The Counsel General — Jeremy Miles — recently visited Aberystwyth University (www.aber.ac.uk) to open the new Bio-refining Centre and Seed Biobank buildings at its Innovation and Enterprise Campus.

He announced a £3.7 million EU investment to extend the award-winning BEACON bio economy programme, which is led by Aberystwyth University, until 2022.

This funding also enables the University of South Wales (with campuses in Cardiff, Newport, Pontypridd and Dubai) to join Aberystwyth, Bangor and Swansea Universities as a new partner, bringing further knowledge and expertise to the project, and widening the benefits to cover the whole of Wales — and beyond.

The BEACON team brings business and academic partners together to translate research into product innovation.

Physical, chemical and biological technology will be used to transform resources derived or grown in Wales into useful (and commercial) end products — including plastics, renewable materials, fuels and speciality chemicals
— through bio-refining.

Energy crops including rye can be transformed into bio-fuels, while derivatives of plants and micro-organisms can be re-purposed to create chemicals or building materials for use in the pharmaceutical, transportation, eco-construction, energy and healthcare economies.

In addition to Aberystwyth University’s research into bio-refining, Bangor University will work on bio-based plastics and packaging, Swansea University will continue its work in Life Sciences, and the University of South Wales will focus on research into larger-scale digestion and fermentation of plant matter by bacteria and fungi.

Another £440,000 of EU funding will expand the BEACON project across Wales, tackling specific local challenges, while connecting new partners and making full use of region-specific natural resources.

Around 140 businesses in Wales will benefit from the extension of the project.