The fostering of a circular sustainable bioeconomy for sustainable growth with environmental protection is on the social, political and scientific agenda worldwide. The Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, the European ‘Green Deal’, the national bioeconomy strategy passed by the Federal Cabinet on January 15th 2020 and the state strategy 'Sustainable Bioeconomy for Baden-Württemberg' published on June 04th 2019 impressively demonstrate the scope of the movement. The realisation of the bioeconomy is a global activity that concerns the economy, society and politics in equal measure. It requires the solidarity of interest groups, scientists and users - across all sectors.
The currently dominant economic system is ultimately based on fossil raw materials, which, in addition to their finite nature, also cause climate change through CO2 emissions. An economically and ecologically sustainable economy therefore requires a shift from the use of fossil resources to the recycling of chemical elements with carbon (-compounds) as a central resource. The associated transformation of social lifestyles and economic processes is a profound change from the current 'way-of-life'.
The translation-hub Valorisation of Bioresources - Urban (ValBio-Urban), launched by scientists at the University of Stuttgart, wants to contribute to successfully shaping this transformation in Baden-Württemberg. The ValBio-Urban consortium is deliberately seeking to establish close ties between researchers and users in Baden-Württemberg in order to facilitate local solutions to problems. The projects presented explore the feasibility of ideas and technologies of the ValBio partners with cross-industry and cross-sector companies and interest groups.
The focal points of the cooperation reflect the competences of the core team: biobased production of raw materials and materials from biowaste, bioprocess engineering, biorefinery concepts, bioenergy and integrated energy systems, environmental engineering and socio-technical analysis. In addition, methodological competences, e.g., in life-cycle analyses, ecological balances and system models, together with the investigation and evaluation of the social perception of change (socio-technical transformation) complete the know-how for a sustainable biological transformation of the business location Baden-Württemberg.
Contact
Stefanie Föller
M.Sc.
Ralf Takors
Prof. Dr.-Ing.Project Manager