BioBRUG: Biobased Economy meets Academic World

Despite the economic crisis, the demand for specialist academic knowledge from Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) in the Northern Netherlands is growing. This is a hopeful signal in difficult times. Knowledge institutes, the business world and the government are all working hard to create partnerships to group these SME questions together. The aim is to develop innovative answers and thus make the Northern SMEs more competitive. One of the most recent initiatives is BioBRUG, a regional framework programme in which companies in the Life Sciences, materials and energy sector in the North of the Netherlands can cooperate with the University of Groningen.

The companies that want to participate in BioBRUG all have something to do with the Biobased Economy in a wide sense. The Biobased Economy (BBE), or green economy, concentrates on the development of organic raw materials and environmentally-friendly processes. BioBRUG currently cooperates with the Carbohydrate Competence Center (CCC), the national carbohydrate institute of which the University of Groningen is the guiding partner. Gert-Jan Euverink, professor of Products and Processes for Biotechnology in the Biobased Economy, specializing in microbial process technology, is the scientific director of BioBRUG and the BBE contact person for the University.

 

What does the Biobased Economy/BioBRUG have to do with carbohydrates and the CCC ?

Gert-Jan Euverink: ‘Everything. Carbohydrates are in the first instance of course related to food, just think of starch in potatoes, wheat and corn, but carbohydrate polymers are also found in the cellulose in wood and the glycogen in animals. The diversity of polymers in carbohydrates enables us to create sustainable alternative products that no longer need to be made of raw materials derived from oil or gas. The second aim of the Biobased Economy/BioBRUG is to develop these new products without having to use polluting chemicals and thus closing off all kinds of cycles. An example is nitrogen and phosphate, produced as the by-products of many processes, which we want to convert to and use as artificial fertilizer via new technology.’ 

‘The challenge regarding the CCC is that their research programmes address a wide variety of subjects. They range from the polymers of oligosaccharides, the lactose in milk, prebiotics, the sucrose in sugar beet, the starch in potatoes and corn to the celluloses in plants. This diversity of research themes creates huge added value for us to work with the CCC.’ 

 

Turbo chamber

Within BioBRUG there is the possibility to perform research in the form of business cases for about a hundred companies; these business cases include business-economic and technological aspects. About € 2,500 to € 10,000 (depending on the research question) is invested in each business case in research time and resources. Some of these business cases include brainstorming sessions between businesses and professors – known as the ‘versnellingskamer’, or turbo chamber. Euverink is in favour of an active stance, addressing questions stemming from the business world.

Euverink: ‘We want to encourage the entrepreneurs to raise every question that they might have regarding knowledge we might be able to provide. The turbo chamber is a tried and tested way of achieving this. During brainstorming sessions, entrepreneurs and scientists communicate with each other via computers under the supervision of an experienced facilitator, about all possible topics related to the BBE. The ideas raised during these meetings then form the basis for follow-up research. Experience has shown that the most surprising solutions are thought up in this safe environment. What is even more important is that this way of cooperating creates a close link between the University and the business world.’

 

Solar cells

Although the five-year BioBRUG cooperation project focuses on the northern SMEs, the major players can also join in. The University of Groningen, one of the CCC partners, plays a catalysing role. 

Euverink: ‘The University is very strong in polymers in biological, chemical and physical fields. The knowledge we have at the University offers major possibilities to develop new and sustainable materials. A good example is the swiftly increasing demand for sustainable solar cells to make solar panels. Our University has that knowledge in spades. We not only have the specific knowledge to develop new products, but also the knowledge and expertise in the field of new process technology that makes it possible to produce sustainable products in a clean way. These two types of expertise under the same roof, here at the University, complement each other perfectly.’

 

Work Package 29

Within the cooperation agreement with the Carbohydrate Competence Center, the research questions from SME are organized into what is known as Work Package 29. Students of Industrial Engineering and Management (TBK) at the University of Groningen play a major role in this.  Euverink: ‘Within the BioBRUG projects, we link TBK students to businesses via Master’s placements. Where necessary a professor will also be linked to the project, who can then assist in the thought process. The ultimate aim is for the small-scale studies to lead to large projects, products and processes taking the green industry sector in the North of the Netherlands forwards.’

 

Experimental site

Experimental sites are currently being considered to test whether new theories are practicable. 

Euverink: ‘One of the challenges for new technology is scaling up and showing that it will work in practice on a large scale. This is not always possible to test because legislation often throws a spanner in the works. It would be great if a number of areas were earmarked where such field tests would be possible. T hese experimental sites would of course operate within the legal safety regulations, but by simplifying the procedures, an environment would be created within which innovation would be able to fully blossom. These would be unique areas for the Dutch biobased economy.’

 

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BioBRUG is financed by the University of Groningen, the SNN (Northern Netherlands Assembly), the municipality of Groningen, Bio-Methanol producer BioMCN from Delfzijl, the Rabobank, and on a project-by-project basis by the Carbohydrate Competence Center (CCC).

  

More information on BioBRUG, see website

More information on CCC, see website