TOBE 2014, 3° Bioeconomy Stakeholders´ Conference – From sectors to system, from concept to reality

The third Bioeconomy Stakeholders´ Conference will be hosted by the Italian Presidency ofthe Council of the European Union, in collaboration with the European Commission, on 8th-9th October 2014 in Turin, Italy. Two years on from launching of the European Bioeconomy Strategy, the discussion will be resumed from the opportunities of this sector that already has a turnover of nearly 2 trillion euro, 22 millions of employees and a substantial growth margin.

In particular, the Italian Conference, which will host the main European stakeholders from institutions, industry and research, will trigger discussion on how to integrate the concept of Bioeconomy in EU policies, at national and local level, through the construction of an interconnected system of knowledge. For this reason, in order to facilitate the implementation of concrete actions for a sustainable development model, the debate will be focus on the following Bioeconomy key areas:

• Primary Production: the role of agriculture, forestry and marine resources, Agro-food by-products and waste as additional biomass sources
• Biomass Transformation and Integrated Biorefineries
  
• Horizontal key elements needed for a strong Bioeconomy in Europe
• Innovation and key supporting measures
• Implementation tools at national and regional level

Italian Minister for Education, University and Research, Stefania Giannini and the Commissioner for Science, Research and Innovation, Máire Geoghenan-Quinn will open this high level meeting.

Daniele Ferrari, CEO Versalis and Matrìca Chairman, and Catia Bastioli, Managing Director of Novamont and Matrìca, will partecipate in the session ´Connecting the biomass: illustrating the bioeconomy system in action by following the flows of biomass and residues - Biobased Chemicals and Energy´, where they will explain the strategy put in place by Versalis and Novamont in the reindustrialization of the Italian chemical industry, through the conversion of non-competitive sites in integrated biorefineries into the local area.

Among the various side events related to the Conference, the International Open day of Matrica. Participants will have the opportunity to visit a real example of integrated biorefinery in northern Sardinia, aimed at the production of high value-added bioproducts from vegetable raw materials, by means of an innovative integration of agriculture and industry.

For more information please visit the Conference website: www.bioeconomy.miur.it