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Sponsorship And Relation To Other Projects

Three organizations have indicated an interest in providing support for the GSB project:

São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). FAPESP supports research, exchange and dissemination of science and technology produced in state of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP supports scientific research and technology through grants that address all areas of knowledge with applied science programs targeting global climate change, bioenergy, and biodiversity.

Programs of particular relevance to the GSB project include the established Bioenergy (BIOEN) program and the emergent Latin America, Caribbean, and Africa (LACAf) project. The BIOEN program addresses improved sugar cane varieties and production methods, ethanol production and biorefineries, ethanol utilization in Otto cycles and fuel cells, and bioenergy impacts including social, economic, environmental, land use, and intellectual property aspects. The LACAf project – complete title: "The LACAF Project: A Contribution to the GSB Project Aimed at Expanding Understanding of the Possibility and Feasibility of Very Large Scale Bioenergy Production" – has the overall objective of discovering and developing new knowledge related to the sustainable (social, environmental and economic) production of bioenergy from sugarcane and other energy crops. It is expected that persons supported by the LACAf project will be active at two complementary levels:

GSB Board Chair Brito Cruz is the Scientific Director of FAPESP. GSB Executive Committee member Luis Cortez is the Leader of the LACAf project.

Bio-Based, Ecologically Balanced Sustainable Industrial Chemistry (BE-Basic). BE-Basic develops new bio-based concepts for the chemical, energy and materials industry, including responsible monitoring and control of healthy soil and water environments, on the basis of advanced genomics technologies and bioprocess engineering. International universities, institutes and industries of various scales have joined their biotechnology knowledge and capabilities to build our Biobased Economy together. BE-Basic is a public-private partnership that executes an innovation and research program that builds on the recognized breakthroughs of the B-Basic and the Ecogenomics consortia. Delft University of Technology coordinates the joint program of the new consortium that includes an R&D program, a state-of-the-art open innovation Bioprocess Pilot Facility, a socio-economic and educational program, as well as a Business and Innovation Centre.

Of particular relevance to the GSB project, Flagship 9 of the BE-Basic project addresses societal embedding of the biobased economy, including identification of socio-economic aspects and sustainability issues, the development of adequate systems to monitor and model these and the development of effective and efficient education, and communication and societal valorization programmes.

GSB Board member Luuk van der Wielen is the Director of the BE-Basic project, and GSB Executive Committee member Patricia Osseweijer is the Manager of Flagship 9 of the BE-Basic project.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). ORNL is the largest science and energy laboratory of the US Department of Energy. ORNL has a staff of more than 4,800 and annually hosts approximately 3,000 guest researchers, and addresses six DOE mission elements: neutron science, energy, high-performance computing, systems biology, materials science at the nanoscale, and national security. ORNL's Energy and Environmental Sciences organization includes divisions addressing transportation sciences, biosciences, sensors and signal processing, electronics and electric machines, energy supply and distribution, and energy efficiency engineering.

Of particular relevance to the GSB project, the Bioenergy Program is active in research on biofeedstocks, feedstock logistics, biorefineries, product delivery, end use, and sustainability. ORNL has for decades been a leader internationally in the area of cellulosic energy crops, and is the home institution of the Department of Energy Bioenergy Science Center as well as the ORNL Center for Bio-Energy Sustainability (CBES).

GSB Board member Martin Keller is the Assistant Lab Director for Energy and Environmental Science. Dr. Keller and the GSB Executive Committee are assisted by Keith Kline, who also coordinates international project activities for ORNL Environmental Sciences Division bioenergy and global sustainability projects supported by DOE-EERE, including activities in Brazil and China.

Each of these organizations desires to find ways that their activities and expertise can contribute to and draw from the GSB project. In addition each organization has supported, and is considering expanding support for, GSB-initiated activities. However, all are constrained with respect to activities they can support outside of their own organizations and/or geographical domain. FAPESP is prepared to provide support for GSB activities in Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean. BE-Basic funds activities throughout the EU and selected activities in collaboration with Brazil, Malaysia and the US. ORNL primarily funds work in-house. Thus additional sponsors are needed in order to undertake GSB Stage 2 activities with the desired combination of strong expertise in relevant technical areas and international representation. Sponsors from all regions would be welcome, with our most acute need to support participants from Asia/Oceania and North America.

Last Updated December 19, 2011