Major investment by research funders in global bioeconomy centres

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) and partner funding agencies in the US, Canada, Finland, Japan, South Korea and the UK have announced awards totalling some 74 million euros (82 million dollars) in their Global Centers funding competition.

The Global Centers selected in 2024 will focus on the bioeconomy and may include research from any combination of scientific disciplines supported by the NSF.

The 2024 programme focuses on advancing bioeconomy research to solve global challenges, whether by increasing crop resilience, converting plant matter or other biomass into fuel, or paving the way for biofoundries to scale-up applications of biotechnology for societal benefit.

The funding programme supports holistic, multidisciplinary projects that demonstrate the integration of international teams and relevant scientific disciplines necessary to achieve use-inspired outcomes.

The six new Global Centers are:

• CIRCLE Center for Innovative Recycling and Circular Economy
• International Research Center for Enhancing Plant Resilience
• Global Center for Sustainable Bioproducts
• Alliance for Socially-acceptable & Actionable Plants
• Reliable and Scalable Biofoundries for Biomanufacturing and Global Bioeconomy
• EBI Berkeley Bioeconomy Center (BBC).

Sethuraman Panchanathan, NSF Director, said: “The Global Centers are leveraging expertise and resources across like-minded nations and uniting multidisciplinary teams from around the world to accelerate innovations in the bioeconomy for great impact. Together, we are forging new solutions to pressing socioeconomic challenges while creating international centers of research excellence that are generating crucial knowledge, empowering communities and strengthening the foundations of global cooperation.”

The Global Centres programme has partner agencies in the US (NSF and NEH), Canada (NSERC and SSHRC), Finland (Research Council of Finland and Business Finland), Japan (JST), South Korea (NRF and Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology) and the UK (UKRI and BBSRC).

Paula Eerola, President of the Research Council of Finland, said: “The joint Bioeconomy funding call is a response to global challenges resolvable only with international scientific cooperation. The Research Council of Finland is proud to be part of this highly impactful multilateral research funding cooperation for the best of our planet and its citizens.”

The Global Centers will also create and promote opportunities for students and early-career researchers to gain education and training in world-class research while enhancing diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.

The use-inspired nature of the research, defined as project outcomes leading to foreseeable benefits to society, requires early involvement and integration of stakeholder groups. Bioeconomy research resulting from the funded proposals should produce actionable or policy-relevant outcomes addressing one or more global challenges identified by the scientific community.