Brussels, 16/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday in Brussels, a conference examined Europe's development towards “a modern knowledge-based bio-economy” with contributions from industry representatives, academia and civil society. A conference on the same issue took place at the same time in Beijing, and European Commissioner for Science and Research Janez Potocnik and his Chinese counterpart, Xu Guanhua, delivered a joint message to both conferences, highlighting the importance of this sector for the future. The bio-economy covers the management, production and use of biological resources such as food, feed, fibre and fuels and European bio-industries have a combined annual turnover of EUR 1500 billion.
In their joint address: Commissioner Potocnik and Minister Xu said: “Although there are many differences between China and the 25 EU Member States, we face many of the same challenges. So naturally, we are looking at the same solutions. We are both very interested in finding solutions that lie in the life sciences and bio-technology, because these are sustainable solutions that can help us find a balance between the needs of our economies and our environment. (…) We may learn together and help one another as we seek to find a new way forward to the bio-economy of the future”.
The road leading to new agricultural products, novelty foods and renewable materials such a s biodegradable plastics or new bio fuels, means growing expertise and technological development in the life sciences and biotechnologies. In order to identify the strategic challenges for these industries, a number of technology platforms have been created recently, bringing together industry, research institutes, public authorities, financial institutions and so on to define a common research agenda in areas such as food for life, plans for the future, forestry, global animal health, farm animal breeding and industrial biotechnology. The conference on “the knowledge-based bio-economy” was organised with the UK Presidency of the EU.