Michigan and Sweden: Working together to grow the bioeconomy
Michigan and Sweden have 4,500 miles and the Arctic Circle between them. But the state and country have surprising similarities once you get beyond the blond hair and the mountains.
The population of each is roughly the same, as is the determination to reduce dependence on petroleum products. Sweden has a national initiative to eliminate all uses of petroleum-based products by 2020 and instead use products made from renewable resources. In 2006, MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon created the MSU Office of Biobased Technologies to marshal MSU research and resources to help foster connections with public and private sector initiatives designed to expand Michigan's bioeconomic sector.
Neither Michigan nor Sweden has enormous amounts of investment capital, so each is developing innovative approaches to push the transition to a bioeconomy. By harnessing the power of collaboration toward a shared goal, the state and the country are going places neither could go alone.
MSU researchers are working closely with Swedish scientists and entrepreneurs to create new bioproducts and bioprocesses. The collaborations are pointing the way to a more thoughtful relationship with the environment and improving the economies.
Both of which will pay dividends for years to come.
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