Interview with Thorkild Frandsen, leader of bioresources team at fbcd, one of Bioswitch’s clusters

1. What’s your role within the BIOSWITCH project?

Food & Bio Cluster Denmark (FBCD) is one of the four cluster organisations in BIOSWITCH and as such FBCD contributes to the involvement of brand owners in the project activities. FBCD is involved in the development and validation of some of the tools in the BIOSWITCH toolbox. For instance, FBCD was involved in the preparation and presentation of the Dantoy case story showing one example of a successful transition from fossil-based toys to bio-based toys. FBCD was also main responsible for organising a Pan-European online matchmaking event.

2. What do you offer as a cluster?

FBCD is a non-profit organisation operating within the agri-food value chain. FBCD has more than 340 members ranging from small start-ups to some of the largest food producing companies in the world. FBCD is a team of 40 specialists with skills within e.g., sustainable production and utilisation of bioresources, biorefining, business development and financing. FBCD is involved in a number of national and international projects centred around innovation, financing, and internationalisation within the agriculture, bioresources, energy, environmental technology, and food sectors.

3. What can you specifically offer to brand owners within your region?

FBCD can support brand owners in their research, development, and Innovation activities mainly via public funded projects. In addition, FBCD undertakes international and national matchmaking activities and arranges a large number of events each year ranging from international conferences to technical seminars and workshops. As a special service FBCD can assist brand owners in identification of relevant collaboration partners. That could be suppliers of new biobased components for the brand owner´s products or it could be suppliers of biobased packaging. FBCD can also assist in identification of relevant partners for national and international innovation, development, and demonstration projects.

4. Where do you think the main change should be produced to boost bio-based alternatives in replacement for fossil-based ones?

Many actions could be taken to accelerate the transition to the biobased economy. One way of increasing the demand for bio-based products is to implement tax regulations that make it more expensive to use fossil-based resources in the production.

Another initiative could be to introduce certification schemes or carbon footprint labelling schemes to allow consumers to see the carbon footprint of a certain product. That would make it easier for consumers to compare carbon footprint of several products and that would assist decision making for consumers with a preference for climate friendly products.