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European Society of Applied Biocatalysis

ESAB

ESAB Mission: The mission is to promote the development of Applied Biocatalysis throughout Europe. Applied Biocatalysis is the development through science and engineering of useful biological catalysts and their commercial applications. ESAB Aims The aims are: to take initiatives in areas of growing scientific and industrial interest and importance in the field of applied biocatalysis to identify key topics which may be rate-limiting in the development of scientific progress and technological prospects in applied biocatalysis and to take steps to stimulate these areas

Lobbying Activity

Response to Towards a Circular, Regenerative and Competitive Bioeconomy

23 Jun 2025

The Working Group Bioeconomy of the European Society of Applied Biocatalysis (ESAB) welcomes very much the initiative «Towards a Circular, Regenerative and Competitive Bioeconomy». We are pleased to contribute relevant information as the bioeconomy concept, which has been developed in Europe and has been adopted worldwide, integrates the multidisciplinary approaches needed for transitioning non-sustainable extractive manufacturing to resource-efficient and sustainable biobased value creation architectures. In view of limited resources and the comple-xity of these endeavors for a selected bioeconomy sector, its markets and beyond, a clear focus on what really matters is essential. Biomanufacturing offers a way forward to support this transition by innovative process design and reengineering biocatalysts in the form of whole cells or cell-free systems. Biomanufacturing activities range from completely biological processes using whole cells such as fermentation and cell culture to cell-free biocatalysis. This has made biomanufacturing attractive for the production of a widening spectrum of product groups. The blueprint of straightforward biotransformations in nature can also be of much interest to reduce the complexity of manufacturing processes, value chains and materials flows in several dimensions. Regional biomanufacturing ecosystems are therefore beneficial for such interactions, for simplified logistics and supply chains in a highly complex value creation architecture. In the following a short response to the four strategic main aims is outlined. 1) Ensuring the long-term competitiveness of the EU bioeconomy and investment security : effectiveness of education, fundamental research and early development, continuing the pioneering role of Europe in developing globally accepted standardization initiatives, bottom up initiatives, SMEs, networking and best practices, incentives, derisking bioeconomy investments, simplifying legislation, raising consumer and customer awareness 2) Increasing resource-efficient and circular use of biological resources: fundamental research and early development, novel methodologies and tools for bioprocesses, speeding up bioprocess development and scaling, detailed outline of European Biomanufacturing Initiative including science-industry-society, economic aspects such as resilient and robust supply chains for products of strategic importance, such as life-saving pharmaceuticals, biopolymers, biocomposites, textiles and other biobased or bioderived products necessary for the manufacture of strategically important everyday items. European statistics of missing life-saving pharmaceuticals in all European hospitals, European initiative to manufacture the most important missing life-saving pharmaceuticals in Europe by bioprocesses 3) Securing the competitive and sustainable supply of biomass, both domestically and from outside EU: including manufacturing microbial biomass and its interface to agricultural and forest biomass, definitions biobased versus bioderived products 4) Positioning the EU in the rapidly expanding international market: manufacturing challenges which may arise in chemical synthesis as well as in production from biological resources as opportunities for biomanufacturing, taking scientific and technological advances as starting points for creating novel industrial biomanufacturing, reengineering traditional industrial sectors, expanding industrial ecosystems and building new industrial ecosystems in rural areas, long-term commitment as key for developing and maintaining state-of the- art infrastructure, generating, and standardizing a broad knowledge base, educating, and inspiring people to contribute their work to biomanufacturing Europe is in an excellent position to shape the future sustainable growth of the bioecononomy.
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