Public Participation in Bio-Innovation
A Summary of the Public Participation in Bio-Innovation Event on November 7th, 2016
by Franziska Sattler
Last November, the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin hosted a very exciting event about Public Participation in Bio-Innovation as part of Second Nature and the Berlin Science Week. The Berlin Science Week is a relatively new platform that is dedicated to a global exchange of science and society to inspire the deeper understanding of our transforming world. It creates collaborations which improve the interdisciplinary exchange between institutions and participants. As the climate changes and natural resources become more and more limited, scientists, politicians and an active citizenship work for a sustainable future.
Bioeconomy, those parts of the economy that use renewable biological resources from land and sea, acknowledges achievements of the biological sciences as key for success. Today and more so in the future, biobased products will increase our economic growth, food security and health, and will present an option to protect global climate and our natural resources.
With comparable intentions,“biohacker” and Do-it-yourself biologists experiment with biological material to find and understand innovative solutions. Our evening event featured a panel which adressed what role bio-innovations can play in our daily living, especially in the urban context as well as an interactive part, to get all attendees to take part in live experiments.
Schedule
Moderation: Dr. Katrin Vohland (Director Research Programme Public Engagement with Science)
Opening: Prof. Dr. Johannes Vogel (Director General, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin)
Greetings: Dr. Arndt Pechstein (Biomimicry Germany e.V.)
Greetings: Prof. von Braun (Deutscher Bioökonomierat)
Impulse: Claudia Göbel from DITOs (H2020 project Doing-it-Together Science)
Keynote: Prof. Dr. Francoise Baylis (Dalhousie University Canada, Impact Ethics; speaker at Falling Walls): Do-it-Together ethics
Interactive Part
- Face to face with members the German Bioecomomy Panel
- Hands-on Biomimicry experience
- DITOs Activities:
Imane Baïz (Université Paris Descartes – Center for Research and Interdisciplinarity):
– Interactive bio-design experiment: “Making electricity from soil bacteria and plants”
– Hackaton on “What does Biodesign mean to you?”
We had the pleasure to welcome Imane Baïz and Lena Asai, two very motivated DITOs members, that hosted an interactive bio-design experiment that demonstarted how it is possible to make electricity from soil bacteria and plants. For some participants it was the first time they joined a live experiment and the response was overwhelmingly positive.
If you want to get an impression of the Bioeconomy Panel event and DITOs DIYBio activities, you can watch the video below or go directly to the Bioökonomie website.
Note that the video is mostly in German, with an English introduction.
