MDIC launches project to map germplasm banks and strengthen the bio-inputs industry.

The Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services (MDIC), through the Secretariat of Green Economy, Decarbonization and Bioindustry (SEV), held a meeting last week to launch the project "Strengthening the production chain of the national bio-input industry by providing a situational diagnosis of germplasm banks". The initiative is the result of a Decentralized Execution Agreement (TED) signed between the MDIC and the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) last April. The project will map and evaluate the germplasm banks existing in the country, responsible for the conservation of biological material used in research, innovation and production of bio-inputs. The work includes surveying the active institutions, technical-operational analyses, a study of international references and the definition of guidelines to improve the management of these structures. For the Secretary of SEV, Julia Cruz, the project represents an important step to strengthen the knowledge infrastructure that supports the bio-input industry in Brazil. “With this diagnosis, we want to clearly see what the country already has in its germplasm banks and transform knowledge that is currently fragmented into information accessible to researchers, companies, and institutions,” he stated. In addition to the diagnosis, the project includes discussion groups, technical training, and the development of a digital platform that will gather and make available the collected information. At the end of the work, the results will be offered openly and transparently to the entire society. This initiative complements other strategic actions conducted by the MDIC (Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade) to strengthen the Brazilian bioindustry. Among them is the recently signed TED (Technical Cooperation Agreement) with Inmetro (National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology) for the creation of a reference laboratory focused on the quality and traceability of biological inputs of interest to the bioindustry. The opening meeting was attended by representatives from the MDIC, the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), the Araucária Foundation for Support of Scientific and Technological Development of the State of Paraná (Fundação Araucária), and the project coordination team.

This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.