FAQs: About BIC

The Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) is a non-profit organisation originally set up in 2013 to represent the private sector in a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with the European Commission, focused on strengthening the bio-based industries sector in Europe. BIC’s Industry Members cover the whole value chain, from primary production to market. 

Members represent diverse sectors, such as agriculture and agri-food, aquaculture and marine, chemicals and materials (including bioplastics), forestry, pulp and paper and technology providers and waste management and treatment. BIC's Associate Members include research organisations, academia and trade associations. 

Read the history of our evolution

BIC’s diverse membership covers agriculture, food & feed, aquatic and marine, chemicals and materials, technology providers, forestry and pulp & paper, waste management, brand owners, consultancies and academia. If your company or organisation operates in any of these fields, find out more about the benefits of BIC membership.

BIC’s vision is to make Europe’s innovative, sustainable and competitive bio-based industry the leader of a circular bio society in Europe by 2050. Its mission is to grow Europe’s circular bioeconomy through investment, innovation and shared know-how across the value chain.

BIC is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, at 4th Floor, Square de Meeûs 38/40, 1000 Brussels. The Brussels location places BIC at the heart of EU policymaking, close to the European Commission and other key European institutions.

The bioeconomy is the part of the economy that uses renewable biological resources, from land and sea, to produce food, feed, bio-based products, energy and services. In Europe, it is a strategic pillar of climate, industrial and rural development policy, and a route to reduced dependence on fossil resources.

A bio-based product is wholly or partly derived from renewable biological materials such as plants, algae, wood, agricultural by-products, food waste or organic side-streams. Examples include bioplastics, bio-based chemicals, biofuels, bio-textiles and bio-based construction materials.

The circular bioeconomy combines biological resources with circular economy principles: keeping materials in use for as long as possible, designing out waste, regenerating natural systems and cascading the use of biomass through multiple value-added products before recovery or composting.

Bio-based industries help replace fossil-based materials and chemicals with renewable alternatives, reducing greenhouse gas emissions across multiple sectors. They also support carbon farming, rural value creation, and the transition to a climate-neutral economy aligned with the European Green Deal.

Biotechnology refers to the use of biological systems, organisms or derivatives to make products or processes, often at the molecular or cellular level. The bioeconomy is the broader economic system that uses renewable biological resources, of which biotechnology is one enabler. Many bio-based industries combine biotechnology, chemistry, agronomy and engineering.

Biomanufacturing uses living systems such as microorganisms, enzymes and cell cultures to produce goods at industrial scale, including chemicals, materials, food ingredients and pharmaceuticals. BIC has identified barriers to increased biomanufacturing in Europe and identified some possible solutions.

BIC has two main membership categories. Industry Members are for-profit companies active across the bio-based value chain, including SMEs in BIC member regional clusters. BIC Industry Members include businesses of all sizes ranging from large, multinational companies to SMEs and micro-enterprises. See BIC’s Industry Members. 

Associate Members are typically not-for-profit organisations such as research institutes, universities, trade associations, technology platforms, regional clusters and consultancies. See BIC’s Associate Members.

The main categories are: 

• Industry/Full Membership: for for-profit companies along the bio-based value chain 
• Industry/Project Membership: a temporary free status for companies joining a CBE JU project proposal 
• Associate Membership: for not-for-profit organisations, academia, research institutes and trade associations 
• Associate Member Category D: for consultants and consulting companies, treated as for-profit for IKOP purposes

BIC industry membership is open to industrial and commercial companies, or any other kind of legal entity representing industrial and commercial companies, which are active in the field of bio-based industries. You can also be a company that is active in Europe through either research, innovation or demonstration along the value chain and actively involved in building businesses and business cases to contribute to a more competitive, efficient and sustainable Europe. 

Apply for BIC membership.