December 2022 - Bay of Plenty Business News

10 BAY OF PLENTY BUSINESS NEWS December 2022
CIRCULAR BIOECONOMY
Creating global solutions
to decarbonisation
ANDREW WILSON,
Chief Executive, Rotorua
Economic Development
Rotorua and the wider Bay of Plenty
region is hard to beat when it comes to
forestry. It would be fair to say it’s in our
genes, and part of our identity. With a strong
history and legacy in forestry and wood processing,
it’s no surprise that Rotorua, alongside
our neighbouring districts will be at the heart of
New Zealand’s emerging circular bioeconomy.
We are in a great starting position. Besides
being centrally located in the North Island,
extensive transportation infrastructure and
robust support services have given Rotorua a
sustainable competitive advantage. Not to mention
we are also home to the largest forest plantation
in the southern hemisphere. The strong
ties maintained through working partnerships
with Scion, Red Stag Timber, and New Zealand
Institute of Skills and Technology subsidiary
Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology (Toi
Ohomai) have helped to strengthen the city’s
establishment as an industry leader.
So, what is a circular bioeconomy, and
why is it important?
From a global perspective, we know that our
dependency on oil and gas is going to transform
over the next decade and the replacement
of oil and gas with biological alternatives will
be at the centre of this transformation.
A circular bioeconomy is essentially an
economy that is powered by nature. It is a
new economic model that emphasises the use
of renewable natural capital and focuses on
minimising waste, replacing the wide range of
non-renewable, fossil-based products currently
in use. An economy that relies on renewable
natural resources to produce food, energy,
products, and services.
The bioeconomy and the bio-innovation
that drives it, are highly placed-based phenomena
and relevant to our regions. This provides
a significant future opportunity for regional
development and for Māori. Key regions having
significant competitive advantages such
as the Bay of Plenty in woody biomass, and
Māori who own over 40% of the forests in New
Zealand, are positioned to reap the benefits of
the circular bio-economy, with benefits flowing
through to whānau, iwi and hapū through
investment, and higher wage skilled jobs.
There is also a large and growing global
addressable market for bio-innovation usecases
across many segments. Fibres and materials,
fuels, energy, bioplastics are all growing
in demand both here in New Zealand and
across the globe.
What are the opportunities? What we
are trying to achieve?
Despite a lack of data on feedstock end use
product demand in New Zealand, there is clear
consumer intent around bio/green/sustainable
products. New Zealand has traditionally
focused on primary production outputs but
with a circular bioeconomy there is significant
opportunities for ‘new industry secondary processing’
for both domestic (replacing carbon/
petro intensive industrial inputs) and export
markets.
The Bay of Plenty region is blessed with a
LOT of biomass. We are fortunate to have not
only extensive forestry resources but growing
horticulture and aquaculture sectors that will
generate increasing biomass quantities over the
coming decade.
In addition to biomass, we also have the
expertise to understand what the critical ingredients
are to unlock value for NZ Inc., whilst
also providing global solutions to decarbonisation.
Over the past twelve months we’ve
worked alongside Scion and Te Uru Rākau
New Zealand Forestry Service to look at how
we can create new industries across Rotorua
and neighbouring regions that will support the
production of bioplastics, liquid biofuels and
biochemicals.
The outcomes of a circular bio-economy for
New Zealand include GDP growth, productivity,
decarbonisation across industry and energy,
A circular bioeconomy
is essentially an
economy that is powered by
nature. It is a new economic
model that emphasises the
use of renewable natural
capital and focuses on
minimising waste, replacing
the wide range of nonrenewable,
fossil-based
products currently in use.
lower ‘green premiums’, specialised exports at
scale and increased innovation outputs. For the
regions it will mean an increase in skills and
jobs and support for Māori economic aspirations.
Re-industrialising our regions is a very
real possibility and Rotorua and the wider Bay
of Plenty is well positioned to be at the forefront
of this transformation.
What can we do and what gap are we
trying to fill?
Our bioeconomy will require the development
of new products, operating models and
services, driven by continued research and
innovation across both the public and private
sectors. Additional investment in establishing
a strong bio-innovation network will be critical
and will bring together circular bio-innovation
focused people, institutes and companies, with
appropriate feedstocks, capabilities and infrastructure
(in some places shared).
Looking across New Zealand, it is realistic
to imagine individual regional clusters (forestry,
aquaculture, agriculture, horticulture,
waste, etc.) being established. These would
involve a collaboration of key stakeholders
(customers, R&D, feedstock owners, Māori,
investors, funders) to address and deliver end
to end opportunities of the feedstock value.
It is no secret that New Zealand has strong
research and development capabilities in the
bio-innovation domain. Unfortunately, there
is a major gap in scale up facilities and commercialisation
causing a disconnect between
research push and market pull. Because we have
limited facilities in NZ, scale up often needs to
occur offshore or in multiple subscale facilities,
which means much of our cutting-edge research
never progresses to market at scale.
The gap at the scale-up and commercialisation
stage is not new for New Zealand’s innovation
system, but is one that must be overcome
if we are committed to increasing value-added
manufacturing within our shores. Fortunately,
it is a challenge New Zealand has previously
addressed, the New Zealand Food Innovation
Network being a prime example. Across the
networks five open access food and beverage
production facilities, businesses can scale
up and commercialise new products. From
research and development, through to manufacturing,
the government funded network provides
a unique level of expertise and access to a
diverse suite of manufacturing equipment.
A similar Government investment in
scale-up and commercialisation facilities for
the bioeconomy is required to capitalise on the
enormous opportunity that is presented to us.
Investment not only will contribute our transition
to a low carbon economy, but has the
potential to unlock jobs and Māori economic
aspirations.