To increase strong collaborations between Brazil, the Netherlands and Germany, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Cluster Industrial Biotechnology (CLIB) and BE-Basic Foundation. The joint cooperation will be carried out related to the BioInnovation Growth mega-Cluster (BIG-C): an innovation cluster with partners in the Netherlands, Flanders and North Rhine-Westphalia. The agreement was signed by Manfred Kircher (Chairman of the Advisory Board CLIB) and Luuk van der Wielen (President of BE-Basic) on Tuesday 8 March 2016 at the international ECO-BIO conference at the World Trade Center in Rotterdam.

“This new collaboration with CLIB will create more possibilities for innovative partnerships between the Netherlands, Germany and Brazil,” says Van der Wielen. “We look forward to explore options in the fields of research, education and innovation in Brazil to further develop a sustainable bioeconomy.“ Kircher confirms this: “We see Brazil as a global bioeconomy champion and aim on partnering in Research&Development as well as building strong bioeconomy supply and value chains. Our BIG-C alliance of The Netherlands, the Belgian region Flanders and the German state North Rhine-Westphalia gains international awareness thereby fostering the network with well-known organizations in the global bioeconomy.”

As the world’s 1st sugar producer and exporter, 2nd soy, beef and chicken exporter and 2nd ethanol producer, Brazil holds a lot of potential for implementation of a bioeconomy. The collaboration is part of BE-Basic’s plans to grow and to enhance international partnerships to reach agreed reduction targets of the Green House Gasses at COP21 as well as to support economic growth.

ECO-BIO program

The MoU was signed at the ECO-BIO 2016, organised by BE-Basic Foundation and Elsevier. The conference took place from the 6th until the 9th of March 2016 at the World Trade Center in Rotterdam and provided an international platform for industries, scientists, NGO’s and governments to meet and discuss the challenges and solutions to build a sustainable biobased economy. Key speakers included Marcel Wubbolts (CTO DSM), Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz (Scientific Director FAPESP), Wim van der Putten (Head of the Department of Terrestrial Ecology NIOO-KNAW), Philippe Marlière (entrepreneur and Director of Research, Institute of Systems and Synthetic Biology) and Korneel Rabaey (Head of Department Biochemical and Microbial Technology, University of Ghent). Luuk van der Wielen and Bram Brouwer (President and Managing Director BE-Basic) chaired the event. More information: www.ecobioconference.com.