Business and Science Forum 2019

 Themes of the panel discussion:
– The role of bioeconomy development in climate change mitigation.
– Transition from narrow specialization to industrial symbiosis strategy
– Boundaries of bioeconomy and prospects of biotechnology and genetics to satisfy increasing demands for bio-based resources and products.
– Key factors of success in shifting from non-renewable fuels and other resources based economy to bio-based economy, which would be higher value-added, more socially inclusive and environment-friendly.

Panel discussion speakers:
Dovilė Zdanavičienė – Head of the Climate Change Management Policy Group at the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Lithuania
Zigmas Medingis – Counsellor of the Division of Crop Production and Agri-Environment at the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania
Kęstutis Juščius – CEO and the main stakeholder of the AUGA group, which is one of the largest groups of companies in the Baltic region managing agricultural companies and implementing socially and environmentally sustainable eco-business model
Tomas Andrejauskas – Founding Partner of SatiMed, the company researching, developing and manufacturing phytocannabinoid-based medicinal, nutritional and cosmetic products; and Vice President of the Lithuanian Biotechnology Association
Dr. Monika Kavaliauskė – CEO of CasZyme, the startup company aiming to develop new discoveries, innovative applications and top-quality research in the field of CRISPR based Molecular Tools and to support researchers and companies practicing gene-editing worldwide
Dr. Per Møller – Head of Symbiosis Center Denmark, which is a national knowledge center working to identify and facilitate industrial symbiosis projects between public and private industrial partners and, thus, to enable the use of residues from one company as a resource in another for the producion of valuable materials and energy

Indicative questions for open discussion:
– How Social Business Keeps Rural Communities Vitality?
Key speaker: Jurgita Ribinskaitė-Glatzer – Director of Public Institution „Geri noraiLT“, head of the international organization “Reach for change” for the Baltic States
– How to Develop Regional Food System in the Context of Bioeconomy?
Key speaker: Dr. Talis Tisenkopfs – Baltic Studies Centre Director, Professor, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Latvia

Other debaters:
Giedrė Kvieskienė – Professor, Vytautas Magnus University
Karlheinz Knickel – Visiting Research Professor at RURALIS – Institute for Rural and Regional Research / Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway; Research Coordinator at Instituto de Ciencias Agrarias e Ambientais Mediterranicas (ICAAM) at Universidade de Évora, Portugal; Research Associate at PRAC – Policy Research & Consultancy in Bad Soden, Germany
Mindaugas Maciulevičius – Founding member and director of the AgriCoop developing short supply chains Lithuanian Farm Quality; Vice-President of European agri-cooperatives association COGECA; Member of the European Economic and Social Committee, Vice-President of Group III
Dr. Arūnas Svitojus – president of Chamber of Agriculture, Represents the interests of Lithuanian farmers at the international level, Ensures the membership of the Chamber of Agriculture in international organizations (COPA-COGECA, IDF, Council of Baltic agricultural Organisations)