The roundtable on industrial biotechnology in Slovakia took place on 16 June 2008 in Bratislava (Hotel Danube). The event was initiated by EuropaBio in the framework of the European Technology Platform on Sustainable Chemistry - “SusChem”. The roundtable has been locally organised by Prof. Milan Polakovič from the Slovak University of Technology and member of the Slovak Association for Industrial Biotechnology. Participants to the roundtable were representatives from academia, enterprises, development agencies and ministries/government bodies with an interest in the field of biotechnology.

Milan Polakovič (Slovak University of Technology and Slovak Association for Industrial biotechnology) opened the roundtable with a short presentation of the objectives and the programme.

Pavol Holík (Government office of the Slovak Republic representative of Vice-prime minister Dušan Čaplovič). Mr. Holík said that he would report the results of the roundtable to the Vice-prime minister.

In his speech, the minister recognised the importance of biotechnology and said that the Slovak Republic has much to do in this sector. He noted that biotechnology is an important economic factor that can be used to further develop Slovakian economy. He stressed the importance of bioproducts in our daily life and the importance of bioproducts for the future. He particularly noted that those products can help in mitigating climate change and in turning society lifestyle to a more sustainable way. The Vice-prime minister also pointed out the problematic of the access to raw material. He said that science can contribute to development and innovation but that social aspects have to be taken into account. Finally, he said that the Government would welcome all recommendations coming out of the roundtable.

Dirk Carrez (EuropaBio) presented the Technology Platform on Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem) and the Strategic Research Agenda for Industrial Biotechnology. SusChem objectives are to boost sustainable chemistry, industrial biotechnology and chemical engineering research, development and innovation in Europe. More specifically, the Industrial Biotechnology section ensures a coherent policy framework and the most effective use of R&D resources. It guarantees that biotechnology is properly integrated in the chemical industry. He presented the impact of industrial biotechnology on the knowledge based-bioeconomy and its potential (notably environmental). He said  that white biotech and biobased products are clearly on the rise and that it will represent 10% of chemicals sales by 2010. He presented the opportunities that industrial biotech represents for Europe. The strategic research agenda that has been developed by SusChem looks into the future impact of Industrial Biotechnology and lays  out the major research areas which must be addressed to move from a flourishing set of scientific disciplines to a major contributor to a future knowledge-based economy. It focuses in particular on the research needed to underpin three broad topics: biomass, bio-processes and bio-products, including bio-energy. Finally, he presented the different initiatives that exist in industrial biotech research: ERAIB and KBBE-NET saying that critical mass and leadership are needed to create a true knowledge based bioeconomy.
Maurice Lex (DG Research, European Commission) presented biotechnology and the Knowledge-Based Bio-Economy (KBBE) in the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development. More specifically, he presented

• A general picture of FP7 as well as KBBE thematic that are covered by FP7.
• The major trends/challenges affecting bio-economy today
• A first draft of the 3rd call that will probably be presented officially on 3 September 2008 (cf. presentation of the European Commission).
• The differents platforms and networks related to biotechnology in Europe

Finally, he concluded saying that success will depend on coordination and mobilisation of all actors.