Page 14 - Biorefinery 2030 Future Prospects for the Bioeconomy (2015)

Executive Summary xiii

increasing savings in resources is always on the agenda. The desire to consider the
plant as a whole, to minimise its harmful aspects and environmental footprint, to
return to farmers the organic elements they need, was felt on the part of all the
biorefinery actors we interviewed. We discuss possible areas for improvement in
Chap. 3, particularly concerning energy.
Finally, Chap. 3 confirms the fact that industrial ecology is not simply a passing
trend or a means of satisfying regulatory requirements: firms are also concerned
about economic logic and commercial development, about competitive strategy and
obtaining a good return on research and development investments.

The Historical Perspective: A Key to Understanding the Site’s
Development (Chap. 1)

Champagne Ardenne was originally an agricultural region, disadvantaged because
of its geological features. Today, it is considered extremely advanced, due to the
determination of men, their ability to put technological advances into practice and
to work together to adapt to changes in the environment.
The dynamic produced by agricultural cooperatives was vital to this develop-
ment, and the establishment of the Bazancourt-Pomacle site cannot be understood
without taking a historical perspective.
History allows us to highlight the different criteria that resulted in the construc-
tion of the Bazancourt-Pomacle platform as we know it today:

– The Bazancourt-Pomacle biorefinery is the result of an incremental, unplanned
process.
– The biorefinery was developed over several generations (70 years).
– The Bazancourt-Pomacle biorefinery is the result of a long-term process that
perfectly illustrates the innovation processes through which, by a combination of
different circumstances, a weakness can become a strength.
– The Bazancourt-Pomacle biorefinery is an example of a Ricardian process,
capitalising on local comparative advantage.
– The Bazancourt-Pomacle biorefinery has grown organically, thanks to the pres-
ence of charismatic leaders.

All these elements combined have led farmers and industrial leaders to develop a
different kind of plant, and to launch innovative industrial projects, often linked to
the research of which the Bazancourt-Pomacle site is now a living example. This
type of history and these lessons can be found in other studies of industrial clusters
or districts.