Graduated in Environmental Sciences from Wageningen University & Research and holds an MSc in Combined NO3 and NH4 removal in a single reactor. In 2004 he founded the company Pure Air Solutions specialized in biotechnological processes for the abatement of odours and air emissions from solvent use. With more than 20 years of experience in the air purification sector, he is a pioneer in the development of sustainable and innovative biotechnologies. Today, his products are widely deployed across Europe. Albert is CEO of Pure Infinity where he works with biological air solvent treatment technologies.

Alessandro a Bachelor of Sciences in Biotechnology and a Master of Science in Medical Biotechnology from the Università degli Studi di Trieste. He completed his doctoral studies at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences of Vienna with a Marie Curie Early-Stage Researcher position. He is currently working as assistant professor in Organic Chemistry at the Università di Genova. He has also worked at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences as Senior Scientist and Head of the polymer analysis section of the Bioactive Molecules Screening and Analysis Core Facility and as Senior Postdoctoral Fellow and at the University of York as Postdoctoral Fellow.

Angelo is an agronomist with a long experience in agriculture and public administration. He is an official of the EU Commission since 1997.
He works since 2004 in DG AGRI, the horizontal Unit D.4, dealing with the environment, climate change, bioeconomy and forestry.
He followed since 2004 all the environmental items to integrate the requirements in the CAP.
He worked the last years also on the Circular economy, including plastics and bioplastics.

Apostolis Koutinas is Chemical Engineer (University of Patras, Greece) with PhD in Biochemical Engineering (UMIST, UK). He is currently Associate Professor at the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the Agricultural University of Athens. His research focuses on bioprocess and biorefinery development including process design, techno-economic evaluation and life cycle assessment. Emphasis is given on sustainability assessment for the production of bio-based chemicals and polymers within a circular economy context (e.g. succinic acid, 2,3-butanediol, polyhydroxyalkanoates, microbial oil, bacterial cellulose). Since 2011, he has participated in more than 30 research projects funded by national and international funding agencies. He has published more than 160 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals and 18 book chapters. He currently serves as co-Editor in the Biochemical Engineering Journal (Elsevier).

Dipl.-Ing. in Biotechnology from the Technical University of Berlin and Dr. rer. nat. in Biochemistry from the Technische Universität Braunschweig. He started his career as scientific manager of Braunschweiger Produktionsgesellschaft mbH für Biotechnologie and in 1991 he founded ASA Spezialenzyme GmbH. He has also been an associate professor of biotechnology and biochemistry at Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences Wolfenbüttel/Braunschweig, speaker of the Environmental Biotechnology Group of Lower Saxony and member of the Scientific Board of the German Textile Research Institute North-West.

Ph.D. degree in 2005 in Organic Chemistry. Belén Monje continued her professional career at AIMPLAS from 2003 to 2017 in the field of the identification and characterization of materials as well as different research lines addressed in more than 60 projects. In 2006 she received a Torres Quevedo Fellowship and in 2018 she promoted as responsible for the synthesis department of AIMPLAS and now she is the Chemical Technology Group Leader of AIMPLAS. Among the main research lines, it can be highlighted the development of biopolymers from monomers obtained from waste, reactive extrusion, enzymatic polymerizations, chemical recycling, among others. Examples of these recent projects are: “Biomacromolecules from municipal solid bio-waste fractions and fish waste for high added value applications” (DAFIA), H2020 BIOTEC, ID: 720770-2, “Novel packaging films and textiles with tailored end of life and performance based on bio-based copolymers and coatings” (BIONTOP), H2020 BBI, ID: 837761, “MSW Bioethanol plant waste as feedstock for chemical building blocks” (PERCAL), H2020 BBI, ID: 745828… In addition, her teaching activity has been very relevant in recent years, with more than 60 courses taught and more than 400 teaching hours. She is a permanent member of the Technical Committee of the AENOR Technical Committee of Normalisation number 53 related to plastics and rubber and she is expert in REACH Regulation (Reg. No. 1907/2006) for the companies in the plastics sector.

Chemical engineer by the Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineers of the Polytechnic University of Valencia. Master degree in environment. Executive MBA by ESIC. Project Manament Professional (PMP®) certificate by PMI. With more than 20 years of experience in Project Management and Process Engineering, she has worked as Head of Laboratory at CEAM Foundation, Plant Manager at IMECAL, and she has coordinated and participated in several projects at national and international level and performed scientific and technical publications in various journals, books and conference contributions. Now she is CEO at PERSEO Biotechnology.

Between 2015 and 2019 he performed his PhD in biochemistry with a scholarship funded by ESF in the team of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Zimmermann at Leipzig University. During that period, he worked in the field of protein engineering of cyclodextrin glucanotransferases and gained further knowledge in the field of molecular biology, protein & carbohydrate chemistry, microbiology, biotechnology, bioinformatics and teaching. Since 2018 he performs research on enzymatic PET degradation including the screening for new enzyme candidates from metagenomes as well as cultivation and manipulation of whole-cell systems. Since 2020 coordinates the EU projects ENZYCLE and MIPLACE.

Evangelos Topakas is an Associate Professor leading the Industrial Biotechnology and Biocatalysis group in the School of Chemical Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Biocatalysis section of the Catalyst journal (MDPI), as well as Associate Editor in Biotechnology for Biofuels, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology and Frontiers in Microbiology. Dr Topakas has also been appointed as a visiting Associate Professor in the Chemical Engineering Division of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, expanding his collaboration and experience in North Europe. His primary objective is to develop new biotechnological tools; enzymes and microorganisms, for the production of second-generation biofuels, bio-based polymers and chemicals in the concept of Industrial Biorefinery. The group is active in a broad range of related scientific fields, such as Protein Engineering, Recombinant DNA Technology, Biochemical Engineering and Biocatalysis. Recently, through BioICEP project, he is focused on repurposing lignocellulose degrading enzymes for the conversion of synthetic polymers, fighting back global plastic pollution.

Agricultural Engineer from the Universidad Pública de Navarra. She has more than 13 years of experience as a researcher in the biomass area of CENER. Regarding her experience in R&D project management, her work has focused on the development of bioeconomy and clustering strategies in the biomass sector, as well as on the evaluation of the sustainability of biofuel and bioproduct production value chains. Currently, from CENER's Business Development area, she implements and develops growth opportunities within the Biomass Area, studying the market, clients and potential partners, and establishing long-term quality relationships to offer solutions in the valorization of bio-waste and residual biomass by means of biochemical and thermochemical processes.

Hazel O'Keeffe counsels clients on the regulation of food-contact materials, notably in the European Union (EU), Switzerland and the United Kingdom, focusing on establishing a suitable status for all types of food-contact materials at both the EU and national level. Hazel helps clients navigate the complexities of applying the principle of mutual recognition to facilitate the free movement of non-harmonized products throughout the EU, the European Economic Area (EEA), and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries. She advises on inter alia, EU requirements for biocides, materials in contact with drinking water, personal protective equipment, packaging waste and single-use plastics, medicinal products/European Pharmacopoeia, medical devices, cosmetics, fluorinated greenhouse gases, ozone depleting substances and recycling and green claims.
She completed an internship at the European Commission during which she specialized in relations with the European Parliament and gained first-hand experience of the workings of the EU institutions.
Hazel is a contributing author to PackagingLaw.com, as well as related industry publications, and is frequently invited to speak at international food-contact conferences.

Iryna Biliaieva is Director of Strategic Business Development at ADM BioSolutions. She holds a master’s degree in biomedical biotechnology, master’s degree in international business and a PhD in Biotechnology. From 2009 to 2020, she was responsible for R&D Project Management and Open Innovation Management at ADM Biopolis. From 2009 to now, she has been active in the preparation, management, coordination and development of European R&D projects in the areas of bio-based industries, sustainability, food, health and revalorisation of agricultural wastes/by-products (i.e., Integrated project FP6, KBBE-FP7, ERA-IB, EUROSTARS, NMP-FP7, CENIT, CIEN, H2020, Horizon Europe). Since 2016, she has been a member of the Bio-Based Industries Consortium (BIC) core team.

PhD in Chemical Engineering and Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Valencia. Javier focuses his scientific activity on the use of sustainable technologies for the treatment of industrial air emissions, liquid effluents and the fermentation valorization of effluents and waste to produce bioenergy and high value-added bioproducts in the environmental engineering research group (GI2AM) since 2004. He is the author of numerous scientific papers, director of 5 doctoral theses in this field, highlighting his contributions in the application of these biotechnologies on an industrial scale, and co-inventor of a process to produce biomethane from solvent emissions.

Dr. Joachim Venus, Senior Scientist “Industrial Biotechnology” holds a diploma on Biotechnology and a PhD on Bioengineering. He is head of the research group bioconversion and coordinator for the research program “Material and energetic use of biomass” at the ATB. His work emphasized on the development and scale-up of continuous mode fermentation processes for the production of fine & basic chemicals - in particular organic acid - from biogenic resources. He is in charge of numerous (inter-)national research projects being carried out in the multi-functional pilot plant for the development and optimization of bioprocesses based on biomass and residues. He has published a great deal of papers in well-known journals and works as a reviewer for more than 75 scientific journals, e.g. Appl Biochem Biotech, Appl Microbiol Biot, Bioproc Biosyst Eng, Biotechnol Lett, Bioresource Technol, Biotechnol Progr, Eng Life Sci, Enzyme Microb Technol, Food Bioprod Process, Ind Crops Prod, J Biotechnol, J Clean Prod, Molecules, New Biotechnol, Process Biochem, Waste Manage.

Lena holds a master’s degree in Bioscience engineering, Chemistry and Bioprocessing Technology and a PhD in Applied Biological Sciences, both at Ghent University. Her PhD research focused on the design and organic synthesis of novel antibiotics, in collaboration with the University of Ljubljana, and the University of Liège, resulting in 12 scientific publications. As a postdoctoral researcher, she studied catalytic systems for a chemical heat pump recuperating industrial low-temperature residual heat, in collaboration with UGent spin-off Qpinch. In 2020, she joined Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant as a Project Acquisition Coordinator, responsible for acquisition and coordination of national and European projects in industrial biotechnology and circular, bio-based economy. Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant is an open-access, multipurpose pilot and demonstration plant for process development, scale-up and custom manufacturing with expertise in biomass pretreatment, biocatalysis, fermentation, downstream purification and green chemistry.

Dr. Lenka Mynarova, studied sociology at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague and her entire professional career is devoted to innovation in various fields - nanotechnology, biotechnology, science and research communication and popularization of science and research. She was awarded the Manager of the Year 2018 Award for Leading the Hydal Biotechnology Project. In 2015, project Hydal received the Frost and Sullivan Technology Innovation Award for Best Technology Innovation in Biotechnology. L. Mynářová won many other prizes for solving problems with microplastics and micropollutants in the USA, China, EU and several Czech awards. Lenka Mynářová is involved in the creation of new concepts of waste material recovery for the circular economy. She regularly participates in EC Circular Missions in various parts of the world.

Applied microbiologist and biotechnology entrepreneur. He did his doctoral thesis between 1995 and 2000 at the Public University of Navarra on bioprospecting and carried out a first postdoc at the UPNA (2000) and several at the Pasteur Institute (2001-2004) working in bacteriology and virology. He has also carried out postdoctoral stays at the University of Berkeley. Currently, he is a member of the Institute of Systems and Integrative Biology I2SysBio (UV-CSIC), where he directs the Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology laboratory (eight members) and is CEO of the startup Darwin Bioprospecting Excellence SL. He coordinates two European Union projects and has been a member of the National Biosafety Commission for four years. His lines of work are: synthetic biology, description of extremophilic microbial communities and biogas production. He is the author of more than 100 scientific publications, several books and five patents.

Oliver Buchholz, Head of Communications of European Bioplastics (EUBP). At EUBP he is responsible for press and public relations as well as for the association’s internal communication. He holds a diploma in political sciences of the Free University of Berlin. Mr Buchholz worked for several years as a consultant in an international public/government affairs agency where he was specialized in the areas health, chemicals and energy. Previous to his position at EUBP, he worked for several years as advocacy office for a German foundation.

He holds a PhD in Chemical, Environmental and Process Engineering from the Universitat de València (Spain). He has been working as a researcher at the Department of Sustainability and Industrial Recovery of AIMPLAS since 2019. His expertise is focused on the anaerobic biodegradation of solvents from flexographic industries and the enzymatic and microbial degradation of plastics. Among the activities which carry on, are included: recycling/recovery and biodegradation of materials. Speaker at seminars and conferences and author of technical articles for scientific journals and magazines.

Graduate in Chemical Technology from Warsaw University of Technology. PhD in Chemical Engineering from University Nova of Lisbon. Senior Researcher at Bioenergy and Biorefineries Unit of the National Laboratory of Energy and Geology (LNEG) in Portugal. Coordinates the Biorefineries for Biofuel Programme in LNEG. He is working in the field of biorefinery and conversion of wastes into biofuels and value-added products, with special emphasis on employment of green chemistry principles. He has participated in several R&D&I projects of national, european and international dimension. He is the author of more than 100 research articles, book chapters and several patents.

Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Chemical Engineering and Doctoral degree in Polymers and Biopolymers from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. He started his career as a researcher in the Chemical Physical laboratory at NOVAMONT and, since 2015, he has been New Materials and Technologies Laboratory Manager. Sebastià owns more than ten patents and has published in several international journals.

Dr. Tiso studied bioengineering at the TU Dortmund University and received his doctorate at the RWTH Aachen University in 2016. After his doctorate, Dr. Tiso started to work as a group leader at the RWTH Aachen University. His research topic is applied microbiology with a focus on understanding metabolic network operations. Tools, his group is using include metabolic engineering for the production of valuable products for the chemical industry as well as valorization of side streams such as plastic waste. Dr. Tiso is (co-)author of 37 publications and four book chapters.