NBC-14 was held on the 16th and 17th of April 2012 and it was a great success! All participants enjoyed seven keynote lectures, many parallel sessions, and the social and interactive aspects of the conference. And as always, the Zilveren Zandloper Awards for innovation and education were awarded. A short report:

The opening keynote lecture was given by Eric Claassen. He plead for more knowledge of IPR at scientists. Without IPR, no new products. For example, when a scientist thinks he has a great innovative idea, (s)he should not only check the database for publications, but also the database for patents. In his experience, lots of ideas are already in the latter database. If not, you really have an innovative idea. Furthermore, not only IPR is important if you market new knowledge, also branding and copyrights can help to protect your invention, even when the patent expires.

Chair of the social and economic council Alexander Rinnooy Kan reflected on possibilities for life scientists in the biobased economy (BBE). New about the recent discussions on the BBE is that now new high value applications are possible, such as bio-steel, woven from natural fibres that can be used for trains. In his view, the Netherlands should focus on the development of such high value applications, because these counteract the possible negative effects of the BBE, such as on the food supply and biodiversity.

Matthias Reuss explained how multi-scale modelling can enhance cancer therapy. Models can help to understand how real tissues work and can thereby improve efficacy of therapy and reduce side effects. Reuss applied rigorous dynamic modelling of the central metabolism and application of metabolic control analysis to identify glycolyitic inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. However, since several normal tissues (e.g. brain tissue) depend on glucose as the main energy and carbon source, this approach has to be taken with care. Thus in the second part of the talk dealt with the fact that drugs beyond the cellular level are essential for designing individual of drug delivery concepts and allow to propose the possibility of optimized cancer treatment therapies.

Although working with entrepreneurs a lot, René Wijffels stays an academic. In his research, he focuses on algae for food and fuel. In the AlgaePARC in Wageningen, he works with companies to find a solution for our need of biobased chemicals, materials and fuels. Today, the business case is still for niche markets, with high value compounds from mostly small companies. But Wijffels expects that in 10-15 years, the market for algae has shifted to bulk materials and low value compounds from large companies. It can be done, but still a few technical hurdles need to be taken.

Chief Innovation Officer of DSM Rob van Leen showed us how his company thinks of innovation. DSM believes in open innovation and develops itself more and more into a company selling knowledge instead of products. Collaboration is already very important for the company, as for example in the top institute BioMedical Materials where DSM develops biointeractive compounds, that deliver biological for cartilage repair that stimulate the right tissue growth and disappear after use.

Luuk van der Wielen explained that innovation is not possible without piloting. The University of Delft therefore developed a piloting facility for innovations in sustainable bioprocesses. For example, if you want to source sustainable biomass from Malaysia, what best to do? Dutch importers are quite critical, but for the Malaysians, sustainability is not a necessity yet. The university therefore started with knowledge transfer and the definition of opportunities for Malaysian plant owners. Without understanding the infrastructure, culture and companies in the country you work in, innovation is not possible.

According to Rob Carlson, we are experiencing a proliferation of skills and technology that is driven largely by economic demands and that will facilitate a very different mode of production than we have seen until now. As technologies like synthetic biology mature, they will enable the construction of entirely new genetic circuits and metabolic pathways, as is now being demonstrated for pharmaceuticals and biofuels. Biotechnology can produce fuels and materials at lower cost and lower environmental impact that we have seen with industrial chemistry.

Zilveren Zandloper Awards
There were many nominations of excellent candidates for this year’s Zilvern Zandloper Awards.

The winner for the Education Award was Dr. Carla van Beuningen from Fontys Hogeschool, University of Applied Sciences, TNW. Dr. van Beuningen was nominated for high motivation in education and her successful efforts to prepare her students for employment in industry. This is shown with her directorship of ASIA (Applied Science and Engineering Consultancy) which are projects run by the students together with various companies.

Dr. Kees Leenhouts from Mucosis won the Innovation Award. He worked for several years in academia at the University of Groningen and then moved to a local biotech company, BioMade, and used his discoveries from both academia and industry to establish a new company, Mucosis. This company has succeeded in bringing his technology to Phase I clinical trials. Dr. Leenhouts has shown an excellent example of valorisation of scientific knowledge via a start-up company.