On the 24th of June 2015, the Board of the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) has decided to continue its collaborative academic research and education program with Latin America from its office in Brazil. A budget of approximately 1 mln euro has been allocated from its strategic funds to support the further consolidation of the collaboration with an extended program and thereby continue to its Brazilian office for another term of three years. Various faculties and BE-Basic Foundation will provide substantial support.

After the opening by King Willem-Alexander in November 2012 of the Brazil TU Delft/BE-Basic office at UNICAMP in Campinas, TU Delft has been able to steadily increase its research and education collaboration based on existing bilateral contacts in the field of biobased and clean technology. Now it is time to consolidate this.

Dirk Jan van den Berg, President of the Board of TU Delft: “TU Delft wishes to strengthen and expand its international activities as part of its vision to be a globally leading academic institution. Our Brazilian partnership with UNICAMP is an example of how our universities can collaborate internationally at a high level with mutual gains. We now want to consolidate these efforts and continue to support this from the Board”.

Prof. Luis Cortez (International Relations UNICAMP) adds: “UNICAMP welcomes the decision by TU Delft to continue the successful joint program with TU Delft and BE-Basic, which is unique in its kind and brings mutual gains, both in its high level joint education and in the excellent complementary research projects for sustainable bioenergy and other biobased sectors”.

Luuk van der Wielen, distinguished professor in Biobased Economy and responsible for the initiation of the Brazil Office, comments: “We are extremely pleased with what has been achieved during the past 3 years, including 11 joint research programs and 6 joint advanced courses as well as the initiation of a Dual Degree PhD program and a joint Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Technology for Biobased Products. So far, nearly 13 mln euro from a variety of Brazilian and Dutch funds has been allocated to these joint activities and we have many more in the pipeline. We now especially wish to expand our public private projects. Brazil has a leading position in biobased production of especially biobased products and proves an excellent partner for further business development with its vast amount of sustainable feedstock availability for biobased production. The leading position of the Netherlands in sustainable biobased technology provides a much appreciated basis for further collaboration”.

The office at UNICAMP is a joint initiative of TU Delft and BE-Basic, one of the largest public-private partnerships globally in the field of biobased economy. Together with the other 50 partners of BE-Basic, plans are made to intensify the research programs, amongst others in the field of biojet fuel production. A series of advanced joint courses and MOOCs will ensure that future experts are prepared for the new business opportunities.

BE-Basic and TU Delft have established a number of important agreements to support this development. The program will be led by professor Luuk van der Wielen and professor Patricia Osseweijer and will provide ample opportunities to Dutch industries as well as young promising researchers who wish to build an international career.