When Dirk Carrez opens the conversation, he sounds relaxed. After fourteen years as Executive Director of the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC), his official role is almost over. He will help with the handover for a few more months, after which retirement awaits – though in his case, that mainly means more time for consultancy and perhaps finally visiting his home in Spain a bit more often.
“Fourteen years later, I was still there”
Looking back on his time at BIC, he smiles. What began as a temporary assignment grew into one of the most important European networks in the biobased industry. “It was actually supposed to be a three-month project,” he says. “Fourteen years later, I was still there.”
During that period, Carrez saw how a small group of companies grew into a consortium of hundreds of members from industry, science and innovation. At the same time, he saw how the bio-economy in Europe was slowly maturing – and how collaboration between sectors that used to barely speak to one another was becoming increasingly normal.
Architect of the bio-economy
When BIC was founded, probably no one expected it to become such a large organisation.
“That’s right. The European Commission wanted to set up a public-private partnership around the biobased industry and asked companies to organise themselves. I was tasked with setting up the private partner.
We started with around twenty companies. Today there are about 400 companies, spanning all sectors of the bio-economy companies and 350 non-commercial actors, such as, universities and research organisations, from all over Europe. When you look at it that way, it’s actually incredible how quickly it has grown.”
You began your career as a researcher. How did you end up in this role?
“I trained as a bio-engineer and did a PhD in Ghent, in molecular biology. My research focused on producing proteins and enzymes in micro-organisms through fungi. After my PhD, I was approached by Solvay. There, I set up a research group focusing on industrial fermentation and enzyme production.”
He still speaks of that period with enthusiasm. “It was a really fascinating time. Industrial biotechnology was still very much in its infancy back then.”
But his career took an unexpected turn. “My department was sold off and my research group disappeared. That’s when I thought: I want to get back into innovation. That’s how I ended up at the Belgian Chemical Federation, where I became responsible for both biotech and innovation policy.”
That is also where his involvement at European level began. “It was the period when industrial biotechnology really started to emerge. We used to talk about ‘white biotech’: biotechnology for industrial applications such as chemicals, materials and enzymes. That was actually the beginning of the broader concept of the bio-economy.”
Cross-sector collaboration
How did BIC develop during those years?
“In the beginning, the emphasis was mainly on innovation. After all, BIC was the industrial partner in the public-private partnership with the European Commission, first through the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking and later through the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking. These partnerships were intended to help bridge the gap between research and industrial application. “But over time, we realised that innovation alone was not enough. Companies only invest if there are markets and if funding is available.”
That is why BIC’s role expanded. “Today, we actually work in three areas. Firstly, innovation and scaling up. Secondly, access to funding and capital for companies. And thirdly, policy development: how can we create markets for biobased products.”
It is precisely this combination that is crucial: “Developing new technology is one thing. But without a market and investment, that technology will never reach industrial scale.”
What was the biggest challenge for you personally?
“Bringing together worlds that don’t naturally communicate with one another. The bio-economy connects sectors that traditionally operate quite separately: agriculture, chemicals, the food industry, the paper industry, and technology companies. They were primarily concerned with their own position within the partnership… and their share of the budget.”
“The bio-economy begins when sectors that barely knew each other start talking to one another”
He still remembers the first meetings clearly. “At the initial matchmaking events, companies were sometimes actually meeting each other for the very first time.”
That led to some surprising insights. “A food company said: ‘We really only have waste streams.’ And a chemical company replied: ‘That’s exactly the raw material we need.’ It perfectly illustrates how the bio-economy works: as soon as sectors start to understand each other, new value chains emerge.”
Have you seen sectors change as a result of that collaboration?
“Definitely. One sector that surprised me was the pulp and paper industry. That used to be a fairly conservative sector: processing wood into pulp and turning that into paper or cardboard, full stop.”
Today, things are different. “Many of those companies have open innovation centres. They produce textile fibres, chemicals and other biobased products. They collaborate with companies from other sectors. Fifteen years ago, almost nobody would have expected that.”
The next phase of the bio-economy
Yet scaling up remains a problem in Europe.
“That’s right. Many start-ups originate from universities. Professors set up a spin-off and remain heavily involved in it. They regard the company as their baby, but know little about legislation, attracting investment or the competition. In the United States, by contrast, you often see an experienced entrepreneur being brought in to lead the company. We need experienced entrepreneurs in our sector.
Furthermore, access to capital is more difficult in Europe. Scaling up to industrial production is expensive and risky. That has consequences. As a result, we sometimes see technology being developed here, but scaled up elsewhere.”
How do current geopolitical developments influence the sector?
“There is a great deal of uncertainty at the moment. High energy prices, geopolitics and trade tensions are making companies cautious about investing. But at the same time, there is a growing realisation that Europe must become less dependent on fossil fuels that we do not produce ourselves.”
According to Carrez, this actually creates opportunities. “The bio-economy can play a key role in reducing that dependence. In this regard, European Member States are quietly starting to move in the same direction. Although I do see that politicians are still primarily protecting the short-term interests of traditional sectors using traditional feedstocks.”
How do you see the future of the bio-economy?
“Biomass alone will, of course, not replace all fossil raw materials. The future lies in a combination of different sources. Biomass from agriculture and forestry, together with organic waste streams, is one component. In addition, the recycling of existing materials plays an important role. And in the longer term, the use of CO₂ as a raw material may also become more significant.
The aim is clear: “To make industry less dependent on new fossil feedstocks.”
What are you most proud of when you look back on fourteen years of BIC?
Carrez pauses to think. “That we have built a community in which all these different players work together. When we started, there were about thirty members. Today there are hundreds.”
“Innovation often comes from small businesses”
He sees this collaboration as the core of the progress. “We see companies, universities and research institutions coming together and developing new innovations. The innovation often lies with small businesses. I sometimes call them the engine of innovation.”
No magic bullet
For Dirk Carrez, his departure does not feel like an end, but rather the start of the next phase. The bio-economy he has spent more than a decade building is, in his view, still in the early stages of its development. New start-ups, cross-sector collaborations and growing attention to strategic autonomy in Europe are giving the field extra momentum.
“The bio-economy is not a magic bullet that solves everything,” he says with a touch of realism. “But it is an essential part of the solution.”
He does not doubt that BIC can play a lasting role in this. The network is now firmly embedded in the European innovation ecosystem. And cross-sector collaboration – once the biggest experiment – has become second nature for many companies.
“When I see how many new ideas, companies and partnerships have emerged from this,” says Carrez, “I think we’ve really set something in motion.”
This article was produced in collaboration with the Bio-based Industries Consortium.
