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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
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Breaking the laws of thought
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Socratic Design
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The Ukrainian Dilemma and the Bigger Picture
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