Future focus in bioeconomy at the European meeting in Gothenburg
Windmills of wood and a method for recycling fiberboards - these became the winners when new European bioeconomics companies competed within the EU project BioLinX. At the same time, experts in forest chemistry were looking for new solutions for a society without products made of fossil materials.
On October 17 and 18, the BioLinX Finance Academy met in Gothenburg. Promising entrepreneurs in the field of bioeconomics received free coaching to make a really sharp presentation of their business concept. A jury of experienced business leaders from several European countries listened to the eleven candidates and appointed two winners: Modvion from Sweden and Act& Sorb from Belgium.
More energy and less waste incineration
Modvion manufactures turbine towers for windmills in wood composite materials. They are easier to transport than today's steel towers because they come in smaller parts. And they can be joined to windmills that have broader bases than those of steel, and can therefore be higher and thus more energy efficient. At the same time they are easy to chip down when their lifetime is over.
"If you like renewable materials and energy, then you will like Modvion", Otto Lundman concluded from Modvion's presentation.
Act& Sorb has developed a method of recycling wood-fiberboards (such as MDFs), which today are burnt after use. Instead of this, they have created two useful products by means of pyrolysis - activated carbon, which can, among other things, clean water and air, and synthesis gas that is of great benefit to the chemical industry.
"Two and a half years after that I renovated my own kitchen and realized that the wood-fiberboards could not be recycled, we had a solution", Kenny Vanreppelen from Act& Sorb said.
Support for new entrepreneurs
BioLinX supports parties in EU projects in agriculture and forestry by expanding their networks, raising the technical level and reducing time for them to reach the market.
- We have contributed to the success of 509 unique projects, said Dennis van der Paas from BioLinX services.
Similarly, the Scale-Up project has a comprehensive network of environmental technology companies in the North Sea region.
- At our event, the smaller companies get personal meetings with large companies, most recently Alfa Laval and TetraPak, where they present their innovation. A large part of these meetings results in concrete collaborations, said Lars Moberger of RISE, Research Institutes of Sweden.
2018 year’s startup challenge in Gothenburg
In the BioLinX meeting, AkzoNobel and Ikea participated, both of which have their own initiative to find and support new participants.
AkzoNobel Chemicals startup challenge received more than 200 ideas.
"The winners will get an agreement on continued cooperation with us or the opportunity to work in our innovation center in Deventer, Holland", said research director Ulf Schröder, revealing that AkzoNobel will have the 2018 startup challenge in Gothenburg.
In September, Ikea Bootcamp launched an accelerator program that attracted 1,300 companies.
- We want to create innovative solutions by combining the startup companies' speed with Ikea's impact, said Per Krokstäde from Ikea.
Ten companies were selected to participate in the work camp in Älmhult, which is active until early December. One of them is Matter from Portugal, which makes new surface materials of residues from, among other things, coffee and beer production.
- We want to create a new story about waste. Ikea uses 1 percent of the earth's wood and it is important to find new raw materials, said Ana Lima from Matter.
Per Krokstäde was enthusiastic, - I'm dreaming of a coffee table that smells like coffee!
The forest's chemistry leads away from the fossil society
These days, experts were also gathered under the heading To the market through forests and chemistry organized by Processum and Västsvenska Kemi- och Materialklustret. The aim was to find bio-based products based on specific needs.
First "client" was Nina Jacobsson Stålheim from Lokalförvaltningen in Gothenburg:
- We have the mission to build the first fossil-free preschool. Therefore we need - among many other things - color and glue of a different type than today.
It became an intensive brainstorming when the participants gathered in groups and presented several manageable project ideas and color options: lignin products, biogas and biomethanol, cellulose derivatives and adipic acid.
The last wish came from the Västra Götaland region, which needs renewable materials for health care, since they don’t want to throw away a lot of fossil plastics. It must be able to be sterilized, and in this case paper-like materials do not work, but bio-based plastics can be a solution.
Organizers and more information:
Jonas Joelsson, Processum, jonas.joelsson@processum.se, telefon 070-616 67 60
Processum http://www.processum.se/sv/
Åsa Betten, RISE, asa.betten@ri.se, telefon 070-379 59 90
RISE Research Institutes of Sweden www.ri.se
BioLinX: http://www.biolinx-project.eu/
Västsvenska Kemi- och materialklustret och Johanneberg Science Park https://www.johannebergsciencepark.com/kemiochmaterialklustret
Modvion: http://www.modvion.com/
Act& Sorb: http://actandsorb.com/
Scale-Up: http://www.northsearegion.eu/scale-up och https://www.ri.se/scale-up
Ikea Bootcamp: https://ikeabootcamp.rainmaking.io/
AkzoNobels Start-up challenge: https://www.akzonobel.com/about-us/imagine-chemistry