Environmentally Friendly Industrial Biotech Comes of Age with Inaugural World Congress
BIO, the American Chemical Society and the National Agriculture Biotechnology Council hosted the event, which attracted attendees from 38 states, seven Canadian provinces, and 21 additional countries. Abstracts submitted prior to the conference are available from BIO, and summaries of all sessions will be posted on BIO's Web site, www.bio.org.
"The high attendance and the number of different universities and companies represented-including many from the Fortune 500 list-is tangible evidence that industrial biotechnology has come of age," said Brent Erickson, BIO's vice president for industrial and environmental biotechnology. "The leading-edge companies that are here this week are making plans to incorporate this technology into their business models in order to reap a significant competitive advantage."
"Biotech has made it to the CEO level," noted Jens Riese, a consultant with McKinsey & Co., during a plenary session. Riese predicted that adoption of biotech processes in chemical manufacturing could more than double-to use in at least 10 percent of chemical processes-by 2010.
Bioethics, Public Acceptance Addressed
In addition to the considerable business implications of the technology, World Congress speakers also addressed forthrightly the potential for ethical questions and controversy, and the need to reach out to core constituencies outside the biotech, chemical and energy industries.
BIO President Carl B. Feldbaum offered several points of advice for attendees during the opening plenary session:
- Focus first on products that make people's lives better.
- Look for the safety or ethical controversies the technologies and products may raise and deal with them honestly, transparently - and up front.
- Reach out to the environmental and agricultural communities. "These are politically and economically powerful groups, and will prove invaluable allies in earning government support for R&D as well as marketplace acceptance," said Feldbaum.
Other speakers in the session delivered a similar message. Patrick Moore, a founder of Greenpeace and later of an environmental organization called Greenspirit, advised attendees "to engage in long-term processes in a roundtable format" with environmental groups.
David Morris, of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, stressed that farmer support would be essential as the industry grows. "Agriculture is key," he said, since conversion to a bioeconomy will require "two to three times the plant matter harvested on a global basis now."
Broad Spectrum of Technologies Discussed
In addition to plenary sessions, the World Congress encompassed 47 educational sessions and workshops, exploring every facet of the technology, including:
- Use of enzymes to manufacture renewable, sustainable energy and plastics from plant matter, including agricultural and garden waste, as well as wood-processing waste. This nascent technology uses industrial biotechnology enzymes to break apart cellulose (the tough substance that gives plants their rigidity) to make sugars for conversion to ethanol or polymers, including hard plastics and textile fibers. During the conference, the first shipment of bioethanol - ethanol made from agricultural waste - was announced.
- Use of enzymes and cells in chemical and paper manufacturing. Enzymes can allow manufacturers to lower energy requirements and toxic emissions. For example, wood-pulp processors are using xylanase to help bleach paper, dramatically reducing dioxin emissions. Whole cells are being used to make products such as vitamins B2 and C at lower cost and with less environmental impact.
- Use of industrial biotechnology to improve defense and security. Many people think primarily of vaccines and therapies-anthrax and smallpox vaccines and the like-when they think of biotechnology's potential for bolstering defense and national security. But biotechnology researchers are also developing lighter, biodegradable batteries for field use; biosensors to monitor troop health; materials for stronger protective clothing and armoring tiles; and camouflaging substances.
- Novel processes and products. Some of the earliest-stage technologies discussed include mining marine biotechnology for food, pharmaceutical and energy resources sources; use of microorganisms for energy production; and nano- and microscale methods of drug discovery and functional material manufacturing.
Based on positive feedback from attendees, BIO plans to make the World Congress an annual event.
About BIO
BIO represents more than 1,000 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations in all 50 U.S. states and 33 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of health-care, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products.