Citizen Panel on Sustainable Innovation in Biotechnology.
On behalf of the DeCYPHer project, Scivil facilitated a citizen panel on more sustainable production methods for flavonoids and terpenoids. The workshop took place in Ghent on October 25, and additional citizen panels were organized in Barcelona, Vilnius, and Vienna.
Flavonoids and terpenoids are natural compounds that give plants their colors, scents, and protective properties. They are also closely linked to our daily lives, as they are used in medicines, flavorings, rubber, and many other useful products. As demand for these substances in medicine, food, cosmetics, and sustainable materials continues to grow, the way we produce them has become an important issue.
The DeCYPHer project is tackling this challenge by combining synthetic biology with artificial intelligence to develop smarter, greener ways to produce terpenoids and flavonoids. Instead of harvesting them from nature, we could sustainably manufacture them using biotechnology and AI.
In Ghent, 29 citizen panel members discussed which of these substances should be prioritized for further research. The DeCYPHer project will develop ‘open science starter kits’ for the flavonoids and terpenoids identified as top priorities by citizen panels in the four different countries. You can read the summary of the Ghent panel’s results in this report (in Dutch).
