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The World BioEconomy Forum is based on the idea that there needs to be a global platform for Circular Bioeconomy stakeholders to get together, exchange views and come up with a joint agenda on this increasingly important topic. Jukka Kantola, founder of the Forum, realised with his partners around four years ago that the time is right to launch this new incentive and work started on the forming the first event which was held in September 2018.
This kind of event would not occur without a sound network of influential stakeholders from the circular bioeconomy. One of the first tasks the organisers of the Forum had was to form an Advisory Board (AB) which has now successfully attracted representatives of the circular bioeconomy from all over the world. The very first member of the Advisory Board was Christian Patermann, who is co-founder of the Forum and also today an Honourable Chair of the Advisory Board. The AB has proved to be one of the most important guarantees that the content of the programs at the events is always of the very best quality.
Pretty soon after the Advisory Board was established Kantola teamed up with Aida Greenbury, Teresa Presas and Mark Rushton, who together form the founding team of the World BioEconomy Forum.
The first event was held in Ruka, Finland, a resort town in northern Finland which provided excellent facilities and a pristine natural setting for the event. This has remained as part of the spirit of the Forum from day one – providing a relaxed environment with hard talk – the perfect setting for providing insightful dialogue between speakers and delegates from all over the world.
Since that first event in 2018, the Forum has quickly evolved, with the latest event being held in Belém, Pará State in Brazil. This move outside of Finland follows a new plan that will see the annual Forum being rotated between northern and southern hemisphere locations every year. This is to introduce various other examples of bioeconomies into the mix as it is clear that there is no one-fit-all solution when it comes to the global bioeconomy. By moving the event to various locations around the world the Forum will seek to showcase other versions of regional bioeconomies and bring them to the attention of its growing global audience.
Communication with the world circular bioeconomy society is now a constant at the Forum. All World BioEconomy Forum programmes and activities are aligned with the Four-Pillar Structure, including the annual Forum, Roundtables, new services and the annual Declaration. This Four-Pillar structure ensures that all relevant stakeholders in the circular bioeconomy have a voice and a platform.
The World Bioeconomy Forum welcomes all stakeholders of the circular bioeconomy to join in this journey.