In recent years, we have started to see, more and more, novel bio-based ingredients make the journey from the research laboratory to our supermarket shelves, and into a range of everyday household products.
These products can include plastics, lubricants, solvents, surfactants and ingredients for a range of consumer products, as well as packaging.
The Irish Bioeconomy Foundation (IBF) is Ireland’s national bioeconomy association and innovation cluster. It was founded in 2017 to establish collaboration between industry, academia and policy makers that are involved in Ireland’s bioeconomy. One of the roles of IBF is to analyse the production processes of companies through the mapping of value chains and to promote mutually beneficial partnerships with those companies that have overlapping chains. To help with this task, the BioMap Project maps organisations relevant to the bioeconomy based on their feedstocks, waste streams and by-products. Hence, this approach will make it possible to identify overlaps and synergies between companies.