On February 27, 2020, the event “Agri-food at the heart of the bioeconomy” organized by ASEBIO and BIOVEGEN took place at the headquarters of the European Commission.
The event served to bring together stakeholders involved in bioeconomy and agri-food (researchers, companies, civil society, and administration) to discuss the main challenges of the bioeconomy and the products needed (bioproducts), exploring possible solutions to these challenges, as we observed throughout the event.
Program and presentations of the day
10:00 a.m. Welcome and introduction
- Francisco Fonseca Morillo, Director of the European Commission Office in Spain
- Ion Arocena, General Director, AseBio
- Gonzaga Ruiz de Gauna, Coordinator, BIOVEGEN
10:10 a.m. Innovation and development of bioproducts in the agri-food sector
- Moderator: Beatriz Palomo. AseBio
10:10 a.m. New production platforms for bioproducts: BioFactory Plants.
- Diego Orzáez. Researcher, Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of Plants (IBMCP)
10:25 h. Microalgae, innovative ingredients for food.
- Raschid Stoffel. Director of Food and Beverages Area, AlgaEnergy
10:40 h. Current situation of agri-food packaging in the context of the bioeconomy.
- Belen García Fernández. Director, Spanish Technological Platform for Packaging (PACKNET)
11:00 h. Round table: Consumers, scientists, companies, communicators, and public administration in bioeconomy
Moderated by: Gonzaga Ruiz de Gauna. BIOVEGEN
- Role of Administration. Maria Teresa Ambrós. Deputy Director of Innovation and Digitalization. MAPA.
- Role of the Consumer. Carmen Redondo Borge. Spanish Confederation of Consumers and Users Cooperatives – HISPACOOP
- Role of the communicator/disseminator. María Iranzo. Science blogger.
- Role of the company. Richard Borreani. Director of Agricultural Policies, Bayer Crop Science Iberia.
- Role of the scientist. Esther Esteban. Director, INIA.
- Role of the farmer. Pedro Barato. President, ASAJA.
12:00 PM. Coffee Break
12:30 PM. Mutual learning and lessons learned for the development of the bioeconomy.
- AseBio in the bioeconomy: European projects BIOVOICES and BIOBRIDGES. Beatriz Palomo. Project manager, AseBio
- BIOVEGEN and its activity in bioeconomy. Gonzaga Ruiz de Gauna. Coordinator, BIOVEGEN
SOMBRADOBLE Workshop: Role Change
This workshop aims to create a conducive environment that enhances intersectoral collaboration, changing roles and addressing various challenges that bioeconomy entails, such as harmonization, labeling, costs and incentives, better information and dissemination, among others.
14:00 h. Conclusions and closing