An interview with Steinbeis expert Professor Dr.-Ing. habil. Rudolf Hausmann
Biotechnology is a source of innovative solutions for sustainable industrial processes and of new business concepts. But with businesses in this sector facing a number of technological and regulatory challenges, a well-founded strategy is essential. Luckily, help is at hand from Professor Dr.-Ing. habil. Rudolf Hausmann, Head of the Department of Bioprocess Engineering at the University of Hohenheim and Steinbeis Entrepreneur at the Steinbeis Consulting Center for Industrial Microbiology and Bioprocess Engineering. He spoke to TRANSFER about the trends and challenges in the field of biotechnology, explaining that biotech can contribute to defossilization and also create high-quality jobs.
Professor Hausmann, which themes do you focus on in your Steinbeis Enterprise?
I provide general coaching and consulting services in the field of industrial biotechnology, especially integrated process engineering – in other words, the coordinated engineering of bioprocesses and the necessary microorganisms. This includes things like producing protective cultures, helping to choose the right apparatus, and new product development. I specialize in the production of microbial surfactants. Because my research has always had a very practical focus, I already have several excellent contacts and partnerships with industry partners in the pharmaceutical and industrial biotech sectors.
Can you tell us something about the economic and social significance of these topics, especially in relation to sustainability?
I believe that biotechnology can play a key part in addressing the social and economic challenges facing Germany and the rest of Europe in the fields of healthcare, food and sustainability. Many businesses are motivated to engage in industrial biotech by the fact that their customers want more sustainable products. Most biotechnology products are fully biodegradable, made with renewable materials and perceived as “green” by consumers. Detergent enzymes are a classic instance of a commercially important product – almost all detergents now contain them. Biosurfactants are one example of a current trend – several biosurfactants have been brought to market in recent years by various startups and established companies. These surfactants of microbial origin are produced by fermentation using renewable feedstocks or even agricultural or food waste. The use of products like this is gradually helping to improve sustainability, but it’s an extremely complex matter that depends on many different factors. That said, there’s no doubt that bioproducts can contribute to defossilization and climate protection.
One socially and economically significant aspect of biotechnology is that it gives us an opportunity to create new, high-quality jobs. This is clearly evidenced by pharmaceutical biotechnology in Switzerland, where around 66,000 people are employed in the pharma and biotech sector. In principle, that should equate to more than 600,000 jobs in Germany, but in actual fact, barely 170,000 people work in the German pharma and biotech industry. The gap between these two figures shows that the pharma and biotech sector has significant growth potential in Germany. The looming prospect of hundreds of thousands of job losses in the automotive industry over the next few years could be mitigated by the creation of new jobs making innovative, science-based products in the biotechnology sector. Unfortunately, public mistrust of genetic engineering remains widespread, and this is one of the reasons why we’re failing to leverage the potential as much as other countries. Society as a whole needs to create a more positive climate for innovation.
What are the technological challenges facing businesses in this field?
The technological challenges relate to certain biological and engineering aspects of research, development and production. The first challenge for businesses working on new biotechnology products is integrated bioprocess engineering, which encompasses strain and process engineering. It also includes efficient separation and purification of the target products, especially when they are only present in low concentrations in the fermentation broth. New processes must then be scaled up from the lab to industrial production. The establishment of a quality management system also usually requires the development and implementation of comprehensive chemical and molecular biological analysis techniques.
Unlike in pharmaceutical biotechnology, feedstock variability must be addressed in order to guarantee the robustness and reproducibility of production processes. The integration of model-based automation can help to ensure consistent quality and efficiency. Intelligent use of sensors and data analytics for bioprocess monitoring and optimization plays an important role in this context. Until now, AI-driven models have not been widely used because there is usually insufficient data. However, I expect the use of AI to become increasingly common in bioprocess monitoring.
As well as overcoming the technological challenges, businesses also have to comply with the relevant regulatory requirements, especially in the food and pharma industries.
Finally, it’s vital to build and maintain an interdisciplinary team with the right combination of skills from the fields of biology, chemistry, process engineering and IT. Indeed, another of the non-technical challenges is the fact that it can be difficult to find these skilled professionals.
How can SMEs and large – national and international – enterprises benefit from your expertise?
Initially, they tend to be looking for a general, independent perspective from someone outside the business, although they often also have very specific questions. Overall, I get a surprisingly wide range of inquiries, from choosing the right equipment to specific questions about microbial biosurfactants, analytics and strain and process engineering. I also help clients with specialized personnel recruitment and technology and knowledge transfer.
My independent perspective and experience help to reduce uncertainty and thus minimize risk. Discussion and evaluation of the potential biotechnological approaches and techniques allows clients to make their investment decisions with confidence. Both SMEs and large enterprises can benefit from my expertise as an external consultant.
Even if my client has a specific problem with an established technology or tried-and-tested method, I can provide an independent analysis of their current processes and draw on my experience to bring new ideas to the table. So I also help to optimize current processes, as well as assisting with strategy development and supporting the implementation of new technologies. Ideally, my input will lead to new business opportunities or at least to efficiency gains. And, last but not least, I offer help with staff recruitment and training.
Gazing into your crystal ball, which trends will shape the future of industrial microbiology and bioprocess technology?
For some years, the experts have been saying that global industry is on the cusp of a new Industrial Revolution that will be driven by biotechnology. Combining chemical engineering and modern microbiology, bioprocess engineering is the youngest and fastest-growing of all engineering disciplines, and I agree that it definitely has the potential to bring about novel and disruptive changes in industry and society as a whole, with consequences that we cannot currently foresee. Concrete trends include the steady growth in the number and diversity of biotechnology products. Food biotechnologies like cellular agriculture and precision fermentation deserve a special mention in this context. In this field, I expect to see disruptive changes in our food supply, akin to the change in the production of citric acid, which is no longer isolated from lemons but is instead produced using biotechnological techniques.
Another increasingly important trend is the extensive automation and decentralization of bioproduction. However, bioproducts will always need to offer superior performance if they are to catch on. This is demonstrated by the fact that the largely politically motivated replacement of conventional petrochemical-based chemicals – with drop-in chemicals – and fuels is taking longer than anticipated and is dependent on the carbon price.
Contact
Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Rudolf Hausmann (Interviewee)
Steinbeis Entrepreneur
Steinbeis Consulting Center for Industrial Microbiology and Bioprocess Engineering (Stuttgart)
Head of the Department of Bioprocess Engineering
University of Hohenheim (Stuttgart)
231462-30