The answers that biotechnology can offer to the main challenges of today's society centred on the first Expoquimia BIO Conference, held on Wednesday 19 June at the NH Madrid Hotel. Expoquimia BIO is one of the major attractions of the 19th Expoquimia Exhibition, which will take place from 2 to 5 June 2020 in Fira Barcelona, and will include its own exhibition space, seminars and associated partnering events to generate new business opportunities between biotech companies and innovative companies from the chemical, pharmaceutical, food, cosmetics and energy industries. Asebio, Biocat, CataloniaBioHT, EDBGroup, the School of Engineering of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Sebiot, SusChem and the Barcelona Science Park are all collaborating on this new initiative. 

Under the slogan “Biotechnology: Transforming the industry to respond to major social challenges”, biotech companies and companies from different industrial sectors met in the first Expoquimia BIO Conference to deepen the convergence between industry and biotechnology to address climate change, the sustainable production of raw materials and net energy, and the development of new health solutions.

The director of Expoquimia, Pilar Navarro, opened the session, pointing out that biotechnology will be one of the main attractions of Expoquimia 2020, as this discipline when applied to traditional processes brings great benefits. After Navarro, Ion Aracena, managing director of Asebio, took the floor and stated that ‘the Spanish biotechnology sector is a reality and not an emerging sector’, which has a turnover of more than 7,000 million euros and employs 177,000 professionals.

The director of the mABxience plant in Leon, Luisa Amoedo, explained the need for the pharmaceutical industry to address the challenge of biotechnology production and presented the work of this company that manufactures bio antibodies. Amoedo reported that, so far, there has been ‘little development in specialised supplies and suppliers for the production of biotech drugs.’

The scientist from the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Plant Biology of the CSIC [Higher Council for Scientific Research] of Valencia, Diego Orzáez, analysed the impact of CRISPR technology on food biotechnology which, he said, “allows us to rewrite the genome precisely and cheaply, within the scope of local agricultural producers to solve their specific problems”.

Later on, Antonia Rojas, head of the bioenergy laboratory at ADMBiópolis in Valencia, explained how biofuels can be a real alternative to highly polluting fossil fuels and revealed that ‘the main challenge is the industrial viability of solutions from biotechnology’.

Dr. Maria Auxiliadora Prieto, coordinator of the SusPlast platform of the Biological Research Centre of the CSIC, commented on the importance of promoting the production of bioplastics as a solution to the contamination generated by plastics, pointing out that ‘in 2030, all plastic containers in the European Union would have to be recyclable’.

Expoquimia 2020’s commitment to biotechnology

New materials and processes, and especially those linked to biotechnology, are some of the key points of the 19th Expoquimia Conference, the International Chemistry Meeting at the Barcelona Trade Fair Centre, which will be held from 2 to 5 June 2020 at the Gran Vía venue.

This commitment is embodied in the Expoquimia Bio initiative, which will host its own exhibition space, partnering and networking events and seminars to connect innovative companies from the chemical, pharmaceutical, food, cosmetics and energy industries with biotech companies that respond to their needs and transform their production processes for a more sustainable future.

The joint Expoquimia, Equiplast and Eurosurfas event will create a leading platform for applied chemistry in southern Europe, which will highlight future trends in sectors that are fundamental to socio-economic development, around three major disruptive themes: the circular economy, technology transfer and digital transformation.

Together with the wide range of Expoquimia 2020 exhibitions, the fifteenth Mediterranean Chemical Engineering Congress and the 16th Conference on Instrumental Analysis will be the pillars of knowledge and scientific-technical proposals
that will mark tomorrow’s solutions.

Continuing with the initiative started two conferences ago, with the leadership of the Spanish Chemical Industry Business Federation (FEIQUE), Expoquimia 2020 will also host the third Smart Chemistry Smart Future project in which the main companies in the sector will exhibit their contributions to more sustainable, safe and efficient chemistry.