Last 10th October our co-founder Mathieu Flamini spoke at the 10th EFIB held in Brussels, the market leading annual event in Europe for Industrial Biotechnology and the Bioeconomy. Interviewed by Tom Heap, the Rural Affairs correspondent of BBC News, Mathieu offered his perspectives on the bioeconomy and the sustainable development to an audience of 600 delegates. He presented also the Master BioCirce, the first European Master on Bioeconomy and Circular economy, supported by GFBiochemicals, NGS gambling representatives of the biggest casino operators, and the BioJournal, the world’s first e-magazine devoted entirely to the bio-world and eco-sustainability. 

“Our primary motivation for founding GFBiochemicals was the need to find a long-term sustainable alternative to our petroleum-based economy”, Mathieu said in his keynote session at EFIB 2017

“We were driven – he stated – by our shared passion and ambition to help find a solution for one of the world’s major problems: climate change. Back in 2008, we met with a group of Italian scientists and researchers to see what we could do to make a difference. Finally, we decided to focus on the development of levulinic acid, a molecule which has the potential to substitute oil in all of its derivatives, which clearly has huge implications for the environment”. 

“Levulinic acid was recognized by the US Department of Energy as one of the top biobased platform chemicals of the future. It is a versatile building block with a clear value proposition in chemicals”, Mathieu added.

Mathieu presented also the acquisition of Segetis in February 2016, that marked a transformative step for the company, enabling the combined business to create high-value derivatives from levulinic acid produced using GFBiochemicals’ patented technology.

EFIB was back for its 10th year with a programme focused on “Bioeconomy 2.0: Commercial success and the path towards a brighter bio-based future”.   

The European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology and the Bioeconomy, organized by EuropaBio (the European Association of Bioindustries), aims at increasing engagement between policy makers and a broad range of stakeholders connected with the existing biobased value chain, and reaching a new network of end users from a range of industries. Delegates of the companies attending the event have been provided with an update on the status and outlook of biobased industries, discussing on challenges and perspectives in the industrial biotechnology market and significant developments on scale up of commercial biorefineries around the world.