- China, USA, Japan, England, India, Australia, Israel… now have regulations to promote developments like CRISPR. The EU approved a first proposal in February, which is already being debated at the Council level. During the Congress and the Biotech Forum, the potential of these technologies for plant improvement and their emerging regulation will be analyzed
- After many years without a clear legal framework, the offer of new biostimulants to improve yields is starting to align with European regulations. Biovegen, which has confirmed the attendance of around 400 entrepreneurs and scientists at its congress, will analyze the situation and prospects for this new generation of products
- Biotech Attraction, located in Pavilion 1 at Innova&Tech, expects the best attendance figures in its history and breaks the record for exhibitors: up to 20 biotech companies from Spain, the Netherlands, or Israel will participate. The CDTI itself, the main agency in the country for funding innovation, has confirmed its presence
Madrid, 4-10-2024.- Biovegen will solidify its commitment to biotechnology and Fruit Attraction (Madrid, from October 8 to 10) like never before this year. Its large gathering -scheduled for Wednesday, the 9th and expected to see attendance from between 300 and 400 entrepreneurs and researchers- has reached the status of a congress, and its Biotech Attraction event has surpassed the figures from its previous three editions. Indeed, there will be 20 innovative agro companies exhibiting, including some of the most notable or promising for growth in the country, as well as several foreign ones from technology hubs such as the Netherlands and Israel. Their offerings, located within the framework of Innova Tech (Pavilion 1) alongside Smart Agro (automation and information technologies) and Innovation Hub (horticultural exhibition and ancillary industry products), will also feature the Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI) as an exhibitor, the main agency in the country dedicated to financing such projects. For all these reasons, Biovegen is confident, also due to its better location, that its event will break visitor records. The 1st Congress Biotech Attraction, on the other hand, will testify to the genuine technological revolution that is approaching in the EU: the one that will be driven in the medium term by new genetic editing techniques in plant improvement and the already very real and present offering of a generation of biostimulants aimed at increasing yields with more sustainable and economic techniques, complementary to conventional fertilizers.
“In proportional terms, we are growing similarly to the fair itself. Fruit Attraction is an unmissable event, and this year there will be over 100,000 visitors. The industry must go hand in hand with innovation, particularly in biotechnology, and we are living in a critical moment in this field. This is where Biovegen plays a leading role: with our exhibit, with our Biotech Congress, we serve as a bridge between research and business,” says its president, José Pellicer.
The European agro-biotechnology sector is confident that, in the medium term, the necessary legal changes can occur to make the definitive leap for new genetic editing techniques (NGTs). On February 7, the European Parliament (EP) approved the proposal from the Commission (EC) to regulate these techniques, among which is the most promising tool, CRISPR. This is a first but crucial step, and soon, after the European elections and the formation of the new Commission, this text will be debated in the Council, where all member states are represented and where amendments are likely to be proposed. These changes will have to be discussed among the EC, the Council, and the EP, and finally be voted on by the European legislature. Nevertheless, this progress is key because, for the first time, NGTs are being accepted as escaping the restrictive regulations of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs or transgenics). When that happens, the EU will reach a regulatory level similar to that which Western powers or countries where agro-industry holds significant weight have had for years or decades. The list of those who have taken this decisive step is important: the US, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Australia, India, Israel, China, Japan, and England, which, after Brexit, decided to distance itself from the community policy in this regard. Well, during the Biotech Atraction Congress, it is expected that Diego Orzáez, a researcher at the IBMCP (Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of Plants), will clarify the potential available for applying CRISPR in plant improvement, and Leire Escajedo from the University of the Basque Country will analyze the opportunities in plant breeding that this new legal framework would allow. Meanwhile, during the Biotech Forum – which will take place in the exhibition space promoted by Biovegen – companies such as Technological Laboratories of Levante or Madeinplant will address this same topic.
“CRISPR, which involves genetic modification based on turning genes of the organism on and/or off to obtain improved plants by eliminating diseases or achieving crops resistant to droughts or pests, is already an emerging reality in Europe; it only needs the legal push that the rest of the developed world already has,” asserts Pellicer himself.
The situation of biostimulants is different. It is a market – dedicated to substances, mixtures, and microorganisms that are not proper nutrient contributions but are responsible for stimulating the natural processes of plants to improve their yields – that has been growing at an annual rate of between 10 and 12% (with a turnover of between 1.5 and 2 billion in the EU). It has done so under somewhat ‘inappropriate’ legislation, that of fertilizers. This situation changed when, unlike in the case of NGTs, the EU took the initiative and began to regulate this flourishing industry. It did so based on what these substances achieve, the concrete benefit obtained from their use, which in turn requires scientific validation of such function. It was in July 2022 when Regulation EU 2019/1009 came into effect, which for the first time included all types of fertilizers and specifically delineated the scope of the aforementioned biostimulants. After a period during which this legislation has raised many questions within the sector, the Director of Regulatory Affairs at AlgaEnergy – a Spanish multinational specialized in these products – will address the ‘Situation and Perspectives’ generated by this regulation during the Biotech Attraction Congress. Similarly, various companies – such as Atens, Cultiply, Adama, or Valgenetics – will report at the Biotech Forum about the progress they have made in this cutting-edge field.
As in previous editions, Biotech Attraction will provide a meeting room (for exhibitors and professionals) – where Biovegen has already scheduled nearly 200 meetings – as well as a hall (the mentioned Forum) in which up to 23 emerging companies or research centers will present their innovations and projects.