Publications Key Action 5 - External Advisory Group Report

Website: ec.europa.eu/research/fp5/eag.html




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Background Information : Biotechnology : Wood (Lignocellulose)



Introduction This report carries the opinions concerning the research carried out under the first phase of the Commission's Fifth Framework Programme (1998 -2002).

This 32 page full-colour brochure was published in 2003 (isbn 92-894-5790-2) by the Office for Official Publications, Luxembourg. It covers all sectors of KA5, which dealt specifically with agriculture, fisheries and forestry research, including rural and coastal development.

The brochure contains an indpendent review of the work carried out, showing what was done and the impact of the results, although the short time lapse and the fact that many projects continue after it had been written (and some had not even started) makes this aspect of more limited relevance.

The contents are as follows:

• Forword
• Introduction
• The Key Action 5 Programme
• The External Advisory Group
• KeyAction 5 research sectors
• Societal issues
• Dissemination and exploitation of results
• Conclusion
• For further information

It was pleasing to see that BioMatNet received a mention in the section covering non-food research, the full text of which is reproduced below, follwed by that concerning forestry and the wood-chain.:

Non-Food Research

European Union interest in the non-food industrial uses of agricultural raw materials goes back almost 15 years. It stems originally from a desire in the EU to find alternative uses for intervention stocks being produced in Europe as a result of the hyper efficiency of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) during that period. Subsequent political developments in the early 1990s, such as the first CAP reform and the Uruguay Round, led to production controls and indirectly stimulated non-food interest through the resulting availability of land set aside with new limited subsidies for industrial crops.

In parallel, global commitments were signed by the EU to clean up and control environmental damage - industrial crops were considered as a potential source of renewable and sustainable materials and energy. Furthermore, technological progress had profoundly increased our understanding of the plant and microbial kingdom and how they can be adapted for the benefit of mankind.

Key Action 5 sought to encourage the production and exploitation of biological materials for non-foodd use by offering a broad range of possible applications: biopolymers for packaging and construction, fine chemicals for use in pharmaceuticals, bulk chemicals for lubricants, solvents and detergents, and biofuels for energy and transport.

Funded projects demonstrated the potential for non-food use of materials, including hydrogen from biomass, biopolymers from vegetable oil, biomedical textiles from chitin, and algae for the production of bioplastics.

An alternative agriculture?

The EAG member most concerned with non-food applications, Dr Finn Rexen, had mixed views on the success of this area of research: "There is a real need to move more land to non-food applications - particularly if we increase the amount of land outside direct food production to reduce surpluses. The land cannot be left fallow without a significant negative impact on its future productivity and biodiversity support. However, at present there is not enough political will or commercial incentive to make such a large shift away from food production"

Studying the proposals funded over the lifetime of FP5, Dr Rexen was disappointed by the overall lack of innovation and by the lack of industrial coordinators, although industrial participation in these projects was high at around 33% of the partnership. Many projects were based on existing technologies and few planned to take their results to the market place in the short term. This is perhaps more an indication of lack of commercial 'pull' for these technologies at the moment and the fart that in general these are 'substitute' materials which are still more expensive than the fossil-based equivalent.

Dr Rexen drew attention to key areas of non-food application including biofuels, packaging and biochemical production where not enough progress is being made on the innovation front.

With reference to liquid biofuels, valuable work is currently being carried out in Denmark and Poland but the relatively high price of these products makes it hard for them to compete against fossil-based fuels. This may change, however, as the price of oil is driven up by increasing demand and global events.

Fear of change

Fear of product rejection by consumers is holding many companies back from investing in certain technologies. Consumer rejection of genetically modified craps in Europe and the subsequent collapse of any potential market for such crops demonstrate this. Production of fine chemicals or therapeutic molecules carries with it a similar risk of rejection, although such crops would never enter the food chain until lengthy and extensive testing and validation had been completed. External interest in non-food however was very high as shown by the subscriptions and visits to the BioMatNet website (http://www.nf-2000.org) which is dedicated solely to the dissemination of results and developments coming from this sector.

SMEs across Europe in particular have indicated a strong interest in alternative uses of crops and agricultural materials. A recent survey by Dr Rexen identified SMEs across the Baltic area interested in technology transfer from non-food materials research and he believes, it is important that this trend is nurtured in future Framework Programmes. However, it is noted that this type of research has not been considered as a priority sector under the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6).

Forestry and Forest Products

There are many reasons why forestry has a critical role to play in Europe's economic and cultural life. Over 30%, about 215 million hectares (ha), of Europe's landmass is covered by forests or wooded areas, the diversity of which is enormous- Arctic conifers and birch cover the North deciduous and alpine trees predominate in central Europe. and cork oaks and pines are distinctive in the South.

Europe is the worlds second largest producer of paper and the foremost importer of forestry products, and the world's third largest exporter. In 1998, the continent's forestry-based production was valued at more than 300 billion, and employed 2.2 million people. The EU's forest strategy recognises the immense importance of nurturing a production system that impacts on so many sectors.

Key Action forestry research was split into two areas:

• forest management
• the forest wood chain.

KA5 sought to add good practice to forest management with calls for proposals covering subjects such as evaluation of goods and services from forest products, linkages to rural development, and provision of information on forest usage for policy-makers.

Protection, conservation and restoration of forest ecosystems were priorities as were finding ways to prevent and control diseases and pests. Scientific study areas also included water management, erosion control, and avalanche and landslide management.

Healthy forests

Dr Paolo Raddi of the Institute for Protection of Plants in Florence, Italy believes that KA5 offered sound research priorities, particularly in the field of health where, by way of example, he points to the excellent work that was carried out on tackling disease in several forest tree species.

However, Dr Raddi believes the application of results in the commercial world could be enhanced. We need to keep improving transmission of research to SMEs." he said. A greater emphasis on demonstration projects would also have helped to distribute results to a wider audience.

The forest wood chain

From the moment a tree is cut down to the point where the end product reaches the market, the timber is said to be travelling through the forest wood chain. As a consequence, this research sector impacts on many areas from forest management to industrial competitiveness. This situation was reflected in Key Action 5's calls for proposals which included projects to improve forest inventory methods, growth and yield studies, environmentally friendly production processes, and uses of recycling technologies. Market-place issues were covered via enhancements in the manufacture of pulp and paper fibre. Labelling and product testing also found a place in KA5's remit.

The External Advisory Group member Dr Lena Paavilainen is programme coordinator of Wood Wisdom', the Finnish Forest Cluster Research Programme. She believes Key Action 5's broad approach to forestry research paid dividends. "KA5 was well targeted at the forestry cluster because the whole of the production chain was covered - in particular, the industrial processes side worked well.

A well-planned work programme benefited from inputs from a range of people thereby avoiding a top-down approach to decision-making. "Industry representatives together with the researchers themselves were heavily involved in shaping the programme which helped ensure that it met the sector's needs." added Dr Paavilainen. "And we were able to make amendments to the work programme which showed a good, flexible approach to addressing changing research priorities."