(Report by Anne Lauvergeon, President of the Innovation Commission, 11 October 2013)

In order to boost the idea of concentrating initiatives and resources in strategic areas of innovation, seven “ambitions” have been selected in the report by the Innovation Commission, chaired by Mme Anne Lauvergeon, published on 11 October 2013. The objective is also to promote a “principle of innovation” in France, to act as a counterbalance to the over-negative effects of the “principle of precaution,” on the rate of innovation.   Furthermore, the report states that it intends to give up the “zapping principle” that prevailed over a long period (34 initiatives in the Montebourg report, for example, which already identified white biotechnologies as a strategic orientation).

White biotechnologies are mentioned in Ambition 4: “Plant protein and plant chemistry,” which fulfil the six selection criteria used by the Commission. Six levers for action are proposed by the Commission to ensure the development of this priority area: the launch of an innovation challenge to produce a prototype within four months, the introduction of strict standards, careful attention paid to the price of energy inputs, a stable and “competitive” regulatory environment, more European financial aid and improvement of the image of the “chemistry and materials” sector with the public at large and students.
The Pomacle Bazancourt (ARD) site is quoted as an example of French excellence in the field.
The NEOMA Business School Chair in Industrial Bio-economy, the first of its kind in Europe, is thus in the vanguard, together with the AgroParisTech Chair and the  Centrale Chair in Process Engineering, all three of them together making up the  Centre for Excellence in White Biotechnologies (CEBB) and the world IAR cluster. These chairs are actively supported by our local and regional authorities (Reims Metropolitan Area, the Marne Département Council, and the Champagne Ardenne Regional Council).

Pierre-Alain Schieb

>> Read the Lauvergeon report