Objective of Directorate Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology:
Building a European Knowledge-Based Bio-Economy by bringing together science, industry and other stakeholders, to exploit new and emerging research opportunities that address social, environmental and economic challenges: the growing demand for safer, healthier, higher quality food and for sustainable use and production of renewable bio-resources; the increasing risk of epizootic and zoonotic diseases and food related disorders; threats to the sustainability and security of agricultural, aquaculture and fisheries production; and the increasing demand for high quality food, taking into account animal welfare and rural and coastal contexts and response to specific dietary needs of consumers.

Speaker Profile
Dr Piero Venturi has a degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Bologna.

He obtained his PhD in Agricultural Engineering with the Italian Ministry of Scientific Research. He worked for several years as researcher at Polytechnic University of Madrid and Wageningen Agricultural University, dealing with energy and no-food crops production and non-food chains modeling.

Currently, Dr Venturi is working in the Directorate Agriculture, Food and Biotechnology - DG Research of the European Commission. He is dealing with policies on biotechnologies and their interaction with related issues as climate change, agriculture and energy. Furthermore he is the project officers of several projects funded by the European Commission on biobased material and biorefinery.

He is also responsible for International Cooperation aspects related to research in biotechnology and bio-based materials.

Dr Venturi has been lecturing on Energy Integrated Systems and Agricultural Mechanization while at present gives class in a Master in Agroenergy at the University Menendez y Pelayo of Madrid (Spain). He published more than 80 articles in scientific journals.

JatrophaWorld 2008 Hamburg Speaker
Day 1 - Monday, October 20
09:10 EU’S PERSPECTIVE ON JATROPHA- BASED BIODIESEL PROJECT

Overview of Presentation
An overview of the most recent policies of the European Commission will be carried out with respect to biomass, biobased materials and biofuels R&D.

The seventh Framework program (FP7) of the European Commission will also be presented. What are current activities and how is it organized? What is the available budget? What are the strategies and plans? The EU fosters the R&D in biomass crops and forestry, the biorefinery concept to increase crop output, and supports the evolvement of strategic industry-led Technology Platforms to bring about strategic research agendas. Special emphasis will be given to the presentation of new topics for the next call KBBE (knowledge based bio-Economy) 2009.

JATROPHAWORLD 2008 is a showcase of all the latest trends and shifts occurring in the Jatropha value chain, bringing together on a single platform, the best expertise to discuss and analyze the present and future dynamics of Jatropha from a technological and socio-economic angle. To find more about JatrophaWorld in Hamburg from October 20 to 21, 2008, please visit http://www.futureenergyevents.com/jatropha/.