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The Future of Music in the Age of Spiritual Machines
by Ray Kurzweil We are moving towards an era of software-based musical instruments, intelligent accompanists, and music as information, says Ray Kurzweil in highlights from his keynote speech at the 2003 Audio Engineering Society convention. Highlights of the Richard C. Heyser Memorial Lecture to the 115th Annual Convention of the Audio Engineering Society on Oct. 11, 2003. Published on KurzweilAI.net Oct. 13, 2003. Music technology is about to be radically transformed. Communication bandwidths, the shrinking size of technology, our knowledge of the human brain, and human knowledge in general are all accelerating. Three-dimensional molecular computing will provide the hardware for human-level “strong” AI well before 2030. The more important software insights will be gained in part from the reverse-engineering of the human brain, a process well under way. Once nonbiological intelligence matches the range and subtlety of human intelligence, it will necessarily soar past it because of the continuing acceleration of information-based technologies, as well as the ability of machines to instantly share their knowledge. The impact of these developments will deeply affect all human endeavors, including music. Music will remain the communication of human emotion and insight through sound from musicians to their audience, but the concepts and process of music will be transformed once again. The Coming Revolution in Intellectual Property The issue of protecting intellectual property goes far beyond music and audio technologies, but the crisis has started in the music industry. Already, music recording industry revenues are down sharply, despite an overall increase in the distribution of music. The financial crisis has caused music labels to become cautious and conservative, investing in proven artists, with less support available for new and experimental musicians. The breakdown of copyright protection is starting to impact musical instruments themselves. Synthesizers, samplers, mixers, and audio processors can all be emulated in software. It has been estimated that at least 90 percent of the copies of “Reason,” one of the emulation software leaders, are pirated. Music controllers still require hardware, but when full- immersion visual-auditory virtual reality environments become ubiquitous, which I expect by the end of this decade, we’ll be using virtual controllers that are essentially comprised of “just” software. When we have the full realization of nanotechnology-based assembly in the 2020s, we will be creating actual hardware at almost no cost from software. We are not far from that reality today, and for the recording industry it is already clear that the principal product – music – is pure information. In all industries, the portion of products and services represented by their information content is rapidly increasing. By the time we get to the nanotechnology era, most products will be essentially information. With file sharing, we’ve seen a breakdown of copyright protection. With streaming and remote access technologies, the problem will become even worse because existing copyright law doesn’t even cover these situations. If I call up a friend on the phone and play a new CD that I purchased, that’s not a violation of copyright law, nor should it be. But what is a phone call? It’s a streaming connection. File sharing networks will evolve into file streaming networks. So if you want to listen to a song, the network finds a machine with that file and it is played on that machine. You listen in on a streaming connection. No files or information are ever copied. Copyright law is based entirely on the concept of copying, so if we bypass copying, there is no violation. We can extend this concept to all forms of software, including interactive software. In this case, the user effectively uses someone else’s machine using remote access software (such as pcAnywhere or Microsoft’s Remote Desktop). With continued acceleration in hardware power, running software on someone else’s machine is likely to occupy only a small fraction of the power of the computers involved. Clearly, intellectual property licenses, and copyright law itself, can be amended to try to deal with this situation, but there are still problems. How do you define what is to be proscribed? Playing songs or demonstrating software to friends should still be allowed. Obviously, vast sharing networks go beyond friendship. So the law will need to define what constitutes a friend. Obviously there are some very slippery slopes here. The educational challenge will be even greater. If consumers today understand copyright at all, they understand it in terms of making copies of information. How is the public to understand the concept if no actual copying takes place? There are workable schemes for protecting software by building in locks that prevent software from working on machines other than authorized ones. These rely on means to identify what computer is being used, and these systems work reasonably well today. But the streaming approach bypasses this form of protection. Having cited some of the difficulties, we need to recognize that protection of intellectual property is critical, otherwise we destroy the business model that provides for the capital formation required to create the intellectual property in the first place. We could discuss at length various technical means for protecting information such as music files, but the bottom line is that all of these systems are easily breakable if that is what the public wants to do. It may seem obvious that this is indeed what the public wants to do, but that does not need to be the case. Educating consumers on the value to them of protecting intellectual property is feasible, and without such a social compact, technical approaches will inevitably fail. Is such a social expectation feasible? We do have a successful example: the cell-phone industry. Unlike the recording industry, this communications industry did not stick with the business model of the 1950s and 1960s, which included very high charges for a long distance call. The cost of a long distance call has fallen from tens of dollars to pennies. Had that not been the case, you can be sure that people would be routinely breaking cell phone network access just as readily as they now share music files. Although there are people who do break cell phone access codes, this is not considered a cool thing to do. In the recording industry, the fault lies primarily with the industry for not having budged from a business model of charging tens of dollars for an album, a pricing model that existed when my father was a child. The current lawsuits may have an educational effect, but the industry is being disingenuous in the extreme by launching these suits before they have provided a viable legitimate system of file downloading. Apple’s music site is a good initiative, but under industry pressure they have backed off their commitment to allow personal copies, and the services still doesn’t run on 98% of the installed base of personal computers. As we’ve seen in the case of cell phones, people won’t go to the trouble of breaking technical protection schemes if an industry provides a system of access and competitive pricing that the public views as tolerable and fair. With the entire economy headed towards the complete dominance of information, this remains a critical challenge. New Ways to Create Music Musical expression also offers new challenges. It has always used the most advanced technologies available, from ancient drums, the cabinet-making crafts of the eighteenth century, the mechanical linkages of the nineteenth century, the analog electronics of the mid-20th century, the digital technology of the 1980s and 1990s to the artificial intelligence coming in the 21st century. With digital samplers and synthesizers, we were able for the first time in human history to create sounds that had the complexity of acoustic sounds, but that did not originate from purely acoustic instruments. For example, we could start with piano samples and modify them with a variety of digital synthesis techniques to create sounds that had the richness of the piano, but were impossible with acoustic means alone. A particular challenge that we dealt with in creating the Kurzweil 250 was how to recreate the enharmonic overtones of a piano. Most instruments have harmonic overtones, that is the overtones are perfect multiples of the fundamental frequency. In a piano, the overtones are slightly different from being perfect multiples, and this is one of the features that gives a piano its unique timbre. Conventional samplers at the time looped the last waveform and applied a decay envelope. But their piano samples sounded like organ samples (at the point of looping) because the overtones were simple multiples of the fundamental frequency, lacking the subtlety of the complex waveforms generated by the piano and other natural instruments. In recent years, we’ve seen the emergence of software-based samplers, synthesizers, mixers, and sound processors. Although there still are significant performance benefits in using hardware DSP-based devices, software-based systems such as Reason are adequate to create professional recordings, such as movie soundtracks. The next wave of instruments will be based on physical modeling, actually simulating the interaction of sound with the strings, curved wood, and other components of physical instruments. It is then possible, of course, to create simulated instruments that would be impossible to render physically. The concept of physical modeling has been around for over a decade, but available systems are limited to building instruments from limited sets of building blocks. Future physical modeling systems will allow detailed emulation of highly complex shapes and materials, including, for example, the special resins used to create fine violins. The state of the art in physical modeling requires high-end DSP chips today, but software-based physical modeling synthesizers will be ubiquitous within five years. However, PCs will increasingly include DSPs, particularly since they are targeted at applications with audio and image processing that can benefit from DSPs. Intel experimented with this with a special version of the Pentium (Pentium MMX). This is likely to continue to happen. Microprocessors used in synthesizers and consumer products will also increasingly include DSP functionality. We are also moving towards an era of intelligent accompanists. We’ve had for many years “autoplay” features on home pianos for beginning students, but these are largely unsatisfactory because they require the human player to keep up with the automated players. What is needed in an intelligent accompanist is a system that follows the user, not the other way around. With such a system, a student could be playing a simple one-line melody, and the system would fill in with appropriate walking bass lines, rhythmic patterns, and harmonic progressions. Tod Machover has developed a series of interactive instruments that he calls hyperinstruments. They effectively provide the serious musician with intelligent accompanists. Although the human player stays in control, a single player can match the richness and intricacy of an entire ensemble. Music is a means of communicating human feelings and ideas from composers and performers to an audience. It is a language, or we might say a set of languages, that allows us to communicate emotions ranging from humor to sorrow. Machines can amplify our ability to communicate musically by providing richer palettes of sounds and means of manipulating and controlling them. Machines can also provide narrow forms of intelligence that work in close concert with human intelligence. The closeness of this connection will grow over time, reflecting the overall growing intimacy between humans and their machines.
Club of Amsterdam Journal, November 2003, Issue 12
Content 8 predictions for the Future of the Music Business by Gerd Leonhard About the future of the Media & Entertainment Industry News about the Future BBC Research & Development: MixTV Canada – Innovation Nation Recommended Book The Club of Amsterdam Roundtable: Karel van der Poel Club of Amsterdam Events 2003/2004 Club of Amsterdam SearchSubmit your articleContactSubscribe 8 predictions for the Future of the Music Business by Gerd Leonhard Gerd Leonhard,Music Futurist,former CEO, licensemusic.com, USA/Switzerland 1) Music like water: music is no longer a product but a SERVICE. Music became a product with the advent of recording (records, tapes, CDs) and the formation of an industry that quickly figured out that selling the bottle can make more a lot more money than only selling the wine. For the future, think of a ‘record label’ as a ‘music utility company’. 2) A bigger pie, but cheaper slices: today’s music pricing schemes will be completely eroded by digital music services (legal and otherwise), and by stiff competition from other entertainment products. A ‘liquid’ pricing system will emerge, involving subscriptions, bundles of various content types, multi-channel and multi access charges, and countless added-value services. CD prices will end up at around 5-7 Euro per unit. But most importantly, the overall music consumption will steadily increase, and will eventually bring in $50-$90 Euro per person per year, with 75% of the population in the leading markets as active consumers – the pie will be 3 times as large. 3) Diverse and ubiquitous: a wide range of music will be everywhere, and music will be part of everything that used to be ‘images – only’: from rich media advertising to interactive slideshows to car software to MMS and digital cameras, to advertising in magazines (!) – the audio-visual use of music will soar, and the licensing revenues will explode along with it. 4) Access to music will replace ownership. Soon, consumers will have access to ‘their’ music anytime anywhere, and the physical possession of it will in fact be more of a handicap, or a knack of collectors. Music will feel (and act) like water. 5) Multi-point access to music will be the default environment, allowing consumers to ‘fill-up’ their music devices at airports, train stations and in coffee shops and bars, using wireless as well as fixed-media and on-demand technologies. 6) Go direct: major artists will exceedingly rely on their own ‘brandability’ and – via their managers – go direct to the consumers, using their own in-house marketing, branding and promotion teams. 7) The software PRO: the (performing) right organizations (PROs) as we know them will likely fade away. Complete technology solutions comprised of watermarking and fingerprinting, DRM (Digital Rights Management) and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) components, monitoring, admin / accounting and instant payment solutions will do the job quicker, cheaper and, of course, with complete transparency. 8) Mobile mania: cell phones and other wireless devices will eventually utilize and suck up more ‘content’ than any Internet service or p2p client ever has. Real-music ring-tone offerings, Multi-Media SMS (MMS), java-based games, wireless streaming audio and video, I-Mode type applications and other cell-phone based offerings will proliferate very quickly, at first in Europe and Asia, followed by the U.S. Gerd Leonhard speaks at our Club of Amsterdam Event aboutthe future of the Media & Entertainment Industry on Thursday, November 27, 18:30-22:15! About the future of the Media & Entertainment Industry The Future of Music in the Age of Spiritual Machinesby Ray Kurzweil“We are moving towards an era of software-based musical instruments, intelligent accompanists, and music as information”, says Ray Kurzweil. The Future of Communicationsby Intel ResearchAnywhere, Anytime, Any DeviceThe future is unwired Analysts predict that by 2005 there will be 700 million mobile handsets and over 80 million WLANs (wireless local-area networks) in use world-wide, and nearly 13 million wireless home networks in place in the United States. Explosive growth of wireless networks and devices will have a huge impact on the core network itself. The network equipment infrastructure, converged devices and valuable services that are enabling the unwired future represent an enormous opportunity for computing and communication companies and the businesses and consumers they serve. News about the Future Conducting computers touchlessly Software developers routinely lace their conversations with terms like “interface” and “user interface”. But even the rest of us know these words from experience – when using a touch-sensitive screen to buy a train ticket at an automated dispenser for instance. The touch screen replaces real keys with virtual ones, the idea being to reduce the number of keys and simplify interaction with the various display pages. A variety of sensor-based methods are used to link finger touch to the appropriate point on the screen, so that the computer understands the instruction. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Media Communication IMK have developed a system that works entirely without physical contact. “The sensor technique that we have developed is based on a phenomenon which is familiar to most people,” says Wolfgang Strauss, cohead of the IMK group on Media, Arts and Research Studies MARS. “If you move around in the vicinity of a radio equipped with an antenna, reception tends to improve or deteriorate depending on where you stand, due to interference with the electricalmagnetical field. Our system measures similar changes in a locally generated, weak, oscillating electric field, but with much greater precision and spatial resolution.” An array of four antennas is installed in front of the display device. When you stretch out your arm to point to a specific part of the screen, the field strength in that area changes. A special processor interprets your gesture by analyzing the strength of the analog signals. It converts them into digital coordinates and passes them on to the multimedia processing system and the screen.aboutConducting computers touchlessly Software developers routinely lace their conversations with terms like “interface” and “user interface”. But even the rest of us know these words from experience – when using a touch-sensitive screen to buy a train ticket at an automated dispenser for instance. The touch screen replaces real keys with virtual ones, the idea being to reduce the number of keys and simplify interaction with the various display pages. A variety of sensor-based methods are used to link finger touch to the appropriate point on the screen, so that the computer understands the instruction. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Media Communication IMK have developed a system that works entirely without physical contact. “The sensor technique that we have developed is based on a phenomenon which is familiar to most people,” says Wolfgang Strauss, cohead of the IMK group on Media, Arts and Research Studies MARS. “If you move around in the vicinity of a radio equipped with an antenna, reception tends to improve or deteriorate depending on where you stand, due to interference with the electricalmagnetical field. Our system measures similar changes in a locally generated, weak, oscillating electric field, but with much greater precision and spatial resolution.” An array of four antennas is installed in front of the display device. When you stretch out your arm to point to a specific part of the screen, the field strength in that area changes. A special processor interprets your gesture by analyzing the strength of the analog signals. It converts them into digital coordinates and passes them on to the multimedia processing system and the screen. ENERGY Let water power your cell phone: University of Alberta engineering researchers revisit a novel source of electricity A team of researchers at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Alberta have built upon 40-year-old research to revive a novel way of generating electricity from flowing water – instead of ever having to charge up a cellular again, the phone could soon be fitted with a battery that uses pressurized water. Research published October 20, 2003 by the Institute of Physics journal, Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering reinforces an older method of generating electric power by harnessing the natural electrokinetic properties of a liquid such as ordinary tap water when it is pumped through tiny microchannels. The research team in Edmonton, Canada, has a prototype for a new source of clean non-polluting electric power with a variety of possible uses, ranging from powering small electronic devices to contributing to a national power grid. The research was led by Professor Daniel Kwok and Professor Larry Kostiuk from the University of Alberta. It built upon a paper published in November, 1964 by Dr. Osterle at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. With the assistance of two graduate students, the team was able to build a prototype to illuminate a real light bulb by exploiting the coupling between electrokinetic phenomena and the hydrodynamics of liquid flow. “This discovery has a huge number of possible applications,” said Kostiuk. “It’s possible that it could be a new alternative energy source to rival wind and solar power, but this would need huge bodies of water to work on a commercial scale. Hydrocarbon fuels are still the best source of energy but they’re fast running out and so new options like this one could be vital in the future. “This technology could provide a new power source for devices such as mobile phones or calculators which could be charged up by pumping water to high pressure.” Although the power generated from a single channel is extremely small, millions of parallel channels can be used to increase the power output. More work will be needed to further understand this new means to produce power. The environmental benefit of clean energy conversion using safe, renewable materials is motivating the team to explore how their prototypical device may be developed into a battery for eventual commercial use. The inventors are working with the U of A’s Technology Transfer Group (TTG) to develop a commercialization strategy for the groundbreaking work. A patent application has been filed by the university to obtain broad, early protection of the invention. The TTG is reviewing market opportunities. MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT CERN and Caltech join forces to smash Internet speed recordCERN and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) received an award for transferring over a Terabyte of data across 7,000 km of network at 5.44 gigabits per second (Gbps), smashing the old record of 2.38 Gbps achieved in February between CERN in Geneva and Sunnyvale in California by a Caltech, CERN, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Stanford Linear Accelerator Center team. The international CERN-Caltech team set this new Internet2 Land Speed Record on 1 October 2003 by transferring 1.1 Terabytes of data in less than 30 minutes, corresponding to 38,420.54 petabit-metres per second. The average rate of 5.44 Gbps is more than 20,000 times faster than a typical home broadband connection and is equivalent to transferring a full CD in 1 second or a full length DVD movie in approximately 7 seconds. “This new record marks another major milestone towards our final goal of abolishing distances and, in so doing, to enable more efficient worldwide scientific collaboration,” said Martin, Head of External Networking at CERN and Manager of the European Union DataTAG project. “The record further proves that it is no longer a dream to replicate terabytes of data around the globe routinely and in a timely manner.” Newman, head of the Caltech team and chair of the ICFA Standing Committee on Inter-Regional Connectivity said: “This is a major milestone towards our goal of providing on-demand access to high energy physics data from around the world, using servers affordable to physicists from all regions. We have now reached the point where servers side by side have the same TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) performance as servers separated by 10,000 km. We also localised the current bottleneck to the I/O capability of the end-systems, and we expect that systems matching the full speed of a 10 Gbps link will be commonplace in the relatively near future.” Thursday, November 27, 2003 BBC Research & Development: MixTV BBC R&D is a world leading centre for media production and broadcasting technology. The goal of MixTV is to enhance and innovate BBC broadcast productions by using Mixed Reality Technologies in various genres.aboutThe goal of MixTV is to enhance and innovate BBC broadcast productions by using Mixed Reality Technologies in various genres. MixTV: Mixed reality in future productionThe MixTV system can in real time a) merge real and virtual elements, b) work in a conventional studio or outdoor production, c) allow free movement and zooming of the camera and d) allow interaction with the virtual elements. How does it work?1) Markers are tracked in real time and replaced by virtual elements2) The virtual elements are merged with the live video image3) Animations are triggered by bringing two markers together4) Mask layers are generated using the alpha channel5) Transitions from real to virtual camera and video walls Interactive productionsHands-on productions can use a standard PC and a web camera. These can be productions for road shows, public spaces, web and for proof of concept. One example is the Euro Table that shows ways of communicating financial data to our viewers to inform and entertain. Broadcast productionsConventional studio or outdoor productions can use a standard POC and any study quality camera. One example is the WarBoard production that shows possible ways to communicate and analyse news of a country in conflict to our viewers. Canada – Innovation Nation “Innovation Nation – een seminar over de high-tech sector en het ondernemingsklimaat in Canada”, November 14, Amsterdam Recommended Book First Fruit: The Creation of the Flavr Savr Tomato and the Birth of Biotech Foodsby Belinda MartineauEngaging both sides of the agricultural biotech controversy and hoping to initiate a reasoned dialogue, geneticist Belinda Martineau explores the development and eventual failure of the Flavr Savr tomato in First Fruit. One of the Calgene scientists who worked on the tomato (the first genetically modified food on the market), she offers great insight into the scientific and business factors that drive the research and marketing of biotech products. Concerned about the eager and simplistic denial of most of her colleagues when faced with protests from consumer advocates, she wants to see more direct communication between the two sides.Using the story of Flavr Savr’s development, Martineau shows the reader both the quality of biotech research and the power of management to obfuscate or otherwise affect that work. Though straying into dead-end stories of her colleagues’ interactions a little too often, for the most part the narrative flows smoothly and draws the reader along swiftly to the tomato’s eventual, inevitable demise in the market. Ironically, the Flavr Savr failed more because it couldn’t live up to Calgene’s nearly messianic marketing than from any protester’s work, even if it did launch a few activists’ careers. Telling industry to pay more heed to honesty and research while suggesting that the public pursue better scientific education shouldn’t be asking too much – perhaps First Fruit will help de-escalate the debate. – Rob Lightner PricewaterhouseCoopers is a supporter of the Club of Amsterdam. Sponsor of the Club of Amsterdam event about ‘the future of the Media & Entertainment Industry’ on Thursday, November 27: The Club of Amsterdam Roundtable: Hugo de Bruin Hugo de Bruin,HDB Interactive,Management &Consultancy The future of TV Over the past decades the TV broadcasters have had a lot of power. The most powerful medium type of our times, TV, is actually more than the medium itself: it is also a technical content form as well as en end user device. The power of the TV broadcaster spans over the complete chain, from production right into the living room. We as consumers are of course very pleased with the large choice of channels and programs we can watch and will probably accept the commercials as an unavoidable side effect. But habits are changing. Today in the USA, youth between 12 and 25 is spending more time on the Internet than watching TV. This generation will inevitably grow up into being the ruling establishment and therewith dictating the consumer market. When asked for the main reason for choosing the Internet over TV, they state that the freedom to choose their own content and subjects is leading. This should be a firm wake-up call for all traditional broadcasters. What will happen to the power of broadcasters as soon as they loose their dominance over the complete chain is evident. After all, in the experience of the consumer the TV is just another screen. So what if you can hook up this screen to the processing power and storage capability of your home PC, which in its turn is connected to the Internet by means of i.e. ADSL? Compression rates and connection protocols are evolving constantly and we are very close to being able to send a complete feature movie over the existing Internet in just a few seconds (thanks to an improved TCP protocol recently tested by CERN and Caltech). The TV will just be another screen in the interconnected home and traditional broadcasters will only survive if they are able to provide the consumer with sufficient added value over their distant Internet competitors, who probably will be the content owners themselves. How they should do this? Your guess is as good as mine, I can only advice them to talk to this new Internet generation and take a close look at what these kids are doing today. Club of Amsterdam Events 2003/2004 October 28, 2003 the future of Food & Biotech November 27, 2003 the future of the Media & Entertainment Industry January 28, 2004 the future of the European Knowledge Society February 18, 2004 the future of Education & Learning March 31, 2004 the future of Energy – the Hydrogen Economy? April 28, 2004 the future of Healthcare & Technology May 19, 2004 the future of Architecture June 23, 2004 the future of Culture & Religion
An organic market to conquer
by Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality The Hague, September 2000 Policy Document on Organic Agriculture, 2001-2004 Contents Introduction The ambition Difficulties Spearheads of policy Financial resources Annex: Status of organic agriculture in the Netherlands Introduction The policy document on Food Production and Rural Areas (Voedsel en Groen) focuses on the change in thinking about the agricultural sector. It is not concerned solely with primary agriculture, but with the whole chain from primary sector to consumer. This agrifood complex is characterised by socially responsible business practice, a high level of knowledge and innovative strength and is thus a world market leader. A demand-centred approach is essential since the agrifood complex is driven by the wishes of citizens and consumers.The demand-centred approach is the key to this first follow-up to the policy document on Food Production and the Rural Areas. Like other parts of the agrifood complex, the organic chain faces the challenge of developing over the coming decade into a sustainable sector as an integral part of society competing independently in international markets, and setting the standard in Europe.Opting for a demand-centred approach has consequences for the role of the parties involved. This Policy Document on organic agriculture, Een biologische markt te winnen, fleshes out the role of central government and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality in particular, in assisting the organic chain from 2001 to 2004 inclusive. The organic sector has an excellent record of socially responsible business practice: in all links of the chain, organic production very largely meets our social requirements in terms of environment, animal welfare and biodiversity, and plays a pioneering role for the entire agrifood complex. There is growing demand for organic produce. While total food sales in the European Union are stagnating, sales of organic products are rising. Consumers are motivated not only by social conscience, but also by the healthy and reliable image of organic products. The certification of products and the method of production with the EKO quality mark contribute to this image. Organic production appeals to the standards and values of both consumers and producers: pride in a product created with respect for our natural environment. In its further development the organic sector can count on the support of two significant pillars of the Dutch agrifood complex: namely the great extent of available knowledge and the agricultural trade. Available knowledge can be used and disseminated or new knowledge can be developed in the short term. Organic agriculture requires a different system of production and thus continually fuels innovation, which can also be very important for mainstream agriculture. Partly because of the far-reaching involvement of supermarket chains, this is an international market. The Netherlands already enjoys a strong position in the international market, and further reinforcement of trade will be essential in taking advantage of the international potential of Dutch organic production.However the organic chain also has some weaknesses. Despite the efforts of the chain, supported by government initiatives, Dutch organic agriculture occupies a fairly modest position in Europe. In 1999, for example, only slightly over 1% of the total agricultural land area in the Netherlands was used for organic production (Central Bureau of Statistics, CBS). Area of organic agriculture(hectares) in 1998 Percentage of totalagricultural land in 1998 Average growthper year (%), 1993-1998 Belgium 6,800 0.5 12.3 Denmark 90,000 3.3 28.2 Germany 374,000 2.2 10.7 Finland 119,000 5.5 25.6 France 230,00 0.4 13.9 Greece 7,200 0.1 78.3 Great Britain 188,000 1.0 18.1 Italy 610,000 4.1 46.6 The Netherlands 19,000 1.0 16.1 Norway 15,581 1.5 32.8 Austria 350,000 10.1 15.5 Portugal 17,000 0.4 33.6 Spain 140,000 0.6 36.1 Sweden 110,000 3.2 12.9 Source: Institute of Environmental Studies, Amsterdam University The organic sector is moving from a pioneering phase into an expansion phase. The major trigger of growth, market demand, is already in place. However, growth is currently proceeding in fits and starts. The chain is not yet performing well enough in terms of scale and strength: scale great enough to generate sufficient demand, and strength to continue to meet the high expectations of the consumers. Furthermore, the chain seems hesitant: holding back instead of seeking the initiative, at a time when market prospects are better than ever. Significant market players are showing a readiness to invest in organic production. One example is the supermarket trade association, the Centraal Bureau Levensmiddelenhandel (CBL) [Dutch Association of Food Trade Organisations], that recently announced that organic products would receive preferential treatment and special promotion in the supermarkets. Responsibility for investment in the future lies with the organic chain itself. However, the combination of market prospects on the one hand and the pioneering role of organics in the area of social responsibility and innovative enterprise on the other justify a policy of incentives to give a boost to the organic sector. We have opted more emphatically than in the past four years for a demand-centred approach: for business the market must be the guiding factor, the different parts of the chain must capitalise on the market potential for organic products. The prospects are good: there is an organic market waiting to be conquered. 2. The ambition It would be a feather in the cap for the Netherlands if 10% of available acreage was organic by the year 2010. In international terms this would put the Netherlands in an excellent position. To achieve this the acreage under organic farming would have to increase by around 25% per year from 2001 onwards. Considering that the annual average growth from 1993 to 1998 was 16%, some acceleration is required. This cannot be achieved simply by government measures to stimulate supply. The market players, including consumer and social organisations, must rise to the challenge. The necessary acceleration can be brought about through cooperation. Strong growth in the area under organic agriculture would mean that at the end of this decade: Dutch consumers will be among the top European consumers of organic produce from retail, wholesale and catering sources; the agrifood producers will have a number of strong organic brands; Dutch agriculture, in its leading position in production, technology and management, will also master the field of organic production like no other; the sector will compete independently on the international market; the Dutch agricultural knowledge complex will make a significant contribution to knowledge and technology. The market players have primary and joint responsibility for these tasks. There is an important role to be played by the retail, wholesale and catering trades. They form the link with the consumer and, as the demand for organic products grows, they can exert influence on the conversion process. The government hopes to accelerate growth by providing a temporary impetus, with the emphasis on establishing cooperation between market players. With this temporary stimulus the government hopes to contribute to organic agriculture as a socially responsible and innovative type of operation with effects for the entire agrifood complex. 3. Difficulties The market prospects for organic agriculture are good. However, a number of difficulties could hamper the desired acceleration in growth. These can be summarised under three headings. Difficulty: the chain does not operate as well as possible To have the greatest possible influence on favourable market prospects chains need to work smoothly and professionally. Market players must be able to cooperate with each other. At the moment in the organic chain they are unsure how to find each other, do not trust each other or are even entirely unknown to each other. As a result they do not make adequate use of opportunities. In addition, existing institutions can hinder the operation of the chain. It is striking that a number of existing institutions are barely addressing organic agriculture, if at all. It would be good if, for example, some of the commodity boards would invest more in strengthening organic chains. The result of the imperfect working of the chain is that the supply and range of products is limited and unnecessary costs are incurred, making the price to the consumer unnecessarily high. Market prospects are good because there is a large group of potential new consumers of organic products. However, these new consumers are not being reached, because they require a different approach to the often strongly ideologically motivated consumers who currently buy organic products. The new consumers are concerned with the quality of the product, but are particularly influenced by both the way it is perceived and the availability of a wide range of products. The extra cost of this quality product must not be too high compared with the price of a conventionally produced product, particularly as conventional products are produced in ever cleaner and more environmentally-friendly conditions. The favourable market prospects have not yet penetrated sufficiently far into the chain to make primary producers more willing to switch to organic production. The reluctance to convert has a number of causes. For many, the combination of a 2 – 3 year conversion period with uncertainty about the medium term market situation is an important consideration. In addition, conversion from mainstream to organic production requires a major change in business management and philosophy. Organic production involves different production methods, in turn requiring different knowledge and skills and more work from the producers. It also involves a higher degree of commercial risk, particularly in the initial years. Furthermore many sectors are faced with a statutory conversion period agreed at European level, causing a loss in income which is not offset by any direct price compensation during the period when the produce cannot yet be sold as organic. In certain sectors, such as pig farming, heavy investment in housing units is needed to meet the new requirements. Difficulty: living up to consumer confidence Consumers are demanding ever-higher standards of quality and production methods. This applies to all chains, but it is particularly true of the organic chain, where consumers have high expectations. Consumers increasingly ask for more information about the production process and the traceability and origin of the raw materials. With organic products consumers will want guarantees that the product is produced entirely organically. This requires a reliable inspection and certification system within the chain. Precisely because the organic chain is currently at an early stage of development, there is an opportunity to close the chain properly. European regulations (Regulation (EEC) no. 2092/91) set out the requirements to be met by organic products and production methods and also regulate the inspection process. These European regulations permit limited use of conventional products in organic agriculture: often for a limited period. Although this use is legally permissible, in order to reinforce its image, the sector must strive for the most organic production method possible. However, organic agriculture cannot currently undertake to use only products of organic origin in the production process. There are various reasons for this. For example, with organic starting material and organic glasshouse horticulture it is not yet clear what conditions the product or production methods must meet. The organic product may not be sufficiently widely available, as is the case with, say, organic fertiliser and crop protection products of natural origin. Finally, the sector cannot entirely prevent products that do not belong in organic agriculture from ending up in the process. Genetically modified organisms (gmos) are an example of this. Under European regulations no use may be made of gmos or derivative products in the organic chain. But this does not automatically prevent gmos from finding their way into the organic production process, for example, during transportation. European regulations on organic production methods are still being developed. On 24 August 2000 the rules for crop production were supplemented with those for animal production. However, in practice the rules – for example on organic glasshouse horticulture – will have to be elaborated before we can really talk about European harmonisation. The lack of full European harmonisation means that the rules are still not entirely clear. As a result, organic products from different EC member states cannot always be compared like for like. The rising expectations of consumers go further than the statutory regulations. In the coming years, organic agriculture will be expected to adhere to reliable guarantees over a broader field. The inspection and certification system will have to develop continually. Transparency is a precondition for continuing consumer confidence. Difficulty: lack of new knowledge and inadequate dissemination of knowledge Because it is a different system, organic production methods require different knowledge and skills of all links in the chain. Among primary producers in particular there is a real need for new knowledge about organic production systems and techniques and specific problems in operational management. This applies to the development of business systems, starting material and crop protection methods of natural origin, new forms of weed control, energy use in glasshouses and labour-saving and labour-reducing techniques. Further professionalisation of the chain will require joint development of knowledge, in which conventional and organic businesses and the knowledge institutes collaborate more effectively and benefit from each other’s knowledge. Gaining access to developed knowledge (including experiential knowledge) is a problem for individual businesses. In this context more intensive interaction between researchers, information services, education, intermediaries and primary producers and better dissemination and exchange of knowledge are essential and need extra attention. Finally, when it comes to the driving force behind research, organic agriculture takes too little responsibility for the formulation of research questions. 4. Spearheads of policy The role of the government is two-fold. It is permanently responsible, under Regulation (EEC) no. 2092/91 among others, for the enforcement of legislation and regulations and supervises the inspection system. In addition, research, education, and provision of information are important instruments of government policy. However, because the organic chain faces a number of difficulties in achieving the desired growth, the government will also have a transitional role as a catalyst, inspiring the chain to take initiatives to overcome the difficulties. Thus government contributes to an economically sound and socially responsible production chain which will be able to operate without government support in the short term. This role will be a transitional one. It is ultimately up to the market players to complete the task unaided. Cooperation between all the parties is important. In terms of policy it should be emphasised that not only the state but also the provincial authorities stimulate organic agriculture. Other regional authorities, such as the municipal councils and water boards, and social organisations are also developing activities aimed at expanding organic agriculture. The government heartily applauds these initiatives. Platform Biologica is an umbrella organisation for primary organic producers, the supply and processing industries, the trade and retailers. In addition to promoting the interests of the sector, Platform Biologica also has a role in relation to this Policy Document, in closing the chain (including organic starting material, gmos), increasing awareness of the regulations for and understanding of organic production methods, and cooperation with the conventional sector. It can also fulfil a role in private and public initiatives to stimulate organic agriculture. Platform Biologica has performed a lot of important work in recent years. As with other organisations, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality will opt for a market-centred approach. The funding of Platform Biologica will be continued in 2001. Starting in 2002 the scale of funding will be decided on a project-by-project basis depending on submitted and approved project proposals. Considering the nature of the difficulties identified and the desired rapid growth in organic acreage, there is no need for government policy to select particular areas and/or sectors in the Netherlands. Businesses must choose what organic products to grow and where. Government policy will be generic in nature. The demand-centred approach is the main consideration and this will affect the choice of policy instruments. The 1997-2000 Action Plan was aimed primarily at supporting market development, improving quality and stimulating the conversion of primary production. The time is now ripe for a new and different orientation: the chain is the key factor and given favourable market prospects, a demand-centred approach is appropriate. Considering the nature of the problems, the government has opted for the following approach: synergy: cooperation between market players enabling them to exploit favourable market prospects; quality and guarantees by closing the chain; development and dissemination of knowledge. In the next four years following this Policy Document, policy will focus on the following spearheads. I. The professionalisation of demand-centred chains The purpose of this process is to make the best possible use of market potential through cooperation between the parties. It should result in stronger chains with a larger volume and a wider range of organic products at lower prices, and with adequate prospects for primary producers to convert to organic production methods. A framework agreement elaborated in business plansThe Ministry will set up a Task force for market development of organic agriculture with a limited number of representatives from various links of the chain, including banks and consumer and social organisations. The job of the task force will be to catalogue the difficulties and designate solutions and objectives in the various chains. To prepare for the task force, the Ministry has already funded external research, in consultation with the CBL, LTO Nederland (Dutch Federation of Agricultural and Horticultural Organisations) and Platform Biologica, into problems and possible approaches to solutions in a number of organic chains. The work of the task force must culminate in the signing of a framework agreement. In view of the willingness displayed by the market players, this should be possible by the end of 2000.This cooperation between the players must subsequently lead to concrete business plans for the various chains. These business plans must contain specific objectives and binding agreements about the stimulation of the organic chains. The business plan is the stage when the intentions expressed by the various players are put into operation.In the execution of the business plans, the government will make a financial contribution on a project-by-project basis, through the joint innovation programme and other measures, to the development of concrete market activities. Such activities might be, for example, in the fields of quality improvements, production volumes, product innovations, clustering of businesses and logistics. The funding will be limited to projects in which different market players have an interest, projects which would not get off the ground without an extra boost from the government, and which contribute to achieving the objectives agreed in the business plans. The results of the projects must also be of use to all parties.By mid-2001 the business plans should be complete. This will be the time to evaluate this part of the process: too few business plans, or none at all, will lead to a reconsideration of the deployment of government measures and funds. The implementation of the business plans will be reviewed annually by the Ministry, and adjusted where necessary. Information and communication planThe government has the task of providing the public with objective information. By raising public awareness about sustainable production, animal welfare and biodiversity, the public, and thus the consumer, begins to appreciate the real value of the product and will be more willing to pay a higher price for it. The premium is paid because organic agriculture goes beyond the statutory requirements applicable to conventional agriculture, and incurs higher costs in production. Agriculture as a whole can benefit from this process of increasing consumer awareness. An information plan will be elaborated in which institutions such as the Voedingscentrum Nederland (Netherlands Nutrition Centre) will provide the public with objective information on sustainably produced products.Communication with potential new consumers is a challenge to be shared by the market players. A communication plan linked to the framework agreement or the business plans is the obvious direction to take. This communication plan must be aimed at the consumer and the part of the chain serving the consumer (retail, catering and wholesale trades), emphasising the promotion of organic products. The main aim of the communication plan must be to win over and retain new consumers. II. Optimum transparency and closing the chain Optimum transparency and closing the chain are priorities for all players in the agrifood complex. The chains themselves are responsible for this, and the aim is to provide guarantees and live up to consumer expectations. Given the current stage of development of the organic chain, there is now a good opportunity to build up a solid and efficient system. Chain guarantee systemsLike other chains, the organic chain must meet the relevant public health requirements and requirements imposed by market players. The obvious approach is to link this to the development of chain guarantee and certification systems in the conventional agriculture sector. Where necessary a chain guarantee system can be adapted to the organic production system. Transparency is a precondition for consumer confidence. The entire production process must be inspected at every step and must be traceable. The use of the Hazards Analysis of Critical Control Points (HACCP) principle throughout the chain is therefore desirable. The organic chain can make use of its expertise in the field of certification for the EKO quality mark. Closing the chainOrganic products have a high amenity value. The products are known to consumers as being produced in a natural and environmentally-friendly way without the use of pesticides and gmos. However, the chain cannot currently guarantee that everything is entirely organic. The chain is primarily responsible for this. Given the issues specific to this chain, and the over-riding importance of closing the chain, the government wishes to spur on the process. Where necessary temporary assistance will be provided in the following areas: Organic starting materialThe Netherlands is highly respected throughout the world in the field of the breeding and production of starting material. The organic and breeding sectors must join forces in the short term at European level to arrive at an adequate and accepted definition of organic processing. They must specify what methods are acceptable and how processing should be carried out. Alliances between the conventional and organic sectors would facilitate this. On completion of this first step, the processing sector will receive transitional funding on the basis of initiatives to be proposed by the business community. In addition, to provide support, the research will be expressly aimed at increasing the availability of organic starting material. Genetically modified organisms (gmos)Keeping the chain gmo-free concerns not only organic agriculture but also all other chains seeking gmo-free production. The chain itself is primarily responsible for excluding gmos. The role of the government in respect of gmos is set out in the Integral Policy Document on Biotechnology. The government wishes to give consumers the opportunity to choose between gm and gm-free products. For some years the Ministry has provided support for a project concerned with the non-gm nature of the organic chain. Following on from this project financial support will be given to a joint initiative of the organic business community aimed at the actual development of a gm-free organic chain, and the necessary monitoring system. In this project cooperation with other gm-free chains would be an advantage. Crop protection products of natural originConsumers will in future expect the sector to keep the use of crop protection products permitted under the regulations to a minimum. Prevention of pests and diseases must take precedence. Policy on crop protection after 2000 will be determined this autumn. The crop protection products of natural origin required by the organic sector are subject to the same requirement as the conventional products: that they are safe for mankind and the environment. Work is currently underway nationally and internationally to simplify the approval procedures for crop protection products of natural origin and so reduce the costs of evaluation. In addition the institution of a transitional incentive fund for approval is being evaluated.These actions combined with the activities of the sector in these fields must be sufficient to close the organic chain. InspectionAs announced in the policy document on Food Production and Rural Areas (Voedsel en Groen) the government will take a stronger interest in supervision of the inspection process. In the Netherlands Skal (Stichting Keur Alternatief voortgebrachte Landbouwprodukten) is currently responsible for the inspection of organic production methods under the Landbouwkwaliteitsbesluit biologische productiemethode (Agricultural Produce Quality Control Decree). The role of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality as the Skal watchdog is currently being evaluated and adapted where necessary. The same applies to the unique position of Skal in the Netherlands. Harmonisation of international legislation and regulations on organic agricultureIn addition to its role as a driving force and supervisory authority, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality has an important function to fulfil in the development of European and international legislation and regulations. The debate on standards for organic production is currently taking place mainly in the European forum. For the Netherlands issues such as the import of organic products from third countries, the rules for organic glasshouse horticulture and starting material and the further elaboration of gmo-free organic agriculture are of great importance. The sector is being asked to make an active effort to indicate clearly the directions it wants to develop. The object is optimum harmonisation of international legislation and regulations. This must increase the transparency of the chain.European rules for organic animal production have been in force since 24 August 2000. These provide the opportunity to supplement the European rules with national rules. The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality has decided not to introduce any additional national statutory regulations. Its argument is that the European rules form the basic level and the ‘bonus’ – stricter national standards – can be created in the market. The Ministry does however wish to make a strong case in Brussels for a further round of harmonisation between member states. Should additional harmonisation prove impossible, cooperation will be sought in the European context with other member states holding similar views. III. Development and dissemination of knowledge Knowledge is essential for tapping new markets, developing new ways of reaching consumers and improving the environment we live in. Development and dissemination of knowledge is essential in all links of the chain: in growing, processing, sales and distribution. The development and dissemination of knowledge has in recent years contributed significantly to the growth of organic agriculture. It will continue to be in demand in the coming years. Primary producers in the process of conversion will want to know more about organic production systems and techniques and specific difficulties in operational management. By forging a link between organic and conventional research, existing knowledge and infrastructure can be used. Organic agriculture will have to strengthen its position within the current structure of research control. Proper organisation of the research questions and contributions to the realisation of the research will help to strengthen its position. Examples of difficulties facing primary producers in organic operational management:pests and diseasesmechanical weed controluse of energy and nutrient management in the glasshousesoil and nutrient managementmineralisation of organic fertiliserslabour productivity Wageningen University and Research Centre (UR) has announced that it intends to put organic agriculture firmly on the agenda. Within a foreseeable time Wageningen UR hopes to devote 10% of its discretionary budget for research to organic agriculture. It is also investigating the possibility of starting a new course in organic agriculture. These initiatives on the part of Wageningen UR will strengthen the development and dissemination of knowledge. Research is not an end in itself. The dissemination and transfer of knowledge are at least as important. Knowledge institutes will have to make extra efforts through cooperation between researchers, information services, education and intermediaries. The government will continue to make a financial contribution to the dissemination of knowledge for potential organic farmers. The emphasis here is on encouraging conversion and improving organic enterprise skills. In the educational world serious efforts have been made to integrate organic agriculture into general courses. This has laid the foundation for the broad introduction and dissemination of organic agriculture in professional practice. This line will be continued in subsequent years, among other things in the reform of agricultural education. Financial assistance will be made available for this under an innovation regulation for agricultural education. Courses on organic agriculture for current producers also receive financial support so that course fees can be kept down. These actions in the field of research, information and education, where the government has a traditional role, will help to tackle the remaining knowledge gaps. IV. Stimulating organic primary production: transition from supply to demand-centred approach Direct government support for the development of organic agriculture is not the appropriate course for the future. Good market prospects must provide the stimulus for farmers to convert to organic production. The business plans referred to under the heading ‘the professionalisation of demand-centred chains’ must in the short term provide primary producers with sufficient guarantees to make the step from conventional to organic methods. On the other hand the sector must be given some time to master this demand-centred approach. The next few years will be a transitional period: new instruments will be introduced to stimulate conversion, old measures will be dismantled. Guarantees for capital-intensive sectorsGovernment guarantees reduce the risks of investment in capital-intensive business systems. In terms of the costs associated with conversion, pig farming has particularly high start-up costs due to the necessary adaptation of the housing. Currently under the Borgstellingsfonds (Agricultural Guarantee Fund) banks lend money to farmers and growers with (partial) government guarantees that the interest and amortisation payments will be honoured. Promoting conversionIn the 1997-2000 Plan of Action financial support was available for the conversion of primary production to organic in the vegetable sectors and dairy farming under the Regeling Stimulering Biologische Productiemethode (Organic Production Financial Incentives Scheme (RSBP)). Under this scheme the government contributed to compensation for loss of income suffered as a result of the statutory conversion period during which the primary producers produce organically but cannot yet market their products as organic. In the last year of the current Action Plan (2000) and the first year of this Policy Document (2001), 65% of the loss of income is compensated by the government under the Financial Incentives Scheme. The scheme will run for the last time in 2002. The compensation for loss of income will then be set at 50%. The scheme is non-selective in that it does not specify which vegetable and dairy farming sectors may be eligible.Business review For a producer to make a considered choice to convert to organic production it is vital to have a commercial development plan drawn up by a competent body. Financial support will be available to all sectors to help with the cost of compiling the plan. V. Other matters LabourOrganic agriculture is labour-intensive and often has seasonal labour peaks. This is not unique to organic agriculture. Other primary sectors are also faced with labour shortages. In addition, working conditions in agriculture and horticulture are not (yet) regarded as attractive. Recruiting the necessary workers can sometimes cause serious problems. The employment strategy is in the first instance the responsibility of the producers themselves. However, in its policy document ‘Voedsel en Groen’ (Food Production and Rural Areas), the government announced that it would examine the possibility of forming labour pools. This would facilitate a broad deployment of labour not bound to a particular business which would benefit organic agriculture. The research process will consider labour saving in operational management by developing labour-saving techniques, among other things. VAT rate for organic productsBased on the sixth EU directive on turnover tax, zero-rating for organic products is not permitted in Europe. In the Memorandum on various VAT issues of 14 June 2000 to the Standing Finance Committee of the Lower House, the State Secretary of Finance indicated that this would only be likely to succeed if other EU member states would be prepared to support such a request from the Netherlands. The Ministry of Finance is currently seeking the views of other member states and will inform the House in due course of its progress. 5. Financial resources The deployment of state funding depends to a considerable extent on the will of the market players to set up joint market-oriented projects. The section ‘The professionalisation of demand-centred chains’ of this Policy Document will be evaluated for the first time in mid-2001 and policy will be adjusted as necessary. A conscious choice has been made not to attach the deployment of financial resources to particular parts of the chain. Deployment must be flexible to respond to the development of the chain. Support for the development and dissemination of knowledge is an exception to this rule. The following amounts are available for the implementation of the Policy Document on Organic Agriculture 2001-2004: Financial statement (commitment in NLG millions) 2001 2002 2003 2004 Total 1. Professionalisation of chain;optimum transparency and closing of chain 5 7.5 7.5 5 25 2. Knowledge – research 17 18.5 18 18 71.5 – information and educational courses 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.7 10.5 3. Measures to stimulate the conversion of the primary sector – guarantees 5 5 5 5 20 – RSBP 20 10 0 0 30 – business review 1 1 1 1 4 4. Public awareness 1.6 2.5 2.5 2.5 9.1 5. Platform Biologica 0.9 * * * 0.9 6. Fiscal: sustainable business allowance** 22 25 28 31 106 Total 75.1 72.1 64.6 65.2 277 * Based on project funding from public awareness budget. ** The structural part of the sustainable business allowance for organic agriculture amounts to an annual 75 million guilders and will be reached in 2015.It is not known precisely how the other fiscal measures will affect organic agriculture. The tax benefit of the green investment scheme is currently estimated at over 10 million guilders per year. In addition to the instruments described above, organic agriculture can also benefit from other government subsidies, such as the future Agricultural Innovation Fund. New supplementary policy instruments and amendments to existing instruments must be submitted to the European Commission for approval before they are put into effect. Every effort will be made to make the best possible use of opportunities for European co-financing for new policy instruments. During the lifetime of the Policy Document the progress of the incentive schemes will be broadly monitored. An initial part of the process, the development of business plans, will be evaluated in 2001, following which, in 2004, a final evaluation will be carried out and the results submitted to the House. The House will also receive a progress report annually in May on the implementation of the Policy Document. Annex: Current status of organic agriculture in the Netherlands The Policy Document on Organic Agriculture states that the organic sector has witnessed strong growth in recent years. This is confirmed by the statistics given in this annex. Consumption and retail ConsumptionIn general it may be concluded that both production and consumption of organic products represent around 1% of total production and consumption in the Netherlands. Yoghurt is a positive exception with a market share of 2.6% in 1999. In other European countries organic products also account for around 1% of food consumption. Notable exceptions are Germany (2.5%), Denmark (3%) and Austria (5%). It is striking that the Netherlands imports the majority of organic products from abroad. Of these imports, 80% are re-exported. A proportion of Dutch production is also exported. The UK in particular is a lucrative target market.Source :N.M. van der Grijp, F. de Hond : Green supply chain initiatives in the European food and retailing industry (1999) Institute for Environmental Studies (VU Amsterdam); EKO-monitor, Platform Biologica Retail The total retail turnover of organic products in the Netherlands has risen steeply in recent years (in NLG millions): 1997 375 1998 440 1999 515 Source: EKO-monitor, January 2000, Platform Biologica The total food turnover in the Dutch retail trade was 45.9 thousand million guilders in 1999, with organic products accounting for 1.1%.Source: CBL The number of points of sale has also risen steeply. The number of supermarkets stocking over 15 organic products increased from 70 in 1995 to over 4,000 in 1999. The number of wholefood shops has also risen over the same period from 280 to over 400 and the number of pre-purchase schemes (organic box schemes) has risen from 4,000 to 44,000.Currently 60% of consumers buy their organic produce in supermarkets, 30% in wholefood shops, and 15% direct from the farmer or from farmers markets. Since a proportion of consumers buy from more than one outlet, the total exceeds 100%.Source: Evaluatie Plan van aanpak biologische landbouw 1997 – 1999 (Evaluation of Organic Agriculture Action Plan 1997 – 1999) Processing companies Since 1996 the number of businesses in processing and preparation of organic products has increased by 350. Currently 780 organic processors are registered in the Netherlands. These are industrial and craft companies, importers and service companies.Source: EKO-monitor, May 2000, Platform Biologica Primary organic companies In 1999 organic production methods were applied in 1216 businesses (1.2% of the total number of primary producers). Of these 280 companies were in transition. During the period of the Action Plan (1996 to 1999 inclusive) the land devoted to organic agriculture increased by more than 10,000 hectares, to 22,997 hectares (1.2% of total agricultural land area).CBS figures show that in the period 1996-1999, 61% of the increase in land devoted to organic agriculture area was in dairy farming, 34% in arable and 5% in horticulture. Distribution of companies per sector in percentages (1999): Horticulture 24.5 Fruit growing 6.0 Arable farming 24.0 Livestock 42.0 Other (incl. mushrooms and plant material) 3.5 Source : EKO-monitor, January 2000, Platform Biologica; Evaluatie Plan van aanpak biologische landbouw 1997 – 1999 (Evaluation of Organic Agriculture Action Plan 1997 – 1999) Some sectors The figures below relate to the development of organic agriculture broken down into various sectors. Although the same statistics are not available for all sectors, this still provides a rough picture of the growth of organic agriculture. Dairy 1997 1998 2001 (projection) number of cattle farmers 120 175 340 milk delivery (in millions of litres) 33 50 98 percentage of total 0.3 0.5 1.0 Market share (as a percentage) of organic dairy produce compared with total consumption of fresh dairy products: total yoghurt (butter)milk custard 1998 (to end of 3rd quarter) : 0.7 0.9 0.9 0.2 1999 (to end of 3rd quarter) : 1.8 2.6 2.1 0.4 Source: EKO-monitor, January 2000, Platform Biologica Pig farmingAt the end of 1999 there were 9,000 organic heavy baconer places and 1,200 sow places (35 farms) in the Netherlands. 23,000 organic pigs were slaughtered in 1999. 4,000 organic pigs were imported over the same period.Demand for pre-packed meat for supermarkets is rising steadily.Source: EKO-monitor, May 2000, Platform Biologica Egg productionIn May 2000 the organic poultry stock consisted of around 90,000 chickens. This is around 0.5% of total egg production. Last year there were 50,000 organic chickens.Source: EKO-monitor, May 2000, Platform Biologica Potatoes, vegetables and fruit (PVF)According to the CBL the market share of organic potato, vegetable and fruit products in supermarkets is currently around 5% and will rise to 10%.Source: EKO-monitor, January 2000, Platform Biologica From 1996 to 1999, the area under arable crops grew from 5115 hectares to 6661 hectares, a rise of 30%. This growth is mainly due to the increase in the amount of land devoted to fodder crops (maize, alfalfa and cereals). The area under horticulture rose in this period from 1086 to 1633 hectares, an increase of 50%.Source: CBS The area of potatoes increased by 55 hectares to 749 hectares between 1996 and 1998.Source: CBS Apples 1999 2000 (projection) total (May census) 12,084 ha organic 183 ha 300 ha share (%) of total Dutch acreage 1.5 2.5 Source: publication ‘Biologische groeistuipen'(Organic growing trends), March 2000, Rabobank Stafgroep Duurzame Ontwikkelingen (Rabobank Sustainable Development Group) Mushrooms 1999 2000 (projection) organic 30-40 ton / week 130-150 ton/week share (%) of total Dutch production 0.8 3 Source: publication ‘Biologische groeistuipen'(Organic growing trends), March 2000, Rabobank Stafgroep Duurzame Ontwikkelingen (Rabobank Sustainable Development Group) Visit also the conference about ‘the future of Food & Biotech’ and the sections with articles , books and links.
Club of Amsterdam Journal, October 2003, Issue 11
Content Q&A with Jeanine van de Wiel About the future of Food & Biotech News about the Future lBiotech Start-Up Recommended Book The Club of Amsterdam Roundtable: Karel van der Poel Club of Amsterdam Events 2003/2004 Club of Amsterdam SearchSubmit your articleContactSubscribe Q&A with Jeanine van de Wiel Jeanine van de Wiel Head of Unit, Safety Assessment of Novel Foods, Health Council of the Netherlands Club of Amsterdam:Can the government guarantee food safety?Jeanine van de Wiel: There is extended legislation and enforcement, education and communication effected by the government to realize food safety. Not only at the national level but also at EU level and worldwide in the Codex Alimentarius standards for food safety are set. Apart from that new risks can emerge and it can take time to develop an adequat policy to counterbalance these new risks. The actual production and sales of food stuffs are in the hands of many different enterprises and food processing is done by catering business and consumers themselfs. So there is a certain vulnerability of the system. As in all human society systems. How will consumers benefit from novel foods?Jeanine van de Wiel: In the same way as they benefit from old foods. Plus possibly environmental stress resistant crops in areas that have now bad agriculture opportunities, less herbicide residues, custom made nutritional profiles, taste improvements (due to novel processes) etc etc. Can Europe or The Netherlands play an independent role in a global market?Jeanine van de Wiel: There is always room for a nation or Europe as a whole to use their own arguments to yes or no allow certain products or production methods within their boundaries. The precautionary principle is recognized world wide. But it has to be used proportional to the – perceived – risk. Join our Club of Amsterdam Event aboutthe future of Food & Biotech on October 28, 18:30-22:15! About the future of Food & Biotech 20 Questions on Genetically Modified (GM) Foodsby the World Health OrganizationThese questions and answers have been prepared by WHO in response to questions and concerns by a number of WHO Member State Governments with regard to the nature and safety of genetically modified food. An organic market to conquer by the Dutch by Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food QualityThis policy document on Food Production and Rural Areas (Voedsel en Groen) focuses on the change in thinking about the agricultural sector. It is not concerned solely with primary agriculture, but with the whole chain from primary sector to consumer. This agrifood complex is characterised by socially responsible business practice, a high level of knowledge and innovative strength and is thus a world market leader. A demand-centred approach is essential since the agrifood complex is driven by the wishes of citizens and consumers. News about the Future Nanotechnology for Energy Prosperityby Richard E. Smalley, Ph.D., Nobel Laureate, University Professor, Rice University Energy is likely to be the single most critical factor affecting worldwide prosperity in this next century. Within the next few decades as production of oil and gas peaks and then begins to decline (even though world population-driven demand for energy continues to increase) we are going to have to find vast amounts of energy from one or more sources, capable of at least 10 terawatts (TW) of low cost, clean, sustainable power. Assuming that we don’t do this with 10,000 nuclear breeder reactors, this 10TW challenge simply cannot be met with our current science base. To get that 10 TW we will need revolutionary advances in the core technologies that underlie solar power; wind turbines; deep drilling to mine the heat of the earth; carbon sequestration; hydrogen production, transport and storage; fuel cells; batteries; flywheels; electric power transmission systems; robotics; and super strong, light weight materials for every moving thing from cars to rockets to satellites. Nanotechnology will be at the core of all these revolutions. GLOBAL ECONOMYKNOWLEDGE SOCIETY World Development Report 2003: Sustainable Development in a Dynamic WorldThe next 50 years could see a fourfold increase in the size of the global economy and significant reductions in poverty but only if governments act now to avert a growing risk of severe damage to the environment and profound social unrest. Without better policies and institutions, social and environmental strains may derail development progress, leading to higher poverty levels and a decline in the quality of life for everybody. Misguided policies and weak governance in past decades have contributed to environmental disasters, income inequality, and social upheaval in some countries, often resulting in deep deprivation, riots, or refugees fleeing famine or civil wars. Today, many poor people depend on fragile natural resources to survive. Similarly, trust between individuals, which can be eroded or destroyed by civic unrest, is a social asset with important economic benefits, since it enables people to make agreements and undertake transactions that would otherwise not be possible. Development polices need to be more sharply focused on protecting these natural and social assets. These are among the key findings of the World Development Report 2003. The report suggests new alliances are needed at the local, national and global levels to better address these problems. The report is now available on-line in a new form that includes a dynamic table-of-contents, improved search capability, and extensive links to supporting documents. MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT Video on e-paper?How would you like to sit back in your favorite garden chair and browse through a holiday brochure with video clips that give you an enticing preview of your possible destinations? Or have the pleasure of curling up with a good book that’s actually a movie? Although such possibilities won’t come about tomorrow, Philips’ video-speed, electronic paper is an exciting concept that’s certain to fire the imagination of consumers and manufacturers alike. It is based on a technology called electrowetting, Philips’ new display concept. It’s a ‘reflective’ technology, which means just like paper it reflects ambient light. Unlike other types of display, if you’re in a well-lit space or outside, you can still see the display easily – from any angle and with the same high contrast. And it doesn’t need backlighting, in contrast to the LCDs currently used in mobile devices. “We’re still at the very early stages of development,” says Rob Hayes, one of the senior scientists at Philips Research involved in the project, “but we’ve had a fantastically positive reaction to the small demo screens we’ve created. And there are so many possibilities. Even in the age of screen-based media, people still like the physical pleasure and convenience of books and magazines, and with the continuing development of flexible electronics, we foresee this technology being used to put video displays on thin, flexible support media similar to paper.” Tuesday, October 28, 2003 Biotech Start-Up BioPartner Start-Up VenturesBioPartner Start-Up Ventures is a venture fund for life sciences start-ups. They invest up to a maximum of € 227,000 in life sciences start-up companies. An important condition for their investments is matching funds of private investors. Investments are provided in exchange for shares in the start-up company, or as a combination of shares and and a convertible loan. The fund of € 10.5 million is managed by Zernike Group B.V.http://www.biopartner.nl Recommended Book First Fruit: The Creation of the Flavr Savr Tomato and the Birth of Biotech Foodsby Belinda MartineauEngaging both sides of the agricultural biotech controversy and hoping to initiate a reasoned dialogue, geneticist Belinda Martineau explores the development and eventual failure of the Flavr Savr tomato in First Fruit. One of the Calgene scientists who worked on the tomato (the first genetically modified food on the market), she offers great insight into the scientific and business factors that drive the research and marketing of biotech products. Concerned about the eager and simplistic denial of most of her colleagues when faced with protests from consumer advocates, she wants to see more direct communication between the two sides.Using the story of Flavr Savr’s development, Martineau shows the reader both the quality of biotech research and the power of management to obfuscate or otherwise affect that work. Though straying into dead-end stories of her colleagues’ interactions a little too often, for the most part the narrative flows smoothly and draws the reader along swiftly to the tomato’s eventual, inevitable demise in the market. Ironically, the Flavr Savr failed more because it couldn’t live up to Calgene’s nearly messianic marketing than from any protester’s work, even if it did launch a few activists’ careers. Telling industry to pay more heed to honesty and research while suggesting that the public pursue better scientific education shouldn’t be asking too much – perhaps First Fruit will help de-escalate the debate. – Rob Lightner PricewaterhouseCoopers is a supporter of the Club of Amsterdam. The Club of Amsterdam Roundtable: Karel van der Poel Karel van der PoelCo-founder, CEO, Mirror42Member of the Club of Amsterdam Roundtable When one believes in Darwin’s theories of evolution, one views mankind as a product of evolution. Our ancestors Homo Habilis started to create tools in order to survive. We evolved, created more advanced tools, learned and documented our knowledge. Today, our knowledge has brought us to a turning point in evolution. Evolution of life on earth has evolved to the point that one of its “creations” (human species) can now influence evolution itself! (I like to call this proces: “New Nature”) With the human species understanding a little bit more about the building blocks of life everyday it will become more able to apply that knowledge and manipulate species, eventually our own! Evolution has very clear laws of what defines success and failure. A successful genetic change survives and its genes increase in the overall gene pool of the species, while unsuccessful changes die. Like evolution itself, “new nature” will create successful and unsuccessful changes to several species on earth (from crops to eventually humans). The question is if the human race will be willing to accept the laws of evolution in order to judge “new nature” creations. The results would be that stronger species would eventually dominate the gene pool and that “failures” die, how hard and difficult that might be. It would mean that eventually entire species will be altered forever and that new ones are created and todays ones will die out. Since evolution also has taught us that innovation is central in human evolution, we know that trying to stop these developments is probably impossible. It is in our genes. Therefore let us develop a vision on how to deal and live with the outcome that “new nature” is going to create. Club of Amsterdam Events 2003/2004 October 28, 2003 the future of Food & Biotech November 27, 2003 the future of the Media & Entertainment Industry January 28, 2004 the future of the European Knowledge Society February 18, 2004 the future of Education & Learning March 31, 2004 the future of Energy – the Hydrogen Economy? April 28, 2004 the future of Healthcare & Technology May 19, 2004 the future of Architecture June 23, 2004 the future of Culture & Religion
Towards a strategic vision of life sciences and biotechnology
by EU – Life Sciences and Biotechnology Consultation document 1. TOWARDS A COMPREHENSIVE AND STRATEGIC VISION Scientific and technological progress in the life sciences and modern biotechnology is continuing at a breathtaking pace. At the same time, the potential benefits and implications for individuals, society and the environment have given rise to intense public debate. At the European Council in Lisbon in March 2000, the European Union set itself a new strategic goal for the next decade: to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. In its follow-up report of February 2001 to the Stockholm European Council under the so-called Lisbon strategy, the Commission recalled the economic, social and environmental potential of life sciences and biotechnology and, in consequence, the strategic and long-term importance for Europe of mastering these sciences and technologies and their applications. The Commission also announced its intention to present, by the end of 2001, a strategic vision of life sciences and biotechnology up to 2010 and beyond. That initiative should take a comprehensive and forward-looking perspective and propose concrete actions in the short-term to meet the challenges of tomorrow, to achieve the Lisbon objectives and to contribute to the continued public dialogue and consensus building. Life sciences and biotechnology raise different types of issues which should be addressed at the appropriate level in accordance with the subsidiarity principle. In some areas, the Community has a clear responsibility (for example concerning trade and internal market implications as well as handling the implications of life sciences and biotechnology on existing Community policies), in others, the responsibility lies overwhelmingly with the Member States (e.g. on setting the ethical principles). The cross-cutting nature and importance of life sciences and biotechnology and their implications call for a careful reflection on overall coherence and on the involvement of civil society and stakeholders. You can download the full report as a *.pdf: click here Visit also the conference about ‘the future of Food & Biotech‘
Healthy food for Europe’s citizens
by European Commission Manuscript completed in January 2000 The European Union and food quality Over the last few decades, the public has become increasingly concerned about food safety and quality. Consumers want to be sure that the food they buy in supermarkets or eat in restaurants is safe, nutritious and wholesome, as well as being produced to a certain standard. Events like the outbreak of BSE or ‘mad cow’ disease or the crisis about dioxin in food have increased overall anxiety about food safety. In addition to safety issues, more peo-ple are focusing on the quality of the food they eat. Consumers are demanding the highest possible standards from farmers, food companies and retailers. They are also showing more interest in how and where food is produced, with growing demand for organic produce or meat from animals reared under very high welfare standards. Addressing consumers’ safety concerns and quality expectations is a major responsibility for the European Union. Over the last 40 years, the EU has developed a comprehensive set of rules, stan-dards and monitoring practices to guarantee that the food we eat is as safe and appetising as possible. The Union is involved in measures at every stage in the food manufacturing process, from the farm to the factory to the fork, to ensure that what we eat is safe and healthy. Some of the tasks are carried out by the industry itself, some by the Member States, and others by the European Commission and the special agencies and bodies it controls. However, the Commission has overall responsibility for ensuring that standards are applied equally across the Union. The system has developed a great deal in the last 10 years, partly in response to food crises, but also because the EU has created a single market in foodstuffs, meaning that all internal barriers to trade within the EU have been scrapped. As the Union now only has one single frontier for all imports, the EU is responsible for ensuring that foodstuffs from outside the EU are as safe as those produced in the Member States. The Commission also represents the interests of the Union’s consumers in international bodies dealing with trade issues, food standards or health questions such as animal diseases. This brochure seeks to explain what the Union does at each stage of the process to maintain the highest standards of food safety and quality. You can download the full brochure as a *.pdf: click here
Integrating Genomics Technologies into Food Research
by Jan Willem van der Kamp, F. Schuren & R. Montijn THE KEY FACTOR FOR SUCCESS FOOD RESEARCH IN THE NETHERLANDS, A BIRDS-EYE VIEWThe pace of development of new food products and ingredients is increasing at an unprecedented speed and the R&D to efficiently address all needs of the modern consumer regarding taste, health, safety and convenience is becoming increasingly complex. This increasing complexity is creating a need for large multi-disciplinary food research centres. Food multinationals are restructuring their R&D into larger units. Worldwide this is leading to a decrease in the amount of food research; in the Netherlands, however, the reverse is true. Unilever has decided to concentrate European food research in the Vlaardingen laboratory and the Campina dairy company recently clustered R&D on milk and milk products from locations in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands in the new Campina Innovation centre in Wageningen. A unique example of combining forces for strategic non-competitive fundamental research is the Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences, established by Unilever, DSM, the dairy industry, Avebe and Cosun together with Wageningen University and Research Centre, NIZO Food Research and TNO Nutrition and Food Research. Following the entry of CSM and the medical and health sciences departments of Maastricht University WCFS has been enlarged in recent years to a program of over 125 fte. The program of WCFS focuses on complex issues that cannot be addressed by mono-disciplinary research groups, thereby creating unique expertise contributing to the skill base of all WCFS participants. Dutch initiatives contribute also significantly to the establishment of international food research consortia, such as the SAFE Consortium – the union of 6 leading institutes in food safety research and consultancy, with INRA – France, ISPA – Italy, IFR – UK, VTT – Finland and two participants of the Netherlands – Wageningen University and Research Centre and TNO Nutrition and Food Research. SAFE is aiming at being a leading provider of authoritative, independent scientific information on food safety. Other signs of a growing international impact of Dutch food research are the numbers of foreign M.Sc. and Ph.D. students in Wageningen and the level of 50% of contract research at TNO Nutrition and Food Research funded from abroad, foreign companies being attracted by the multi-disciplinary skill base of its staff of 700. A key factor for being successful in the demanding world of food research is the integration of the rapidly expanding genomics toolbox into basic and applied nutrition and food research. In this paper this will be illustrated with examples in the field of microbial genomics whereas the impact of genomics in other fields of food and nutrition research will be discussed more briefly. Source: Holland Biotechnology, Genomics and Science Based Business, 63 editie 2003. http://www.hollandbiotechnology.nl You can download the full article as a *.pdf file: click here. Visit also the conference about ‘the future of Food & Biotech’ and the sections with articles, books and links.
Club of Amsterdam Journal, October 2003, Issue 10
Content Roundtable about the future of Food & Biotech News about the Future Biotech Project Recommended Book Club of Amsterdam SearchSubmit your articleContactSubscribe Events 2003/2004 The Club of Amsterdam Roundtable Thomas ThijssenMember of the Club of Amsterdam Roundtable “The Club of Amsterdam is needed because we need new inputs for the future: the present conditions in our world are complex. There are no easy fixes. No one organisation can fix our problems. The Club of Amsterdam is a forum for exploring our future. To develop fresh ideas on how we want our future to look like. Not only on an individual level but certainly on a community level, city level, country level and global level. It addresses important questions about our life in the future: how do we secure wealth? Economic wealth, social wealth and cultural wealth. How do we balance our lives in such a way that even for 9 billion people (in 2070) we can live on our planet in peace and with sufficient resources to share for all? The challenge is to think and work in that direction together. The Club of Amsterdam is connecting people who care for the future, apply creativity and are committed to discover new ways to shape our future. In my view the City of Amsterdam, with its outstanding and long global tradition and brainpower, should be the centre for developing notions and actions for a better future world.” About the future of Food & Biotech Integrating Genomics Technologies into Food Researchby Jan Willem van der Kamp, F. Schuren & R. MontijnThe pace of development of new food products and ingredients is increasing at an unprecedented speed and the R&D to efficiently address all needs of the modern consumer regarding taste, health, safety and convenience is becoming increasingly complex. Healthy food for Europe’s citizensby the European CommissionThe quality of the food we eat has become one the biggest concerns for Europe’s citizens. This article explains the role of the European Union (EU) in maintaining the highest standards of food safety and quality. The EU agricultural policy encourages farmers to produce a large choice of quality foodstuff, including organic production. European-wide legislation serves to keep food free of harmful substances and to keep consumers well informed though the labels on the food. The EU Food and Veterinary Office monitors whether safety rules are followed. Also the EU-activities related to new technology and to the global trade rules have an impact on our daily food. Towards a strategic vision of life sciences and biotechnologyby EU – Life Sciences and BiotechnologyLife sciences and biotechnology have entered a stage of exponential growth, opening up a vast potential to move economies in Europe and globally towards more sustainable development and improved quality of life. They are therefore of strategic importance in Europe’s quest to become a leading knowledge-based economy. Europe cannot afford to miss the opportunity that these new sciences and technologies offer. News about the Future Hurricane resistant glassA researcher at the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) has developed a highly resistant fiberglass window panel for buildings in hurricane-prone areas. “When a Category 3 hurricane hits with winds up to 120 miles per hour, small particles such as gravel can travel at speeds of 60 miles per hour or higher,” said Sanjeev Khanna, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at MU. “Even wood and pieces of furniture get picked up. These items can break glass window panels and cause severe damage. Our new glass will dramatically curb the amount of destruction.” This new fiberglass reinforced window is lighter and cheaper than today’s window panels. Khanna’s panel consists of three layers, much like the present glass panels. There are two heat-treated glass sheets with a thin layer in the middle. However, unlike the normal plastic middle layer, Khanna’s layer is made of polymer that is reinforced with glass fibers. “As with any glass panel, we’ve designed it so that if the outside glass sheet breaks, the middle, glass-fiber reinforced polymer layer disperses and dissipates the stress pulse from breaking the inside sheet,” Khanna said. “Tests, though, have found our panel, while being 30 percent lighter, is also far stronger and more durable than the present-day panels.” New Computing Frontiers – The Wireless Vineyard“Imagine smart farmlands where literally every vine plant will have its own sensor making sure that it gets exactly the right nutrients, exactly the right watering. Imagine the impact it could have on difficult areas of the world for agricultural purposes.” That’s Intel’s chief technology officer Pat Gelsinger on his company’s vision of what the future’s going to look like. Intel believes that someday billions of embedded chips and sensing devices will be integrated into objects and locations that are part of our daily lives: clothing, baby cribs, cars, swimming pools, office buildings, hospitals – even vineyards and farms. H2O Innovation signs a contract to install and commission a nanofiltration membrane filtration system to treat the groundwaterH2O Innovation Inc. signed a $360 000 contract with the Manitoba Department of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs to install and commission a nanofiltration membrane filtration system to treat the groundwater used to supply the northern community of Cormorant (Manitoba) with potable water. This is a second project for H2O Innovation in Manitoba and the result of the market development and sales efforts established by the Company. H2O Innovation’s proposed nanofiltration membrane filtration system will provide the residents of Cormorant with potable water quality that exceeds the standards established by Health Canada in its Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality and will meet the community’s projected water demand for the next 20 years. The nanofiltration system will reduce high levels of hardness, total dissolved solids and trihalomethane precursors and will also eliminate iron, bacteria and viruses in the water. Biotech Project iMabs The problemIndustrial waste flows, for instance in the agro-industry, contain a lot of proteins and other organic compounds, which are either harmful and need to be removed or highly valuable and reusable as ingredients in other products. As current technologies for bulk isolation at molecular level are very expensive, costs of purification of waste flows have increased significantly with tightened government regulation and recovery of valuable components has not been proven cost-effective. The solutionCatchMabs provides a low cost solution for capturing valuable or harmful compounds present in minuscule amounts in bulk industrial waste flows. This solution is based on the bulk application of affinity chromatography using a proprietary, stable design of molecular affinity bodies. Using CatchMabs’ industrial affinity chromatography technology, industrial companies in a wide range of sectors can gain significant revenues by isolating and trading valuable organic compounds from their waste flows and reduce their purification costs dramatically, by low-cost isolation of harmful components. Examples are the isolation of the valuable protein lactoferrin from whey, or the removal of metal components from water. The innovationCatchMabs developped specially constructed industrial molecular affinity bodies (iMab®) that are optimized for bulk scale industrial application. The basic scaffold protein is designed to withstand the often harsh chemical environments of processing industries and carries a highly specific recognition site for almost any target. The simple, modular design allows for high yielding, cheap microbial production. The affinity bodies can be regenerated well over 1000 times when immobilized on a suitable matrix. Combined with the cheap production and excellent stability, the use of iMabs is 10,000 to 1,000,000 times cheaper than conventional monoclonal antibodies, the current method of choice for affinity chromatography. This substantial reduction in costs breaks down the one barrier for industrial application of antibodies. The ideas for design and potential applications of the affinity bodies have been patented. CustomersThe industrial possibilities are endless and range from compound recovery in process streams to surface reactive-dyes, from novel cosmetics to antibiotic replacements, eventually leading to ton scale sales of recombinant designer proteins. Potential customers can be found in agro-related industries, environmental industries and in the pharma- and cosmetics sector. CatchMabs’s initial focus will be on customers in the agricultural/food sector (e.g. Heinz, Campina, FCDF, Avebe, Numico, Nutreco, Genencor). This sector is especially promising, due to the high amount of valuable proteins in the processing waste flows. Recommended Book Genetically Modified Foods: Debating Biotechnology (Contemporary Issues Series)by Michael Ruse (Editor), David Castle (Editor)Presents 35 articles by experts in the fields of bioscience, law, religion, public policy, and international relations on the subject of genetically modified foods. Organized into ten sections such as the golden rice debate, religion, labeling, risk assessment, and developing countries, each section includes an introduction by the editors, followed by three or more essays. PricewaterhouseCoopers is a supporter of the Club of Amsterdam. Club of Amsterdam Events 2003/2004 October 28, 2003 the future of Food & Biotech November 27, 2003 the future of the Media & Entertainment Industry January 28, 2004 the future of the European Knowledge Society February 18, 2004 the future of Education & Learning March 31, 2004 the future of Energy – the Hydrogen Economy? April 28, 2004 the future of Healthcare & Technology May 19, 2004 the future of Architecture June 23, 2004 the future of Culture & Religion