Blue Frontier Magazine: – What are the main objectives of this year BioMarine International Business Convention?
Pierre Erwes: – 2012 is a very important step as we will elaborate the bases of the 2013 BioMarine’s program in Halifax, Canada. The 6 Thinktanks will present practical ideas and recommendations that we will put forward and pass to the participating governments and the European Commission.
Marine biotech for health, marine biotech for environement, macro algae, micro algae, aquaculture and nutraceuticals are the 6 hot topics we will address. The thinktank is somehow a difficult challenge as we expect every participant to take an active part in the exchange.
It’s also the perfect time to identify around you the best players to develop your future partnerships. Because the aim of BioMarine is to foster business opportunities we have several level of organized and informal networking times. It will be impossible for any attendee to miss anyone. The Fishmongers’ Hall is the perfect place for this kind of summit.
BFM: – What are the main questions to be answered during the conference in London?
PE: – Within the 6 main themes we will try to bring practical recommendations. I have no doubt that the“best practices” is one essential topic as we wish to build our BioMarine community to foster business in line with international regulations.
We also wish to tell the politics that Marine bio-resources represent a market of $ 176 billion. It is a vector for job creation, innovation, private/public partnership.If you take a closer look at the program, the aquaculture thinktank organized in partnership with Novus, will definitively be the place for new fresh ideas.
The Pronova thinktank on nutraceuticals will address environmental concerns, public acceptance, and dive into regulation REACH versus Prop 65. The macro Algae in partnership with Olmix, will open a challenging topic on protein substitution for aquafeed. Is this for real? the micro algae thinktank with Sofiproteol will concentrate on human nutrition aspect.
BFM: – How can this event address the main issues for marine biotechnology?
PE: – As for the marine biotech we will organize two think tanks one with on marine biotech for health with the MG4U network and one on marine biotech for environment with Z2O. Marine biotechnology is the key point. It is the driver of our sector. Bioplastic, health, environement, cleantech, aquaculture, shipping, port etc…it’s everywhere. The marine biotech sector is full speed ahead, but now it needs a bit of framing.
The marine biotech sector is in need of massive funding. Unfortunately investors are kind of skeptical when it comes to marine biotechnology. When you look at the US market, the major funding was dedicated to biofuel production. It’s huge and for what result?
Besides we have practical and existing opportunities using macro algae, bacteria, marine compounds for aquafeed, bioplastic, packaging, cosmetic and nutraceuticals, but to get the investors on board we need a better global communication and a stronger international representation of the sector. We should push forward to build a recognized international structure, independent from the existing biotech organization, to structure this huge potential.
We should be able to elaborate a transversal organization that federates key industry players and the research community from marine biotech, environement, nutrition, aquaculture, materials, cosmetics and nutraceuticals.
BioMarine is THE place where the industry, the investors, and the applied research worlds are converging. Let’s work on the alchemy to make it happen.
BFM: – What can the participants anticipate to achieve from the conference?
PE: – It’s interesting to take a look at the attendee list! We ‘ll have in London only a few attendees from previous editions. The audience is very different and the format as well. It ‘s good to have asummit in between our main conventions. The participants will have quality time in London. We will take the time to discuss the real issues, to network face to face. We will make sure that nobody will miss the contact they wanted to have. No one is off the grid and we have set the course to make this summit a real success in term of business opportunities.