EuropaBio welcomes
the commitment made by the Heads of State at the EU Spring
Summit in Brussels on 23/24 March 2006 to address Europe’s
energy challenges and respond to the dependency on oil and
gas from fossil fuels as well as improving access to finance
for SMEs.
Biotechnology led innovations
can greatly help Europe sustainably meet its energy
challenges, Kyoto targets and generate new farm incomes.
EuropaBio advocates the use of biomass as a renewable energy
source (1). Thanks to the use of biotech enzymes to break
down biomass, the under-used resources of agricultural and
forestry waste can be unlocked. As a fuel source, Biofuels
such as bioethanol and biodiesel are attractive because the
CO2 they produce is offset by the CO2 absorbed by the plants
that go into making it as they grow.
Additionally, creating an EU
market for biofuels offers an opportunity to develop
alternative farm incomes. Local EU production of biofuel
will also contribute to securing the self-sufficiency of
Europe’s energy supply.
“This example of industrial
biotechnology or white biotech is an important building
block of a bio-based economy (2) where biomass is used to
create a wide range of energy efficient bioproducts,” says
Johan Vanhemelrijck, Secretary General of EuropaBio. “Plants
will increasingly be an important source of renewable
resources for the bio-based economy. These developments
represent an opportunity for the white (3) and green biotech
sectors (4) and enabling rules for both sectors are
important for the overall growth in the economic
contribution of agriculture and biotechnology which will be
a major factor in the development of a sustainable
industrial base.”
The biotech industry however
warns that there is a competitiveness gap between US and
European biotech companies, which will widen unless the
re-launched Lisbon strategy is pursued whole-heartedly. A
recent study (5) by Critical I for EuropaBio revealed that
while Europe and US have the same number of companies, the
US biotechnology industry employs twice as many people,
spends almost three times as much on research and
development, raises three or four times as much venture
capital, and has access to four times as much debt finance.
In Europe, however, more new companies are established.
EuropaBio therefore also
welcomes the European Council’s commitment to improving
regulation, both at national and European level to reduce
unnecessary administrative red tape which impacts adversely
on an innovative economy and the Council’s commitment to
introduce both special measures to help SMEs and increase
their access to finance. EuropaBio hopes to see the Young
Innovative Company definition (6) introduced across Europe –
such a definition has already been introduced in France and
Belgium - which confers special tax exemptions and benefits
to young research based companies meeting that definition,
which increases their attractiveness to investors.
“An EU wide Young Innovative
Company definition will trigger more funding into bioscience
companies that are heavily investing in the research needed
to produce the new enabling technologies which can help
reduce environmental burdens and increase the
competitiveness of our economies,” says Johan
Vanhemelrijck.
EuropaBio,
the European Association for Bioindustries, has 60 corporate
and associate members operating worldwide and 25 national
biotechnology associations representing some 1500 small and
medium sized enterprises involved in research and
development, testing, manufacturing and distribution of
biotechnology products.
Useful
links
(1)
Sustainable biofuels – EuropaBio fact sheet -
http://www.europabio.org/documents/biofuel.pdf
(2) About the bioeconomy –
www.bio-economy.net
(3)
Technology Platform on Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem) -
http://www.suschem.org
(4) Plants
for the future Technology Platform -
http://www.epsoweb.org/catalog/tp/tpcom_home.htm
(5) Critical I study for EuropaBio -
http://www.europabio.org/ne_criticalI.htm
(6) Young
Innovative Company status -
http://www.europabio.org/bi_infokit_emerging.htm
