With world-leading biotechnology companies and ambitious emissions reduction targets, the EU holds a unique opportunity to lead the way in the sustainable production of foods, materials, or even fuels. Now is the time for the EU to reinforce its pledges with actionable regulatory frameworks and funding initiatives, so that these technologies can thrive and scale on European ground.
Our co-founder and CEO Thomas Schmidt was in Brussels this week with Barbara Taudorf, our Director of Commercial Development & Strategic Partnerships, to attend the European High-Level Summit on Biosolutions. Their presence underscored our leadership in precision fermentation, and our commitment to advancing the sustainable food and materials production with precision fermentation as part of the green transition both in Europe and globally.
The European Biosolutions Coalition had put together an impressive program reflecting the European industry’s willingness to work together across Europe, and the Commission and European MPs’ willingness to listen and act.
We heard from the stage that world-class innovations are born in Europe but grow up elsewhere. Action is therefore needed to make sure that innovations born in Europe can also be scaled here – to the benefit of everyone.
Some key takeaways:
▶ We need Europe to finance large-scale infrastructures for production. So many biosolutions’ applications are ready for industrial scaling.
▶ We need to get the products on the market. The current EU regulations hinder the development of a relevant demand for biosolutions. Regulation should be on the product or end-solution, not the process.
▶ We need fast track approval processes – not least for products that mimic existing foods or materials, such as i.e. milk proteins from precision fermentation.
▶ We need to treat biotechnology with the same priority as AI. Biotechnologies alone can be the next superpower in the green transition. The potential in combining the two technologies multiplies the potential manyfold.
We at 21st.BIO are already creating strong collaborations across Europe. Together with our partners, we lead the next generation of green technology for the production of sustainable food and materials with fermentation technology.
Recently, we announced a groundbreaking partnership with German AMSilk to produce spider silk, as well as the opening of our platform for ingredient suppliers, dairy companies as well as foodtech start-ups to produce whey proteins using our mature technology.
We would like to address special thanks to Sofie Carsten Nielsen at the European Biosolutions Coalition for her leadership in building this important industry coalition together with an incredible team.
The European Biosolutions Coalition is an initiative established by several industry organisations, representing a substantial amount of the companies working with biosolutions in Europe, to elevate the prominence of biosolutions on the European agenda. The Coalition is dedicated to advocate for the green transition, fostering more intelligent approaches within the industry, and creating enhanced prospects for companies working with biosolutions in the EU. To date, it includes national bioindustry associations from Austria (Federation of Austrian Industries), Denmark (Danish Industry), Germany (Bio Deutschland), Italy (Federchimica Assobiotec), the Netherlands (VNO-NCW), and Switzerland (Economie Suisse).
