There are two good reasons for welcoming the use of natural aids in chemistry: the foreseeable shortage of fossil fuels and the low energy consumption of biological catalytic processes compared with traditional chemistry. "In this connection we can identify two new trends", says Dr. Boris Mannhardt of BIOCOM AG, Berlin. These trends in industrial biotech are addressed by the new special presentation and the Industrial Biotechnology Forum at BIOTECHNICA 2011, which is being jointly organized by Deutsche Messe Hannover with BIOCOM AG, Berlin. Here developers and potential users will exchange the latest biotechnological methods and processes of industrial production.

There are two trends crucial to these innovations: one technological trend identifies new sources for basic products at a time when fossil-based products are becoming increasingly expensive and scarcer. Yet instead of using valuable grain products to make bio fuel in fermentation vats, the latest biotechnological developments have led to new processes which employ agricultural waste products such as straw to yield high-quality products. The market potential of ideas like these is being demonstrated by the efforts of the Munich-based company Süd-Chemie AG. The company is currently building a test plant in Straubing, which from 2012 onwards should be creating bioethanol from wheat straw. By 2013 this new technology should be ready for the market and fully licensed.

"The other trend in industrial biotechnology sees smaller companies processing and supplying increasingly complex compounds which bigger companies require for their technically sophisticated conversion processes", explains Mannhardt. Small companies are proving to be extremely effective partners to big industry and will be showcasing their expertise and trend-setting prowess at this year's BIOTECHNICA.

For this focus theme we also present a special display as well as a forum .