The 5th European Bioeconomy Congress aimed at experience exchange, increase of industry share in the local bio-economy, in particular the discussion on the perspectives for the bio-economic development at national and international level. For this reason, the theme of the event was Bio-community in the heart of the European Union’s bio-economy. Possibilities, opportunities and problems facing bioregions are the topics that emerged at each of the 21 discussion panels.
The Bioeconomy Congress was opened by Witold Stępień, the Marshall of Lodz Voivodeship. During the inaugural session there was presented the letter from Robert-Jan Smits the Director-General of the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. The audience could also listen to the speech of John Bella– the director for Bioeconomy at European Commission DG Research & Innovation, who presented the new strategy of EU bioeconomy development.
The inaugural session hosted the world renowned bio-energy experts: Jerzy Buzek – the Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Energy and Research, Christian Patermann – an international expert in the circular bio-economy, Roland Wohlgemuth – the Chairman of ESAB and the board member of European Federation of Biotechnolog. During the plenary session the speakers were: Tomasz Twardowski – the Chairman of the Biotechnology Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Stanisław Bielecki – the Director of the Institute of Technical Biochemistry Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Science Lodz University of Technology, Barna Kovacs – the Principal Advisor of the of the Ministry of Agriculture and Andrzej Siemaszko – the Advisor to Marshal of the Lodz Region.
The most important agenda points of the first day of the Congress were: the ceremony of accepting the new members of the Central and Eastern European Bioregions Forum and the signing of a letter of intent on the cooperation between the European Construction Technology Platform (ECTP) and the Polish regions.
For the first time there has been organized a contest themed The best BIOGMINA of the Lodz Region in 2017. The initiative is another proof that Lodz Region is an active bioregion, which introduces innovative solutions, promotes and supports environmentally friendly actions. The contest winners were announced during the evening Gala. In the category of rural gminas, the Rząśnia Gmina was the winner and in the category of urban-rural gminas the best was the Rzeszów Gmina.
The second day of the Bioeconomy Congress was opened by Andrzej Siemaszko, the Advisor to Marshal of the Lodz Region, who summarized the decisions made during the first day of the event. Next, there were delivered the presentations of the European Comission representatives: Tomasz Calikowski, Lucyna Woźniak, Jose Ruiz Espi, and Philippe Mengal, the Executive Director of the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking. These lectures were devoted to bioregions in the center of the European Union’s bio-economy.
The agenda of the event and the most important information are to be found under the following address: Bioeconomy-Łódzkie
Photo © European Bioeconomy Congress
