BioCluster

Open innovation cluster for the transition to a biobased economy

Scope of the project

Biocluster is a project in the frame of the call “Entrepreneurship – New factory of the Future” of Agentschap Ondernemen. The project partners are the sector organisations Ghent Bio-Economy Valley, FlandersBio and essenscia (who cooperate through the CINBIOS network) and Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant for scientific and technological support.

The main goal of the project is to facilitate the transition of the Flemish industry to a sustainable, biobased economy by building a competitive biocluster of companies that are able to build new value chains.

The project is primarily aimed at companies from the agro-industry, technology developers and the chemical sector.

The development of new cross-sectoral value chains will be facilitated by organizing informative thematic sessions which will result in more defined and hands-on workgroups. These workgroups will aim for new economic and ecological possibilities by tackling the bottlenecks in the value chain.

	Biosurfactants Compounds that lower the surface tension between 2 immiscible liquids or between a liquid and a solid. Produced from vegetable oils, animal fats and carbohydrates. Used in soap products such as detergents and shampoos but also in foods, textiles, paints, cosmetics,…
Biolubricants Mixture of vegetable oils and synthetic esters. Used as lubricants for chainsaws, marine oils, hydraulic oils,…
	Biosolvents Substances that dissolve specific chemicals which do not or poorly dilute in water. Produced by fermentation from carbohydrates, vegetable oils or directly from plants. Used in paints, inks, pesticides, perfumes,…
Bioplastics Group of products such as PLA, PTT, PDO, Nylon, PHA, PE, PVC, PUR,… Mainly produced from conventional feedstocks such as sugar, starch and vegetable oil. Large scope of applications, such as fertilizer bags and agricultural foils.
	Biomaterials Solid materials made out of natural products. e.g. biocomposites (combination of a matrix of e.g. bioplastics and natural fibers), cellulose insulation, paper products,… Used in automotive, construction, packaging,…