Dear colleagues:
All these years, I have wondered why certain challenges concerning food, water, energy, biodiversity or climate change are not solved. We have enormous amount of knowledge, visionary entrepreneurs and scientific understanding but still we lack solutions to solve these wicked problems. Are we still missing what it takes to reach these solutions, or have we not just found the right tools?
Interdisciplinary thinking and activities offer us opportunities to find new innovations from interfaces of different disciplines. Should we then work harder together? Have we lost some development, new ideas and innovative products while having meetings and conferences within our own silos only? This is the question Open Bioeconomy Week would like to answer.
We all know that neither bioeconomy nor digitalization alone, can solve all problems related to bio- or circular economy which are vital themes for the survival of our planet. But, when scientists, entrepreneurs and other professionals in the field of bioeconomy and digitalization come together to discuss about their research, innovations, new ideas and future development trends it provokes fruitful discussions and diverse workshops. Sometimes, we might actually see and realize the real challenges with valuable ideas for solutions if not at least good debates as well!
I would like to invite you all to Open Bioeconomy Week. This is the event to refresh your ideas and get new ones to proceed in the transformation towards a more sustainable world.
Annukka Pakarinen
Chair of the Open Bioeconomy Week Scientific Committee
Head of the HAMK Bio research unit
Häme University of Applied Sciences