Researchers at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) were awarded first prize in the Dow Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge Award (SISCA).
The students from Professor Lars Nielsen’s research group, based at The University of Queensland, (UQ), successfully proposed their innovative idea to a panel of judges and won $10, 000.
The AIBN researcher’s proposed a new sustainable biological factory for the production of industrial chemicals.
The team of students from the Nielsen Group included Tim McCubbin, Axayacatl Gonzalez Garcia, Carlos Luna Flores and Jason Jooste.
The team said, with an increasing threat of global warming and rising oil and gas prices, there is a growing push by industry towards the sustainable, renewable and cheaper production of industrial chemicals.
The motivation behind their new strategy is to help overcome key limitations preventing the economical bio-based production of chemicals.
The panel of judges were made up of Professor Max Lu (Provost and Senior Vice-Preident UQ) and leaders in Dow; Dr Weiguang Yao (Chief Technology Officer, Asia Pacific R&D; Global Director, Energy Materials R&D), Mr Tony Frenchman (Managing Director, Dow Australia and New Zealand) and Dr Andre Argenton (R&D Director, Corporate Venturing and External Technology).
In alignment with Dow’s 2015 Sustainability Goals, the SISCA program was launched in 2009 to promote forward thinking in social and environmental responsibility, and advance sustainable development at universities.
The program continues to expand and now engages students from 17 universities across the world.
