The European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology 2008 (EFIB2008) will take place from 15 to 17 September in Brussels, Belgium.

Organised by EuropaBio (the European Association for Bioindustries) and IntertechPira, the event will feature two workshops, networking sessions and a two-day forum with approximately 30 leading speakers from biotech research, academia and the industry as well as environmental organisations and the European Commission. The experts will assess the prospects for industrial biotechnology in Europe through presentations, question and answer sessions and panel discussions.

Broadly, the two workshops (15 September) will address the following issues:

- fundamentals of biotechnology;
- industrial enzymes and their applications;

The sessions of the main conference (16-17 September) will focus on:

- market developments;
- is industrial biotechnology leading to sustainable biobased products?
- biorefineries: innovation and new technology;
- the future of a biobased economy: end-user perspective;
- from knowledge to products: overcoming barriers to commercialisation;
- future outlook: new developments, novel products and research advances.

On Monday 15 September, a special OECD Roundtable on Supply-side Issues for Industrial Biotechnology will be organised with invited experts involving policy makers, practitioners and the academia.

European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology 2008