Economically, Reims and its region have two major assets:
- A large volume of high-quality biomass
- One of Europe’s most advanced integrated biorefineries
With this in mind, the region’s principal stakeholders (farmers, industry, researchers and politicians) hope to make Reims the bioeconomy capital of Europe.
Several structures belonging to the AEBB cluster’s ecosystem are helping to drive this process.
The AEBB research cluster is an active academic member of the Bioeconomy For Change (B4C) cluster, the only competitive cluster dedicated to the bioeconomy in France and Europe.
The existence of the IAR cluster is proof of the importance given by the region to bringing together public and private players for the development and promotion of the bioeconomy.
The Bazancourt Pomacle biorefinery is located 15 km from Reims. Originally a cooperative sugar refinery (today, Cristal Union), the site expanded in the 1990s to include an agro-industrial complex with the building of a starch and glucose plant operated by the Chamtor company (now ADM), as well as an innovation cluster, through the launch of a research centre shared between sugar beet and cereal growers, Agro-industry Research and Development (ARD).
Today, the Bazancourt-Pomacle biorefinery is a multi-company ecosystem endowed with an innovation platform covering 160 hectares and generating 2,000 direct and indirect jobs. Annually, it converts 3 million tonnes of diverse biomass into various products for the food, chemical, cosmetics and biofuel industries.
Since 2016, the European Centre for Biotechnology and Bioeconomy (CEBB) has been located at the site. The CEBB brings together 4 academic research chairs to boost research activities at the site.
This rapid growth is strongly connected to investment undertaken by two cooperatives, Vivescia and Cristal Union, to support for innovation by local and regional authorities (Grand Est Region, Department of the Marne and the Greater Reims Urban Community), together with the University of Reims Champagne Ardenne, which, through the knowledge provided by academic research, was a real driving force in the development of the site.
This set-up, which has practically no equivalent in Europe, makes the site an integrated biorefinery whose importance is demonstrated by the diversity of its output, the optimal conversion of its input, and by its industrial ecology.
Research into the development of the entire plant is carried out at the site of the Bazancourt-Pomacle biorefinery by private (ARD) and public (CEBB) research centres, in close collaboration with URCA’s AEBB cluster research units.
The European Centre for Biotechnology and the Bioeconomy brings together four academic research chairs, run by AgroParisTech, CentraleSupélec, NEOMA Business School and the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, in complementary fields related to biotechnology and to its economic opportunities, in line with the concerns of industry.
Agro-industrries Research and Development is an R&D company dedicated to biotechnology, green chemistry and plant extracts. It offers services for scaling up industrial processes.
A high-performance research platform, the aim of this experimental farm is to prepare tomorrow’s agriculture, improve competitiveness, reduce the environmental footprint, boost local industries and save jobs in the region.
Crédit Agricole du Nord-Est (Northeast branch of the French cooperative bank Crédit Agricole) and its partners, including URCA, have launched a platform and business centre reserved for start-ups, with the aim of supporting innovation locally and boosting the regional economy.
Conceived as a genuine ‘hub’ for innovative, sustainable and caring agriculture, the Planet A initiative is led by a group of committed personalities from different backgrounds.
It was launched on the basis of a common objective:
to accelerate the renewal of agriculture by developing the transfer and sharing of knowledge, by facilitating exchanges, and by creating conditions for innovation that is genuinely beneficial to people.
The CCI (Chamber of Commerce and Industry) of the Marne Department, in partnership with the Greater Reims Urban Community, has set up a business park dedicated to innovation and the bioeconomy, in the immediate vicinity of the Bazancourt-Pomacle biorefinery complex, and of public and private research centres.