Bjarke Bak Christensen, Head of Department at DTU Bioengineering, has long been aware that biotechnology will be crucial to a number of society's greatest challenges – climate, biodiversity, health, and food. He senses that politicians and other high-level decision-makers are also beginning to realise its enormous potential:
"This is reflected, for example, in the fact that large foundations such as the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Gates Foundation have chosen to support IBIS in the development of biosolutions with very large grants. But also at the political level, we see top politicians in the EU stepping on the accelerator of biotechnological development. This shows how broadly biotechnology influences our global society – in terms of the economy, technological sovereignty, biodiversity, reducing climate emissions, and dealing with the climate changes we cannot avoid."
DTU's research in biotechnology is conducted across the university's departments and often in collaboration with some of Denmark and Europe's largest companies and leading research institutions. This means that DTU is widely recognised as home to one of the world's leading environments for biosolutions – most recently named the world's fifth-best university in this field by the respected Shanghai Ranking.
And we should be pleased that top-shelf research is being brought into play at the highest political level, says Bjarke Bak Christensen:
"It is very telling of how far we have come in Denmark and at DTU that a talented researcher like Rasmus is invited right into the engine room, where political decisions with long-term global consequences are made. But it is also imperative, because the climate crisis and its consequences in areas such as food production and health cannot be solved without biosolutions," he says.
The Global South
It is no coincidence that COP30 is being held in Belém, Brazil. The city is known as the "gateway to the Amazon" and the choice of this particular city symbolises that both the rainforest and the people who live in it are particularly vulnerable to climate change. The disproportionate impact of climate change on countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Oceania – often referred to as the "Global South" – has been a key focus at the summit.
This made it particularly relevant for Rasmus J. N. Frandsen to participate. One of the main objectives of IBIS is to make it much cheaper and faster to identify the best microbes and develop local production of microbial biofertilisers in those parts of the world where the need is greatest.
Among other things, the partner institutions in IBIS, which come from Denmark (DTU and KU), India (TNAU) and South Africa (CSIR), will jointly conduct large-scale, standardised experiments to collect the very large data sets that are necessary to understand what characterises successful microbial biofertilisers under different conditions.
In this way, IBIS will lay the foundation for accelerating the development of the thousands of microbial biofertilizers that farmers across the globe need. All the data and technology created by IBIS will be made freely available so that it can be used by biotech entrepreneurs and farmers around the world to further develop and produce biological solutions that suit local needs in terms of soil, crops, agricultural practices and economics.
Butterflies
Although Rasmus J. N. Frandsen's focus has largely been global during his visit to the summit, there has also been an opportunity to talk to some of the prominent Danes who have participated.
Among others, Queen Mary and Jacob Jensen, Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, were given a brief introduction to IBIS. A presentation that gave Rasmus J. N. Frandsen a few butterflies in his stomach, he admits:
"It was a bit like taking an exam, but my nerves were quickly put to shame as both Her Majesty the Queen and the Minister were immensely friendly and seemed genuinely interested in what we can achieve with advanced biotechnology and global cooperation," he says.
Back at DTU, the work continues unabated, says Rasmus J. N. Frandsen:
“Everyone in the IBIS team is working hard to build the robot-based development platform we need to understand what a good microbial biofertiliser organism is, and to prepare for the spring field trials with biofertilizers. There are many long days ahead, but global perspectives such as the climate crisis, food security, security policy, and technology sharing are strong motivators for all our employees. We are nerds who love science, and the opportunity to make a real difference and contribute to global solutions gives our work extra meaning."
COP30 continues until 21 November.
