Brazil and The Netherlands agreed to join forces on their important agro-and industrial sectors to further the development of a sustainable biobased economy. This collaboration will help both countries to benefit optimally from available resources and facilities, to help reach the agreed reduction of Green House Gasses at COP21 as well as economic growth. The Cooperation Agreement between AgroPolo Campinas-Brazil and BE-Basic Foundation was signed by their representatives on Monday 7 March 2016 during the opening session of the international ECO-BIO conference at the World Trade Center in Rotterdam.

Brazil is the largest tropical country in the world, the 2nd largest agribusiness exporter and has the greatest potential for growth in agricultural production in the world. Due to its characteristics, Brazil is perhaps the country with the greatest development potential in Bioeconomy areas. Brazil already is the 1st sugar producer and exporter, 2nd soy, beef and chicken exporter and 2nd ethanol producer (40% of the domestic fuel market for light vehicles), and the agribusiness represents about 50% of the Brazilian trade balance. The AgroPolo-initiative aims to bundle the efforts of the leading institutions and industries around Campinas for a next step in sustainable economic development.

The Netherlands is part of the North-West European Industry Cluster that with North-Rhein Westfalia and Flanders has a joint GDP of 1,4 trillion euro of which 25% is related to industrial production. Agro& food (150 billion euro) and chemical sectors (168 billion euro) are important contributors. The Netherlands plays a key role with its marine and aviation mainports and linked industries and consuming companies such as KLM. The Netherlands is keen to green these sectors and is implementing an advanced biofuels strategy. Continuous innovation is critical and BE-Basic was created a decade ago as a public-private collaboration to support technological and societal development through industrial and environmental biotechnology. BE-Basic has now grown to a worldwide recognised leading organisation, headquartered in The Netherlands,  and many of its products and processes have reached market implementation. BE-Basic already collaborates with FAPESP, the research foundation of the State of Sao Paulo since 2010 with a cumulative joint budget exceeding 13 million euro.

The agreed collaboration is meant to mutually benefit from the wide portfolio of research institutions, their knowhow and facilities, and offer industries and investors an inducing environment for implementing a sustainable Bioeconomy. Sustainability is a cornerstone of the collaboration. The parties will exchange experiences and best-practices following joint key performance parameters, supporting international cluster-building and networking  and actively supporting their partners in Academia and Industry in building bilateral links to prepare joint projects in academic science and industrial R&D. They also agreed to joint R&D projects in the field of industrial biotechnology, following the earlier investments.

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 6^th until the 9^th of March 2016 at the World Trade Center in Rotterdam, providing 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 (DSM), Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz (FAPESP), Wim van der Putten (NIOO-KNAW), Philippe Marlière (Institute of Systems and Synthetic Biology) and Korneel Rabaey (University of Ghent). Luuk van der Wielen and Bram Brouwer (Managing Director BE-Basic) chaired the event. More information: www.ecobioconference.com.