The EU-backed 'Plants for the Future' Technology Platform has officially released its final Strategic Research Agenda, claiming that plants are central to the future of the European economy.
The document, backed by scientists, farmers, industry and other public and private stakeholders, signposts a route for Europe to use plant sciences and biotechnology to enhance EU competitiveness and welfare.
The forum was created by the European Commission in 2003. It is coordinated by EPSO and EuropaBio, and has members from industry, academia and the agricultural sector.
It provides a short-, medium- and long-term vision for Europe's plant sector and sets out a consensus on the research needed to fulfil the vision.
EPSO President Wilhelm Gruissem was bullish about the importance of plants to a new European economy. "Europe must put its knowledge base in the field of plant science into practice to keep the European agricultural sector innovative and internationally competitive," he asserted.
“Plant genomics, the other life sciences and biotechnology are the main scientific drivers of the bio-economy which is worth an estimated £0,8 trillion a year in Europe. Together, they make up what is becoming known as the knowledge-based bio-economy.”
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