Marco Astorri - Bio-On
Alessandra Basso - Purolite
Andreas Bommarius - Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA
Eva Cudlínová, PhD
Joanna Dupont-Inglis - EuropaBio
Giulia Gregori - Novamont, Italy
Miklós Gyalai-Korpos - PANNON Pro Innovation Services Ltd.
Christian Hübsch - UPM Biochemicals
Dato' Dr Mohd Nazlee Kamal - BiotechCorp (Malaysia)
Jukka Kantola - NISCluster (Finland)
Dr. Manfred Kircher - CLIB2021 - KADIB (DE)
Bernd Nidetzky - ACIB GmbH
Stefano Nigro - Promos - Invest in Lombardy (Italy)
Dr. Christian Patermann - Former German Bioeconomy Council
George Sakellaris - Bioeconomy in Greece
Pierre-Alain Schieb - NEOMA Business School, Campus de Reims, France
Veronica Vallini - Scientific Reasearch Manager, Eridania Sadam S.p.A.
Ron Weerdmeester - PNO
Marco Astorri - Bio-On
Mr Marco Astorri, 45 years old, married and father of three children, is an advertising graphic designer. He run for years a business related to the production of the ski passes’ micro-antennas that open the turnstiles (RFID), and it is doing this work starting to wonder if there is a way to make a completely biodegradable plastic.
Mr Marco Astorri funded Bio-On in 2007 together with his friend and colleague Guy Cicognani and at present he is CEO of the Company. They have patented the production of eco-sustainable plastic: the product is fully bio-degradable in wa-ter and at room temperature and is made with sugar refinery waste. Today the company operates in the biotechnology industry, more specifically on common-use material, in order to design fully-natural products and solutions, 100% made with renewable sources.
Marco Astorri is the key manager of Bio-on, coordinator of all R&D activities and in charge of defining the company stra-tegies for industrial development. He has a great experience in market strategies and entrepreneurship in different tech-nological sectors.
Alessandra Basso - Purolite
Dr. Basso has 20 years of experience in enzyme immobilization for industrial processes. Her interest in biocatalysis (the art of using enzymes and immobilized enzymes in pharmaceutical, fine chemicals and food ingredients) began in 1995 while researching the stability and activity of the most widely used industrial enzyme, penicillin amidase, in non-conventional media. She received both her Masters in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Trieste, Italy. Her PhD work was partially done at the Research Institute of Biotechnology, Montreal, University of Edinburgh and the University of Halle, Germany where she expanded her knowledge of biocatalysis. In 2007 Dr. Basso and several esteemed colleagues started a new biotech company, Sprin, to develop immobilized enzymes for the pharmaceuticals market. In 2012 Dr. Basso was hired by Purolite Corporation where she works in close connection with customers and Purolite R&D to develop, improve and produce the largest platform of products for biotech applications in industry. After 3 years Purolite LifeTech is now number one in product portfolio and technical support in this field.
Dr. Basso notes, “Successful process scale-up from the lab to the plant is critical. It’s important to help customers progress through each step and overcome the economic and technical barriers of new process implementation. It takes a lot of experience. It also takes great products. Purolite has both.”
Andreas Bommarius - Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA
Andreas (Andy) S. Bommarius is a professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering as well of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA. He received his diploma in Chemistry in 1984 at the Technical University of Munich, Germany and his Chemical Engineering B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1982 and 1989 at MIT, Cambridge, MA.
From 1990-2000, he led the Laboratory of Enzyme Catalysis at Degussa (now Evonik) in Wolfgang, Germany, where his work ranged from immobilizing homogenous catalysts in membrane reactors to large-scale cofactor-regenerated redox reactions to pharma intermediates.
At Georgia Tech since 2000, his research interests cover green chemistry and biomolecular engineering, specifically biocatalyst development and protein stability studies. His lab applies data-driven protein engineering to improve protein properties on catalysts ranging from ene and nitro reductases to cellobiohydrolases. Bommarius has guided the repositioning of the curriculum towards Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering by developing new courses in Process Design, Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering, as well as Drug Design, Development, and Delivery (D4), an interdisciplinary course with Mark Prausnitz.
Andy Bommarius in 2008 became a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. Since 2010, he is Director of the NSF-I/UCR Center for Pharmaceutical Development (CPD), a Center focusing on process development, drug substance and product stability, and novel analytical methods for the characterization of drug substances and excipients.
Eva Cudlínová, PhD.
Eva Cudlinova is an economist, graduated at the University of Economics in Prague, Department of Planning of National Economy. The theme of diploma work was "Development of women employment in the Czechoslovakia after the Second World War". In 1988 she obtained her PhD with a theses on "Management of municipal wastes in Prague"from Institute of Economy Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Prague. This work dealt with the environmental damages and economic losses caused by non-effective maintenance with wastes. She is associated professor at the University of South Bohemia, field: Applied Landscape Ecology - Sustainable development in a frame of ecological economy. She is member of ISEE (International Society for Ecological Economy), ESEE (European Society for Landscape Economy), IALE (International Society for landscape Ecology), Integrity group Bioeconomy Panel EU.
Joanna Dupont-Inglis
Joanna Dupont-Inglis first joined EuropaBio, the European Association of Bioindustries, in February 2009 and in April 2011 was appointed Director of Industrial Biotechnology. Her work within EuropaBio involves developing a supportive, predictable, coherent regulatory framework for innovative biobased industries contributing towards a more competitive, sustainable and dynamic EU bioeconomy based on renewables as opposed to fossil carbon. In this context, EuropaBio seeks an Innovation-driven EU research agenda for Biobased Industries, enabled by Industrial Biotechnology, including Public Private Partnerships. Coalition building has been a key area of activity for Joanna during her time at EuropaBio, including the development of the €3.7 billion Biobased Industries Public Private Partnership and the creation of the European Bioeconomy Alliance. The development and implementation of measures to help create market demand for smart and sustainable biobased products and processes is also a core area of activity. At EuropaBio Dupont-Inglis also works towards improving understanding of the benefits and solutions provided by industrial biotech in tackling grand challenges such as resource efficiency, the need for food, feed, materials and fuel, climate change mitigation and sustainable economic recovery. Joanna has an academic background in Environmental Science from the Universities of Sussex, UK and Nantes, France. Between 2000 and 2009 she worked, for two Brussels-based consultancies, in public affairs and strategic communications, for a broad range of clients including industries, trade associations and NGOs, active in the policy sectors of environment, energy, agriculture, health and development. She has also worked for the European Commission’s DG Environment.
Mr. Miklós Gyalai-Korpos, PhD graduated from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics in 2007 with MSc in bioengineering. Between 2007 and 2010 he participated in the doctoral school program of the same university on the topic of second generation bioethanol – in 2012 he successfully defended his PhD dissertation. During the doctoral school he was involved in education too: giving lectures on bioenergy and supervising undergraduates. He is still continuing his education activity by delivering lectures on bioenergy at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
2010-2013 he was employed by the Ministry of National Development of Hungary in a department responsible for energy policy and international energy relations, mostly involved in IEA and long term European energy policy developments. He took part in the drafting of the National Energy Strategy approved by the Hungarian Parliament in 2011.
These experiences helped him to gain a complex insight into the energy landscape with emphasis on sustainable energy options. In 2013 he contributed as external expert of the National Adaptation Center to the Hungarian Climate Change Strategy by investigating the different emission trajectories using the Carbon Calculator in close cooperation with the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) of the UK that developed this tool.
In April, 2013 he joined the Climate-KIC Central Hungary team as innovation manager of the region and member of the bioeconomy platform. In this position he was co-author of the study titled “The future landscapes of bioeconomy: Hungary” and main organizer of the 3rd European Biorefining Training School that took place in Budapest, 7-10 July, 2014.
Dato' Dr Mohd Nazlee Kamal - BiotechCorp (Malaysia)
Dato' Dr Mohd Nazlee Kamal is the Chief Executive Officer of Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation (BiotechCorp).
Prior to joining BiotechCorp, he was the Founding CEO of Inno Biologics and the Group Managing Director of Inno Bio Ventures. He has six years of business development experience with MNCs such Amersham Biosciences, Sartorius and BBraun. He also has ten years of tenure as a lecturer at the University of Technology Malaysia and invented the "External Spinfilter" now marketed by Sartorius BBI Systems (Patent No. PI9701436MY-131798-A) Dato' Nazlee holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering (Bioprocess) from University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Jukka Kantola - NISCluster (Finland)
Mr. Jukka Kantola has broad experience of the woody biomass related industries. He has held various executive positions in Europe and in Asia. Hence he has a profound comprehension of the challenges and opportunities of these economies. Jukka is widely networked in the bioeconomy sector and he has a good grasp of the new and emerging applications for the wood.
He has established NISCluster Ltd, a novel bio-consulting company focusing on the versatile valorisation of woody biomass for novel applications. Mr. Kantola is a great advocator for the bio-economy and is tenaciously facilitating novel and existing biomass applications. Recently NISCluster gave a design for the awarded Kemijärvi Consortium in the international biorefinery competition arranged by Finnish Ministry of employment and the economy.
Mr. Kantola holds a Master of Science degree from the Aalto University. He also holds an eMBA from the Rutgers University. He is married with three sons.
Dr. Manfred Kircher - CLIB2021 - KADIB (DE)
Dr. Kircher, chair of the Advisory Boards of CLIB2021 (www.clib2021.de) and KADIB (www.kadib.de). Based on more than 30 years experience in chemical industry and bioeconomy he works on regional as well as international bioeconomy strategies.
His career milestones are biotechnological research and development (Degussa AG, Germany), production (Fermas s.r.o.; Slovakia), venture capital (Burrill & Company; USA) and biotechnology partnering and branding (Evonik Industries AG; Germany). Delegated by Evonik he chaired till 2012 the Board of the Cluster Industrial Biotechnology (CLIB2021 e.V.; Germany) and developed this association of German and international industries, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), academia and investors to an recognized organisation for unfolding bioeconomical value chains.
Manfred Kircher publishes regularly about bioeconomy topics and is a highly regarded advisor and speaker. Currently he is active with BIG-C, the joint bioeconomy initiative of Flanders, The Netherlands and North-Rhine Westfalia in an coordinated approach to improve bioeconomical competitiveness.
Manfred Kircher has been appointed to the Advisory Board of young companies and steering committees of international bioeconomy programs. He has been awarded with a honorary professorship of the Michurinsk State Agrarian University (Russia). Manfred Kircher is biologist by training (Goethe-University; Frankfurt, Germany).
Bernd Nidetzky - ACIB GmbH
Bernd Nidetzky is Full Professor of Biotechnology at Graz University of Technology (TUG). He is currently Scientific Director of Acib and Head of Institute of Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering at TUG. He is also Vice Dean of the Faculty of Technical Chemistry, Chemical and Process Engineering, and Biotechnology at TUG and is Chairman the Field of Expertise in Human and Biotechnology at this University.
The main field of interest of Bernd Nidetzky is in applied protein and enzyme science related to carbohydrates and glycoconjugates. Nidetzky has strong expertise in carbohydrate-active enzymes and their applications. His research interests also include metabolic and reaction/process engineering for biocatalysis (fine chemical synthesis) and renewable resource utilization. In the field of protein biopharmaceuticals, Nidetzky is active in the study of protein stability and stabilization as part of quality-by-design approaches. His group is studying flow microreactors for continuous biocatalytic process development.
Stefano Nigro - Promos - Invest in Lombardy (Italy)
Since 2010 Head of the Investment Promotion Department of Promos, the Special Agency of Milan Chamber of Commerce. The Investment Dept. is in charge of Invest in Lombardy since 2012. He previously worked for Business Integration Partners, a strategy & operations consulting firm based in Milan. He graduated in Economics at Catholic University of Milan. Master of Science in Economics at Warwick University (UK).
Dr. Christian Patermann - Former German Bioeconomy Council
Christian Patermann was born in Gliwice, Upper Silesia, in 1942. Following his High School years, he studied Law, Economics and Languages in Germany (Freiburg, Munich, Bonn), Switzerland (Lausanne, Geneva) and Spain (Santander) and completed his Doctoral Thesis in Law at the University of Bonn in 1969.
He entered the German public service in 1971 by joining the Federal Ministry of Science and Education, Bonn. From 1974-1978 he became Science Counsellor at the German Embassy in Washington D.C., USA. He then returned to the Ministry of Research and Technology where he held many positions in Germany and International Organisations, like ESA, ESO, EMBL. In 1988 he became Director of Cabinet of the German Federal Minister of Research and Technology, Dr. H. Riesenhuber. This comprised also the position of the spokesperson of the Ministry. In 1993 he was appointed Deputy Director General of the Ministry.
In 1996 he went to Brussels to become the Programme Director for “Environment” Research at the Research Directorate-General of the European Commission at Brussels where he conceived and implemented the 4th, 5th and 6th RTD Framework Programmes of the EU in this field. He was also Vice-President of the Steering Committee of IGFA (International Group of Funding Agencies in Global Environmental Changes ) and elected member of the START Scientific Committee.
Since January 2004 he was Programme Director for “Biotechnology, Agriculture & Food” Research at the Research Directorate-General of the European Commission, which from 2007 also comprised Aquaculture and Fisheries as well as Forestry. During these years he was responsible for the elaboration of the new concept of the Knowledge Based Bioeconomy ( KBBE ), which today is known as biobased Economy or more simply Bioeconomy in Europe. He was also appointed Chairman of the oldest Committee between EU Member States and the European Commission, the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research, SCAR. He also served for 4 years as co-chair in the important EC-US Task Force Life Sciences and Biotechnology Research.
In August 2007 Christian Patermann retired. He now lives in Bonn and advises public and private institutions and companies, among them the largest German Land NorthRhine-Westphalia , the Fraunhofer Society, the Swiss Agricultural Research Council etc.
Since beginning of 2009 he has been appointed member of the Research and Technology Council “ BioEconomy “ of the Federal German Government, an advisory Body to Chancellor Merkel and her Cabinet, founded also in 2009.
The University of Bonn awarded Christian Patermann in November 2011 an honorary doctor’s degree because of his merits to promote European Agricultural
Research. In April 2012 Christian Patermann was appointed member in the Georgofili Academy in Florence, the oldest Science Academy in the area of agrosciences in the world.
Christian Patermann is author of more than 100 articles, books and other contributions to Science, Research and Technology in particular in Space, Nuclear and non-Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Proliferation, Environment and Global Changes, Marine Research, Biotechnology, Aquaculture, Food, Forestry and Fisheries.
He is also an expert in international cooperation, including the European enlargement process and the relationship between Europe and the BRICK-countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and Korea). He is an amateur Jazz musician and was until 2007 Member of the Board of the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn.
George Sakellaris - Bioeconomy in Greece
Dr. George Sakellaris is a Program and Research Coordinator in the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague (Czech Republic). Also an ad hoc consultant in Science and Technology Strategies in the Arab Science& Technology Foundation (ASTF) in Abu Dhabi (UAE). Former Research Director of the Institute of Biotechnology, at the National Research Foundation in Athens (Greece). He also acts as a board member in the initiative “Bioeconomy in Greece”. Recently he cooperates with the University of South Bohemia in Czech Republic, in the aim of establishing a “Bioeconomy Platform” in the region.
His scientific background is on Microbial Biochemistry and Genetics. He is also intensively involved to the Economical, Legal, Social & Ethical aspects of Biotechnology as he was the head of the Office of Science in Society and Communication of the NHRF. Under this capacity he has been elected at the GMO panel of EFSA (2003-2006) and the GMO advisory panel of the European Parliament (2006-2009) and he is a member in numerous Committees in Europe and the US (The task group on Public Perceptions, The Biotechnology and the European Public network, The Europa-Bio, The EU-US Task force on Biotechnology (Committee on Bio-based materials), The International Forum of Biotechnology, The Pubic Research and Regulation Initiative (PRRI) and member of the International Biosafety Organization). He is a board member of the Greek Association of Biotechnology and the National delegate at the European Federation of Biotechnology and the International Biosafety Clearing House. He is the coordinator or participant in many International Research projects, and he contributes in numerous International Congresses, Conferences and Research Forums worldwide.
Pierre-Alain Schieb - NEOMA Business School, Campus de Reims, France
Dr. Pierre-Alain Schieb (a French national) is President of Backcasting SAS and Professor, Chair of Industrial Bioeconomy, NEOMA Business School (Reims).
Until April 30, 2013, he was Counsellor in the Directorate of Science, Technology and Industry of the OECD, which manages the International Futures Programme, the OECD’s strategic foresight unit. He was in charge of the International Futures Network, and Head of OECD Futures Projects, such as the projects on Future Global Shocks, Infrastructure Needs to 2030/2050, The Family to 2030, Bioeconomy 2030. Further to recommendations arising from a two year Futures Project, Dr. Schieb was also in charge of the OECD Forum on Space Economics. He was also the Chairman of the Technical Committee on Space Economy of the International Astronautical Federation.
Before joining the OECD in 1994, Dr. Schieb was Executive Vice-President of International Business of one France’s major retailing groups (1991-1994); Dean of a graduate school of business in France (1985-1991); and held an Associate-Professorship at the University of Paris, Dauphine.
Co-founder of a high-tech start-up company in the early 1980s and involved in venture capital initiatives, Dr. Schieb was also a consultant to numerous French and US companies in the field of alliances, industrial cooperation, licensing, corporate and marketing strategies. He has also published many articles in the field of international management, risk management, marketing and corporate strategy.
Dr. Schieb earned a PhD (Doctorat d’Etat) in management science from the University of Strasbourg (1981), a DBA in economics and business administration from the University of Aix-en-Provence (1974), and a MSc in quantitative marketing from the University of Sherbrooke (Canada). Dr. Schieb has received numerous distinctions such as: the Best Award in Economy (Aix-en-Provence, 1967), Best Dissertation Award (Quebec, Canada, 1974), Chevalier in the French Order of Palmes Académiques (1991). (Pierre-alain.schieb@reims-ms.fr; Schiebpa@yahoo.fr)
Dr Veronica Vallini, Scientific Research Manager, Eridania Sadam S.p.A.
Veronica Vallini graduated in Biotechnology at the University of Ancona, Italy, and gained a PhD in Food and Health.
Since 1999 Veronica participates, in collaboration with academic teams, in research activities of the Maccaferri Group, and since 2008 she is Scientific Research Manager in Eridania Sadam, the Italian agro-industrial division of the Maccaferri Group, operating in the production, packaging and marketing of sugar, sweeteners and other foodstuffs.
The main area of activity is the development of new production technologies and the formulation of new natural sweeteners and functional food ingredients. Another important and emerging research target is related to the valorisation of co-products and by-products of the sugar and, in general, agri-food industry.
In these contexts, coordinating the Research and Development department, she is heavily involved in collaborative projects with other partner companies in the food sector or other sectors, following a multidisciplinary approach.
Ron Weerdmeester
Ron Weerdmeester combines degrees in European law (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen) and Technology and Business Development (Boston University) with a professional career in the development of strategic research, technology development and innovation processes, projects and programmes with a European dimension. Since 1993 Ron has been working as an expert consultant with PNO Consultants in the Netherlands and Brussels, Innova Technology Transfer, Ciaotech and IDP European Training and Studies in Italy. He has supported a very large number of clients (hundreds) of a wide variety, ranging from small high tech companies to large multinationals, research institutes and Universities in most European countries, and in a large number of different technology areas, from ICT to energy, from environmental technologies to materials and from biotechnology and health to chemistry. As such Ron has matured a unique and broad experience and profound insights in innovation and funding processes in practice, from the genesis of innovative ideas and their development towards proof-of-concept, demonstration, market introduction and commercial exploitation. He has worked as a trusted consultant for leading (open) innovation organisations such as CERN, DOW Chemical, ETH, Fraunhofer, Helmholtz Institute, IBM, Microsoft, Politecnico of Milano and Turin, Procter&Gamble, RWTH, Solvay, Technical University of Eindhoven, Telecom Italia, University of Rome, amongst many others.
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