With the COVID-19 pandemic raging on, the U.S. bioeconomy is facing challenges.
On Friday, Feb. 12, from 9 a.m. to noon, The Ohio State University’s Advanced BioSystems Workshop will look at those challenges and will brainstorm ways for research, technology, and the government to address them.
Workshop organizer Ajay Shah, agricultural engineer with Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), said plant-based fuels and products “have the potential to decrease U.S. dependence on petroleum feedstocks, improving energy security, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and creating new industries.”
But he said the COVID-19 pandemic and other uncertainties have affected biobased industries in major ways, including in the areas of funding availability and simply the ability of businesses to survive.