bralecomp: Brazilian bamboo, palm and co.

The universities in Sao Paulo (USP) and Hamburg (UHH) look back on historical, growing  relations in teaching and research. As an international facilitating agency, growME! GbR is coordinating a joint research initiative between the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at USP, the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research, the Wilhelm-Klauditz-Institut (WKI) and the Center for Wood Science at UHH.
A MoU is currently being developed and shall yield a cooperation agreement for the exchange of doctoral students between the partners. The valuable opportunity to use mutual networks increases both the common potential for innovation and the research spectrum - integrating academia, social stakeholders and industry.
As a result, we are seeking a bilateral research consortium of research institutes and industrial partners. The development, characterization and application of a scrimber composite material based on alternative lignocellulose and biogenic binders will be the focus of this collaboration. The combination of South American semi-finished products from agricultural sources and European processing technology will lead to a prototype production plant. As a work result of the workshop, we expect answers to the following questions:
1. What are the technological, economic and ecological potentials of Brazilian lignocellulosic raw materials?
2. What hurdles and desiderata have delayed the development and realization in Brazil?
3. In what form can the participating partner institutions and industrial partners cooperate in an institutional framework?

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