The Kick-off of the first edition of the Global Biobased Business competition (G-BiB) for the German and Dutch teams took place last Tuesday at Wageningen University. This interesting and instructive, but most of all inspiring event marks the beginning of the G-BiB for the two German and five Dutch teams with members from all over the world.

After a short welcome, Manfred Kircher (Chairman Advisory Board CLIB2021) inspired the teams to ‘think out of the box’ giving many examples of new feedstock and business opportunities. Kirsten Steinbusch (CEO DAB) presented Delft Advanced Biorenewables,  that offers a patented scalable (bio)reactor technology and shared her views on developing her business. A great biotech business example for  the students which resulted in many questions and tips. 

During the kick-off all the teams pitched their idea and motivation under supervision of Patricia Osseweijer. Prior to the event all team were asked to fill in a Sustainable Entrepreneurship Scan, developed by Lisa Ploum (Wageningen University), who also presented the promising results: average score was higher than usual.

The final challenge for all the teams is to write an innovative business plan based on a design for sustainable production of biorenewable products such as biofuels and biomaterials or partial solutions that will support developing those products. To give the students an idea about a solid business plan, Jeroen Veenenbos from Erasmus Centre of Entrepreneurship, welcomed the students in the world of business giving them many examples of successful and failed business plans. This was an eye opener and a challenge for many students.  

The teams will follow a master class in April focussing on developing their business case and by the end of May they will have to submit their business plans. At this moment a similar process is ongoing for the teams in Brazil. 

The semi-finals for all the country’s will be held in June and the finals in October during the 3rd Brazilian BioEnergy Science and Technology (BBEST) in Campos do Jordão, Brazil. The final award of  €10.000,- will be provided for by Corbion to further enrol the business plan.