Dear Madam / Sir,
Earlier this year, both the Dutch cabinet and parliament have committed themselves to realizing a bio-based economy in the Netherlands and to making available public funds to support this transition. On December 1st, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality will present a "Bio-based program" as a first step towards achieving that goal, comprising concrete initiatives bound together by an agenda for policy, research and funding. As you will be aware, biorefinery will play a pivotal role in any future bio-based economy. A "Biorefinery program" will therefore be the centerpiece of the Bio-based program. We are pleased to invite you to a first, kick off meeting to develop this Biorefinery program on Tuesday, October 14th 2008 in Utrecht.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality has commissioned the development of a business plan for a "Biorefinery program". This plan, including a consortium of industry and academia and a research agenda, is to be presented on December 1st. The plan should mobilize public (knowledge institutes) and private (industry) investment and make the case for matching funds from national and European public sources, e.g. budgets for Energy Transition, innovation (FES) and FP7.
Wageningen University & Research Centre, ECN and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants are facilitating the process.
The Biorefinery program will be set up by backcasting from "moon shots" – ambitious, but realistic targets for 2020. The five years of the program should result in a number of demonstrations that resolve bottlenecks on the way to the moon shots. The Ministry is keenly aware of the need for industry to play a leading role in defining priorities and objectives, and therefore invites all potential stakeholders to indicate their interests and help define the contents of the program during a kick-off meeting.
All this presents an outstanding opportunity: an ambitious and committed government, (significant) public funds available and an invitation to help set the agenda for Biorefinery in the Netherlands. The first assembly to kick-off the development of the program is scheduled on Tuesday, October 14th 2008, from 13.00 to 18.00 in Utrecht. The exact location details and outline of the afternoon will be sent to all participants. We appreciate that this is short notice, and we apologize, but timing is tight and the opportunity unique. We hope, therefore, that you will be able to attend or send this invitation to someone else in your organization.
Please reply to biorefinery@nl.rolandberger.com to accept this invitation. Further information (location and program) will be sent to all participants.
We look forward to seeing you on October 14!
