EC Publications - Plant Biotechnology Towards a European knowledge-based bioeconomy

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Towards a European knowledge-based bioeconomy- Workshop conclusions on the use of plant biotechnology for the production of industrial biobased products

Proceedings, ref EUR 21459, ISBN92-894-8778-X, are available as a PDF.

The following information is abstracted from this publication.

The workshop presentations presented at York University in 2004 gave an overview of recent research and technological development (RTD) in biotechnology and biobased products in Europe. The discussions established future research needs, identified bottlenecks to progress, and proposed actions for moving this emerging sector forward.

The range of biomaterials projects funded by the EU is large, from low-value/high-volume crops for energy production and biofuels to high-value/low volume crops from which therapeutic proteins can be extracted. Biotechnology is playing an important role in optimising the delivery of raw materials to industry. Workshop presentations illustrated how the application of genomics could open up new markets for plant-derived fibres, fats and oils, carbohydrates, biopolymers and proteins.

A summary of the main issues raised includes:

• Participants in the workshop recognised the need to ensure medium - to long-term research funding driven by well-defined and accepted objectives. A clear research agenda pulling together the wide-ranging and excellent expertise available in Europe could be designed to address the three main sectors of Food, Biobased Products, and Biological Resources.
• An intrinsic function would be the gathering, processing, and analysis of the huge genomic databank available in Europe and worldwide, for the pooling and sharing of the infrastructural resources, and the careful liaison with the necessary regulatory framework. Furthermore, such an agenda could help to both release and distribute the huge amount of data that is presently being underexploited in many laboratories throughout Europe.
• It was thought that the creation of a 'Technology Platform' for the harnessing of plant genomic and biotechnological information, as encouraged by the Commission, would be a very compatible tool to obtain such objectives.
• Any research agenda or plant genomics and biotechnology platform developing biobased products would have to be a concerted marriage of the 'white' together with the 'green' and 'blue' biotechnology sectors as bioprocessing in all its formats would be a key element of any planned biobased economy.
• It was mentioned that 'biobased products' were perceived as being a subject which was somewhat neglected in the current Sixth Framework Programme. While focus had been lost, there were still parts of the whole programme which funded related projects. Examples of large-scale projects selected so far from the programme include:
  • Thematic Priority 1 - Plant platform for immunotherapeutic biomolecule production (Integrated Project)
  • Thematic Priority 1 - BIOSAPIENS - a virtual institute for genome annotation and a European school for training in bioinformatics (Network of Excellence)
  • Thematic Priority 3 - POLYSACCHARIDES - The European Polysaccharide network (Network of Excellence) - SUSTAINPACK - Integrated research covering the whole fibre-based packaging value chain (integrated project) - ERA-NET - Plant Genomics European Research Area Network. - SUPPORT TO POLICIES - ENFA European Nonfood Agriculture model.

These projects - along with the plant genomic projects selected from Thematic Priority 5, such as Lipgene and Grain Legumes - will inevitably add essential information to the genomic knowledge pool and push forward a biobased product agenda.

Editorial Note At the time this report was produced a number of these projects were still in the review process. The future progress in respect of funding and work programmes can be obtained by entering the cited project acronymn in the Search Box

Contents

• Foreword
• Introduction
• Workshop highlights
• Building a dynamic biobased products sector in Europe
• Potential markets
• The underpinning science base and bottlenecks to success
• Technology platform for plant systems biology/biotechnology
• Project synopses
• Biomass crops for energy
• Fibres and composites
• Fats and oils
• Carbohydrates and novel biopolymers
• Information dissemination
• List of Participants

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