Insects in the focus of the bioeconomy - From 14 to 16 May 2024, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB) hosted and co-organised its last INSECTA International Conference. 223 guests from 41 countries, 56 talks, 65 posters and a great exchange between research, industry and politics crowned the joint event series of PPM and ATB. Next year, ATB and the German Institute of Food Technology (DIL) will launch the new INSECTSplus conference series and broaden its focus to include alternative bioresources such as algae, fungi and microorganisms.
"The response proves us right: alternative raw material sources such as insects are becoming increasingly important. Many companies from Germany, Europe and around the world have recognised the potential of insects and have already set up innovative breeding and processing facilities. Research institutions around the world are looking at insects as food, feed or as a basis for biobased materials in non-food applications," says Dr. Oliver Schlüter, spokesperson for "Healthy Food" and organiser of the INSECTA Conference at the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy.
"Our vision at ATB is a sustainable and circular bioeconomy. As 'utilisers' with low space requirements, insects can convert a wide variety of organic materials into high-quality ingredients such as proteins, lipids and carbohydrates. This is why they represent a building block of research at ATB," says Schlüter. Over the past nine years, ATB and Pilot Pflanzenöltechnologie Magdeburg (PPM) have established INSECTA as an international focal point for research and industry.
"To round off this success, we brought INSECTA 2024 to ATB and are delighted with the positive feedback we received. We were able to attract experts such as Prof Laura Gasco, Dr. Gertje Petersen, Prof Sergiy Smetana and Prof Andreas Vilcinskas as great speakers for the conference. Dr. Petersen, for example, gave an extremely exciting insight into the importance of genetic aspects in animal and insect breeding, how we can make use of them and what limitations need to be taken into account. Prof Vilcinskas emphasised the importance of insect breeding for a sustainable bioeconomy.
I would like to thank my colleagues, especially our doctoral researcher Giacomo Rossi, for the great organisation and their tireless efforts, but of course also the sponsors and numerous participants with their exciting contributions. A big thank you goes to our long-standing partner PPM, who will continue INSECTA without us," concludes Dr. Schlüter.
From 2025, ATB and the German Institute of Food Technology (DIL) will launch the international conference series INSECTSplus. The first event will take place from 12 to 13 May 2025 in the Stadthalle in Cloppenburg, Germany.
You can find more information about the INSECTA Conference here: insecta-conference.com
The conference proceedings of Insecta 2024 contain summaries of all conference presentations.
You can find more information about INSECTSplus at: www.insects.plus
Contact:
Dr. Oliver Schlüter
Speaker for the programme area “Healthy Food”
Phone: +49 331 5699-613
E-mail: oschlueter@atb-potsdam.de
Jessica Lietze
Press and Public Relations
Phone: +49 331 5699-819
E-mail: presse@atb-potsdam.de
Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB) is a pioneer and driver of bioeconomy research. We create scientific foundations for the transformation of agricultural, food, industrial and energy systems into a comprehensive bio-based circular economy. We develop and integrate technology, processes and management strategies in the sense of converging technologies in order to intelligently network highly diverse bioeconomic production systems and to control them in a knowledge-based, adaptive and largely automated manner. We conduct research in dialogue with society - motivated by knowledge and inspired by application. www.atb-potsdam.de/en