Page 116 - Biorefinery 2030 Future Prospects for the Bioeconomy (2015)

84 4 Prospects for the Bazancourt-Pomacle Biorefinery Between Now and 2030

– Training and employment of researchers, project leaders, managers, laboratory
and installation technicians, ready to enter the job market or set up their
own firm.
– Creation of economic value through research and development and formulas
validated on pilot or demonstration sites in different forms (sales or licencing of
patents, company creation, contributions in kind to industrial projects etc.).

The model targeted by the CEBB is more ambitious than that encountered in
many universities, which consists in “juxtaposing” under the same umbrella
organisation (Centre of Excellence in the interdisciplinary field of X) laboratories
whose centre of gravity remains in the original laboratory. The CEBB will need to
link a scientific community with an industrial site in such a way that genuine
synergies occur. It will have three main challenges to take up:

– develop and demonstrate the extra added value created by multidisciplinary,
non-compartmentalised approaches.
– help teams with different legal statuses coexist and prosper.
– develop an effective governance structure.

1.1 Multidisciplinarity

Creating multidisciplinarity consists in encouraging teams and individuals who
usually work in silos or closed circuits to understand each other and work together.
How can one create a successful mosaic made up of biotechnologies, chemistry,
biochemistry, physics, process engineering, economics, management sciences and
other social sciences?
Our interviews at Bazancourt-Pomacle show that the category “engineer” is by
no means homogenous, unlike what outsiders might expect: engineers trained in
more “determinist” disciplines find it difficult to assimilate the terms of reference of
engineers trained in less determinist disciplines such as white biotechnologies.
Different cultures exist, that are more or less penetrable or familiar with each
other, which can sometimes explain a lack of understanding about industrial
challenges or choices. 2
To succeed in its mission, the CEBB must therefore create exchange
mechanisms and initiate scientific, technological and economic “promiscuity” 3
between its members, despite their differences in terms of discipline and the status
of personnel.

2
This remark can be partly “theorised,” since other research into power trains and alternative fuels
has shown that physical engineers in an electricity firm are more liable to understand and become
involved in the field of electric vehicles or fuel cells, whilst chemical engineers in oil firms feel
closer to the field of bio-fuels (Source: Stevens and Schieb 2013).
3
“Promiscuity”: this noun is used in its etymological sense, from promiscuous in Latin, in other
words common, shared, general, indiscriminate (Source: OED).