB does not end with the Showcase. We now need a wider communications strategy that will engage completely new sectors, educators and the broader society with the exciting potential of replacing existing feedstocks and processes with cheaper, greener and cleaner alternatives.

Ian Shott CBE, Industry Chairman

Ian Shott CBE, Industry Chairman Leading IB Showcase Event Jan 13

Michael Fallon MP and Rebecca Farnell looking at a Bio-Based baul baul with a bio-based flag in the background!

Industry leaders, technology providers and a wide range of other stakeholders from across multiple sectors came together to share details of how they have harnessed IB to drive innovation, often in established industries that typically rely heavily on petrochemical derived chemical processes. Attendees were given the chance to see the novel range of applications IB can support including a fishing rod developed from carrots and a potato-based, fully biodegradable Union Jack.

Successful application of IB was highlighted in the ‘Sustainable Returns: IB Done Well’ report – commissioned by the IBLF and written by Jonathan Porritt, Founder Director of Forum for the Future – which was launched at the event. The report set out ten guiding principles for industry and government to ensure IB meets both its growth as well as carbon reduction potential and will be used by the IBLF to influence their strategy for UK academic and industrial activities beyond 2015.

Government also played an active role in the event as it continues to recognise the significance of IB and their role in helping UK businesses and academia to access this pioneering enabling technology.

Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts used the event to announce £40 million of funding to boost research in

Leading IB: A UK Showcase takes Westminster by stormThis January, the Industrial Biotechnology Leadership Forum (IBLF) hosted the UK’s largest IB showcase which brought together business leaders, funders, academics and policy makers from the UK and the EU to share biotechnology success stories.

Industrial biotechnology is the harnessing of bio-based inputs for the production of industrially useful products on a large scale. It offers novel solutions through the use of plants, algae, and both macro and micro microbes such as bacteria, yeast and fungi together with waste biomass as non-fossil sources that will benefit many UK industry sectors including chemicals, renewable energy, food, materials, and health. The IBLF estimates the global IB market in 2025 could be worth at least £150 billion and the event represented an important milestone in the UK’s journey towards realising its economic potential – the UK’s share of the IB market could be between £4 billion and £12 billion.

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Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy. The funding, from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), will fund the creation of interdisciplinary networks and foster collaborative research between academia and industry through an IB Catalyst fund offering a channel for sustainable economic growth for the UK. “Industrial biotechnology is a very promising area of science that could provide greener solutions for many important sectors, like manufacturing and life sciences. Through investing in research and working with industry we can harness the UK’s expertise in this area to drive growth and create jobs” said Willetts.

Presentations from across the two-day event can be downloaded by clicking here

Leading IB Showcase Event Jan 13 Michael Fallon MP, Stephen Bagshaw, Carol-Boyer Spooner, and Rebecca Farnell at the Leading IB Showcase event

David Willetts MP, speaking at the Leading IB Showcase event

Our goal is to energise the UK IBBE community by building these strong research networks, integrating emerging areas of bioscience into the industrial biotechnology arena and allowing opportunities to be quickly and fully exploited when they arise.

Next year BBSRC will also contribute £20 million alongside £5 million from the TSB to launch the Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst that will make the most of research coming out of networks.

Inspired by the Medical Research Council and TSB Biomedical Catalyst, it will help transform research into outcomes and deliver maximum impact.

“This investment will nurture the UK’s IBBE community, joining up an often small and fragmented industrial sector with the research community and each other.”Encouraging major challenge-led research projects derived from the networking activities, the Catalyst is designed to provide the support for the best proposals from the UK, speeding up the process of turning research into commercial applications.

The network schemes are now live at www.bbsrc.ac.uk

Dr Celia Caulcott is Director, Innovation and Skills at the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) where she has responsibility for developing and leading BBSRC’s innovation strategy and leading on BBSRC engagement with industry.

An initial £15 million from BBSRC will create up to 10 networks between academia and industry; encouraging collaboration between researchers and businesses at all levels, finding new approaches to challenges and learning from each other.

Networks will be for both established and emerging areas of importance to IBBE research and will be based around biological processes underpinning basic and strategic research in the IBBE area and could include approaches such as genomics, systems and synthetic biology.

The networks will be focused on technologies, bringing together experts from disciplines including biology, chemistry and engineering, but also others such as mathematics, computational modelling, environmental science, economics and social science.

This investment will nurture the UK’s IBBE community, joining up an often small and fragmented industrial sector with the research community and each other.

The networks will also provide an avenue to help emerging projects develop. The idea is to support researchers gathering early data. The peer review process often looks for such preliminary data before a grant is considered, and this may well give projects the edge they need to get funded in the future.

A new network to energise the IB communityA new funding mechanism has been launched to create networks of researchers in academia and industry that can take bioscience advances to the next level. Dr Celia Caulcott from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) explains how it will work.

The start of 2013 has been an exciting time for BBSRC, particularly in the area of Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy, or ‘IBBE’ as we’ve come to call it.

We’ve been working hard throughout 2012 to reshape the way we fund this area. In January 2013 we saw the fruits of our labour as David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, announced £40 million of funding as the first part of a major research funding programme to help make the UK a world leader for IBBE research and translation. The announcement was made at the ‘Leading IB: A UK Showcase’ event where I had the opportunity to present about BBSRC’s work in this area.

IBBE is one of BBSRC’s three strategic research priorities (alongside food security and basic bioscience underpinning health) and BBSRC sees it as of huge scientific and economic importance to the UK. The IBBE market could be worth up to £12 billion by 2025 and it has the potential to make exciting contributions across many areas, generating significant returns.

Naturally BBSRC wants to see the UK bioscience community leading the way in IBBE research. To take this forward, BBSRC will invest £35 million, with an additional £5 million coming from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) to establish a series of IBBE networks and the Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst.

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Academic News

Dr Celia Caulcott

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Training the sustainability experts of the futureThe University of Bath is coordinating a pioneering PhD programme that spans across academic expertise to secure the UK’s position at the forefront of sustainable chemical technologies.

The Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies was established at the University of Bath in 2008. The University discovered that a number of different departments – including Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Biology & Biochemistry – were doing innovative work to address issues of sustainability and wanted to find a way to connect the various approaches to create tangible breakthroughs in the area.

“Developing sustainable technologies relies on a broad range of disciplines; from the fundamental science that underpins ideas through to practical application” says Professor Matthew Davidson, Director of the Centre. “We realised that the earlier in the development process that we brought these different disciplines together, the more impact we could have.”

The Centre was established to sit at the interface between science and engineering, creating a key point of access for chemists, chemical engineers and biotechnologists to collaborate with each other. Before long, the Centre was presented with a unique opportunity to consolidate these efforts even further and develop a new generation of professionals, trained across each discipline and armed with an understanding of how they worked together to create sustainable technologies.

In 2009, the Centre was awarded £7.5 million of funding from EPSRC (the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) to develop an innovative PhD programme in Sustainable Chemical Technologies. The funding was intended to support fifty students over a five year period.

Matthew and his team developed a four-year integrated PhD programme – the first of its kind in Sustainable Chemical Technologies. The course has been developed in conjunction with a number of academic departments and other

training partners to ensure that students are challenged beyond traditional PhD research.

“During the first year, students complete two research projects and take advanced courses on topics such as catalysis and clean technology” explains Dr Janet Scott, Director of Studies. Unlike other PhDs, students don’t work independently on their projects; instead they work in collaboration across biochemistry, engineering and chemistry. Students also receive training in environmental management, sustainable development, business practice, public engagement and media skills, and attend a one-week residential course in Devon focusing on ecological and societal aspects of sustainability. “This training helps equip them with skills needed for a career in industry, where scientists are expected to work in teams to develop solutions to problems,” says Scott.

In the second year of study, students start their PhD project and receive strong industrial guidance and involvement. “We have a number of industrial partners that on a top-level guide the strategic direction of the Centre, and since the start of the PhD programme have been actively involved in running training courses for students. This helps to build on students’ understanding of the commercial relevance of research they may be conducting” says Davidson. “Whilst industry members do not fund individual PhD projects, as our programme is not contract research, we find that they benefit from seeing fundamental, long-term ideas being developed – many of which they wouldn’t naturally fund, but underpin the development of their future products and processes.”

In a further break from traditional PhD programmes, students also receive funding to complete a 3 month internship. This can take place anywhere from an industrial placement to a sustainable community project in West Africa. “As long as the placements are related to the main themes of the Centre, we encourage students to be imaginative and ambitious when making their selection” says Davidson. “The long term aim of these experiences is to broaden students’ outlook on the applications of sustainable technologies and create well-informed, skilled professionals to support the future of UK business.”

Kathryn Wills, a final-year PhD student, has recently completed a placement at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, preparing a report for MPs on greenhouse gas emissions. The internship has built on her study of the policy and public engagement side of sustainability during her PhD, honing the skills that are necessary for the real world of work. “The training I’ve received at the Centre has honed relevant skills such as communicating science to different audiences” she says, “and that will be a real advantage when I start applying for jobs.”

www.bath.ac.uk/csct/

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Ensuring that bioenergy is economically, environmentally and socially sustainable throughout its lifecycle will underpin its appeal as an alternative, renewable source of energy. With this in mind, the BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) has set up a virtual centre – BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre (BSBEC) that covers an entire second generation biofuel pipeline: from feedstock production and preparation to cell wall analysis and through to conversion of sugars into liquid fuel, for example ethanol or butanol.

BSBEC was established in 2009 and delivers integrated activity across six bioenergy research programmes. The LACE project is led by Nottingham’s Professor of Plant Biochemistry , Greg Tucker, and enters the pipeline at the deconstruction stage, optimising the release of sugars from plant cell walls to start the fuel production process. The complex nature of the research has resulted in several different academic departments within the University coming together to share their expertise and collaborate in the following stages:

1. The materials science approach – deconstructing plant cell walls

Biofuel is generated using sugars derived from the cell wall polymers found in plant tissue. The first issue the LACE project had to tackle is the natural resistance this tissue has towards enzymes used to convert polymers in the cell wall into sugars. Greg and his team researched various treatments that need to be performed in order to make the cell wall material accessible to enzymes (deconstruction). The team used practices from material science to design the most effective treatments, including subjection to high temperatures as well as acid and alkali processes.

2. The biology approach – discovering novel fungal enzymes

Enzyme production is one of the major costs in the generation of ethanol from lignocellulose. In a bid to make bioethanol manufacture more economically viable, the LACE project is investigating new ways to develop enzymes and have collaborated with the University’s School of Biology to explore the issue. Professor David Archer specialises in the genetics of fungi and has applied his expertise to consider the ways in which fungi can be used to make enzymes. The team

has carried out genomic analysis on the relationship between organisms that naturally produce enzymes, such as fungi, and plant feedstock that needs to be deconstructed. The aim is to reduce production costs by developing novel enzymes based on natural resources.

3. The brewing science approach – developing novel yeast strains and fermentation processes that optimise bioethanol production

Once sugars have been extracted from the deconstructed cell wall they need to undergo a fermentation process to form ethanol. For this part of the pipeline, the skills of the University’s brewing research group were introduced. Led by Professor Katherine Smart, the group had strong experience in optimising the fermentation of sugars into ethanol. The feedstock traditionally used by the brewing group consisted of cereal grains so they were faced with a new challenge working within the LACE project, whose feedstock consists of lignocellulosic residues derived from “energy” crops or “agricultural residues” such as wheat straw. The team resolved to develop novel yeast strains that could be used in new fermentation processes to efficiently produce ethanol – this activity, however, developed a new set of challenges for the project.

Multi-disciplinary project completes the bioenergy pipelineThe University of Nottingham is bringing together several different academic departments to investigate ways in which plant cell wall material (lignocellulose) can be used for the sustainable production of bioethanol. The LACE (Lignocellulose Conversion to Ethanol) project coordinated by Nottingham is part of the BBSRC’s Sustainable Bioenergy Centre (BSBEC) – a £24 million investment to increase UK bioenergy research capacity.

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4. The genetics approach – honing super-tolerant yeast

The pre-treatment used to break down plant cell wall tissue in the first step of the LACE project creates a number of acids, and other compounds, that inhibit yeast used for fermentation later. This unwanted side-effect meant that the brewing group needed to develop super-tolerant yeasts that could be used to ferment the sugars into ethanol. For this process, they enlisted the help of the Centre for Genetics and Genomics, led by Professor Edward Louis. The team developed a number of genetic screens and approaches to speed up evolution of the yeast, exposing it to high temperatures and inhibitors, developing its resistance and suitability for use at the fermentation stage.

“The LACE project has encouraged the University to take a multi-disciplinary approach towards bioenergy production, resulting in major outcomes for all departments involved” comments Professor Tucker. “In addition to scientific breakthroughs, the ability to produce new enzymes at lower cost will provide commercial opportunities for companies producing renewable liquid fuels.”

Over-arching LACE’s scientific progress is a strong focus on the sustainability of the processes involved – a theme that underpins the BSBEC – and the following issues are considered:

Economic implications – in collaboration with Professor Geoff Hammond and Dr Marcelle McManus at the University of Bath, LACE carries out a lifecycle analysis that considers the environmental and energy impacts of any processes.

Farm-assessment – Dr Paul Wilson, from the School of Biosciences at Nottingham, is examining farmers’ perceptions of using crops to produce energy and the ways in which barriers to releasing straw for energy production can be tackled.

Social and ethical implications – Dr Sujatha Raman, from the School of Sociology and Social Policy, and Dr Kate Millar from the School of Biosciences at Nottingham are assessing the impact of bioenergy on wider society, the University runs a number of outreach activities with local communities and responds to any concerns about this new technology.

Meetings held by the Biosciences KTN support this outreach strategy by helping the LACE team connect with other members of the bioenergy community and learn about their activities in this space. “Beyond BSBEC funding which runs until 2014, we are looking to continue our research into novel yeast development for bioenergy production – being connected into networks like the KTNs is an ideal platform to meet the right collaborators to bring bioenergy to the mainstream” says Professor Tucker.

www.nottingham.ac.uk/bioenergy/lace/

“The complex nature of the research has resulted in several different academic departments within the University coming together to share their expertise and collaborate”

Amy Tayler (BBSRC)

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Key datesClosing date: Wednesday 24th April 2013

For more information CLICK HERE

Innovation in design and manufacturing of complex formulated products

The Technology Strategy Board and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are investing up to £6m in feasibility projects and collaborative research and development to accelerate the development of new ways of designing, improving and manufacturing complex high-value formulated products in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, detergents, food, agrochemicals, paints, adhesives, lubricants and formulated process chemicals.

Project Themes include: Radical Formulated Product Design, Formulation for Delivery, Radical Formulation Process Design, Formulation for Stability, Formulation for Sustainability Key datesOpen date: April 2013Close date: June 2013

CLICK HERE for more information or visit the Connect website

ERA-NET Bioenergy

The European strategy for renewable energy sources identifies bioenergy as the most important renewable energy source for the future: a source of cleaner, more secure and sustainable power for Europe. ERA-NET Bioenergy links national bioenergy research programmes together to improve cost-effectiveness and ensure the maximum research impacts for this vital energy sector.

The seventh round of funding is now open for applications in the following areas:

• Small-scale systems for the harvesting, processing or densification of novel or existing biomass e.g. variable or “difficult” feedstocks

studies across the whole manufacturing lifecycle.

Key datesDeadline for applications: noon Wednesday 24th April 2013

For more information: CLICK HERE

Materials and Manufacturing North West Launchpad

The Technology Strategy Board is investing up to £2m in innovative R&D projects, with a focus on the materials and manufacturing cluster of businesses in the North West, centred around the Sci-Tech Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus and the Runcorn Heath Business & Technical Park.

The competition aims to stimulate this hotspot of materials and manufacturing industries by enabling companies to go further and/or faster towards commercial success. They want to draw investment and people into the area, and to encourage networking to strengthen the cluster.

For more information CLICK HERE

Key datesOpen date: Monday 4th March 2013 Close date: Wednesday 17th April 2013

Materials innovation for a sustainable economy

The Technology Strategy Board is to invest up to £5m in highly innovative collaborative research and development that encourages the development and application of sustainable materials, products and processes including the production of materials and products with lower embodied energy and/or from renewable feedstocks.

The aim is to support materials technologies that rapidly meet urgent and difficult environmental and social challenges and that create wealth for the UK through the development and implementation of new or improved materials, processes and products.

Business Support for InnovationThe following schemes provide opportunities for businesses to engage with on-going projects and access new sources of funding through UK and European initiatives. Chemistry Innovation and the Biosciences KTNs offer free assistance to businesses at any stage of innovation, from initial briefing to market success.

Technology Inspired Innovation

The Technology Strategy Board is to invest up to £2m in technical feasibility studies to stimulate innovation across four enabling technology areas. This will help to ensure that small and micro businesses in the UK are well equipped to respond to market opportunities across a range of economic sectors.

They are seeking projects in the following fields: advanced materials; biosciences; electronics, sensors and photonics; and information and communications technology.

The competition is open to small and micro companies only, working either singly or in collaboration with one partner. Key datesRegister before noon on Wednesday 27 March 2013Deadline for applications is at noon on 3 April 2013

For more information CLICK HERE

New Business Models in High Value Manufacturing

In line with their High Value Manufacturing Strategy, the Technology Strategy Board is to invest up to £500k in feasibility studies to stimulate new business models supporting innovations in high value manufacturing. They are seeking feasibility

Business Support

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• Scale-down of existing systems to allow localised energy supply or integration into existing larger systems• Design and optimisation of small-scale bioenergy systems or value chains through business modeling or socioeconomic studies• Combustion technologies: minimising particle emissions and improving the efficiency of small-scale systems• Systems combining bioenergy with other renewable technologies e.g. solar, hydrogen

Key datesDeadline for pre-proposals: 10th May 2013Deadline for full proposals: 20th August 2013Projects will start in 2014

For more information: http://www.eranetbioenergy.net

CIP Eco-innovation

This is a €40 million European funding programme that aims to bridge the gap between the research and commercialisation of environmentally-friendly processes and outputs by funding market uptake of green innovation projects. The programme will fund up to 50% of project value, with typical project budgets worth worth €1-2 million in five areas:

• Materials recycling: improving the quality of recycled material, better waste sorting and treatment methods, innovative products using recycled materials

• Sustainable building products: construction products and related processes (construction, maintenance,

repair, retrofitting or demolition of buildings) which reduce consumption of resources, embodied carbon and production of by-product wastes

• Food and drink: Cleaner and innovative products and processes, including packaging methods and materials aiming at higher resource efficiency, reduction of waste and greenhouse gas emissions and increasing recycling and recovery, improved production and consumption

• Water: water efficient processes, products and technologies (reducing water consumption by at least 30%), water-free processes, water and wastewater treatment solutions, and smart distribution systems

• Greening business and bio-based solutions: substitution of materials with bio-based solutions, clean production processes, industrial symbiosis and gradual innovation (re-manufacturing mechanisms and innovative repairing services)

Key dates

Call opens: 2nd May 2013Deadline for full proposals: Early September 2013Projects will start in 2014

For more information contact: Ewa Bloch, UK National Contact Point for Eco-innovation and Industrial Biotechnology ewa.bloch@tsb.gov.uk and visit https://connect.innovateuk.org/web/ewa-bloch/blogs

ECO-INNOVERA

The second call of the ECO-INNOVERA Network is supported by 12 funding parts from across Europe, offering €10 million to boost green growth and industrial driven R&D by supporting market-oriented projects in the fields of:

• System innovation• Sustainable processes and products • Recycling; re-use of waste and water

Key informationDeadline for expression of interest: 8th April 2013

Technical and scope questions: John Whittall (john.whittall@tsb.gov.uk)Eligibility and administrative questions: Graham Mobbs(graham.mobbs@tsb.gov.uk)

For more information: http://www.eco-innovera.eu/second_call

European funding support is available by the Technology Strategy Board’s funded National Contact Points. Please CLICK HERE for more information and contact details.

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Events21st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition (EU BC&E)Monday 3rd – Friday 7th June 2013Bella Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark

The 2013 EU BC&E will be one of the leading annual meeting for the international biomass community. The Conference will discuss major issues for the biomass markets, in technical and business areas, from resource assessment to market and policy developments, drawing on leading experiences from all over Europe and worldwide.

For more information: www.conference-biomass.com

World Congress on Industrial BiotechnologyMonday 17th – Wednesday 19th June 2013Palais des congrès de Montréal, Montreal, Canada

The BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology is the world’s largest industrial biotechnology event for business leaders, investors, and policy makers in biofuels, biobased products, and renewable chemicals.

Highlights:• Approximately 1,000 attendees from over 35 countries• Clean Tech Investor Sessions• BIO One-on-One business partnering meetings• Exhibit Hall Networking Receptions

For more information: https://connect.innovateuk.org/web/world-congress-on-industrial-biotechnology

Events