Hanover. Yesterday evening, on the opening day of the Biotechnica 2007, Lower Saxony's Minister of Finance Hartmut Möllring (CDU) visited the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) and was impressed by the biotechnological innovation presented there. Visitors can get to see these nonpolluting solutions by 11th October on the stand B26 in hall 9 on the Hanover fair grounds. Together with six project partners, the DBU exemplifies “integrated biotechnology”. “For more than ten years, the foundation has been particularly involved in the industrial – the 'white' – biotechnology“, emphasized Dr. Rainer Erb as responsible DBU project leader. “On this foremost fair of the European biotechnology industry the DBU shows prosperities of commercial realisation of ecologically and economically advantageous procedures.” Since the foundation had introduced its promotional focus biotechnology in 1997, more than 300 projects received financial backing totaling around 90 million Euro.

Biotechnica - foremost fair of biotechnology industry

Over 900 exhibitors and 13,000 visitors get together in Hanover at the 15th Biotechnica. In addition to the different topics of the fair – pharma, medicine, agriculture, nutrition or environment, there are conferences, an exchange service for business partners and the presentation of the European Biotechnica Award.

DBU project partners offer innovation preserving the environment

"By using biotechnological innovation, natural basic elements are spared, environmental impacts avoided or reduced and entrepreneurial risks minimized“, underlined Dr. Erb whilst Hartmut Möllring visited the stand. The DBU project partners offered interesting alternatives for the effective recovery of new resources and active substances. The DBU initiative InnovationsCentrum Biokatalyse ICBio successfully contributed to a widespread diffusion process of biotechnological innovation comprising ecological and economic advantages. The network was coordinated by Professor Dr. Garabed Antranikian of the Technical University (TU) Hamburg-Harburg. For his pioneering work in the area of the white biotechnology he was awarded the German Environmental Award of the DBU in 2004 and is exhibitor on this year’s DBU fair presence.

Six DBU projects presented on the fair

Also the ChemBioTec network, initiated in 2006 and coordinated by Professor Dr. Andreas Schmid from the University of Dortmund, is presented in place. According to Dr. Erb introduced ChemBioTech solutions geared to improve the processing of renewable primary products to ecological products using the very latest in biotechnology. Further partners on the DBU stand are the company Biospring from Frankfurt, OrganoBalance from Berlin, the Chair for Biotechnology of the University of Dortmund and the Institute for Biochemistry of the Technical University (TU) Dresden.