Demeter Awards & Innovation Showcase 2025

📅 Date: Monday, November 17, 2025
📍 Location: Royal Society of Chemistry, London
⏰ Time: 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM GMT

About the Event

Join us for the Demeter Awards & Innovation Showcase 2025, the premier event celebrating innovation and excellence in the bio-based sector. Hosted by the Bio-based and Biodegradable Industries Association (BBIA), this event brings together industry leaders, investors, policymakers, and innovators shaping the future of sustainable materials.

What to Expect:

✨ Demeter Awards Ceremony – Recognising outstanding achievements in bio-based innovation, featuring:

• Product Innovation Award
• Start-up-of-the-Year Award
• Collaboration Award
• Bioeconomy Champion Award

🔬 Innovation Showcase – Discover cutting-edge sustainable materials and technologies revolutionising industries.

🤝 Networking Opportunities – Connect with key players from government, industry, and academia to explore collaborations and investment opportunities.

🎤 Expert Panels & Keynotes – Gain insights from thought leaders on the latest trends and policies in sustainability.

Who Should Attend?

• Entrepreneurs & Startups in Bio-based Industries
• Investors & Venture Capitalists
• Sustainability & Circular Economy Advocates
• Corporate Leaders & Manufacturers
• Government & Policy Officials
• Researchers & Academics

Tickets & Registration

Secure your spot now and be part of the future of sustainable innovation!

🎟️ Register today!

For more details, visit: Demeter Awards 2025 - BBIA

Agenda:

10.00 Registration and refreshments

10.30 Keynote: ‘The BioRevolution is here’ George Freeman MP

10.45 Start-up of the Year Award shortlisted applicants’ pitches

11:30 Panel Discussion: How to Create the UK’s first Trillion-Dollar Biotechnology Company?

The UK aims to be a top-three global tech hub by 2035, with its first trillion-dollar tech company as a key milestone. Engineering Biology—crucial to the £30 trillion global bioeconomy—is central to this vision. This panel explores what it will take to build and scale a biotech giant in the UK, and the actions needed now to make it happen.

Chair: Dr Paul Mines, Chair, BBIA

Speakers: Dr Izzy Webb, Deputy Director for Technology Strategy and Security, DSIT; Sam Olof, Co-Founder of Revena & Science Creates Ventures; Oliver Sexton, Future Planet Capital (Invited); Steve Foots, Croda (Invited).

12:15 Product Innovation Award shortlisted applicants’ pitches

13:00 Lunch, Exhibition and Networking

14:00 Panel Discussion: Bio-Based Ingredients in Consumer Goods, Driving Brand Value

This session explores how consumer-facing companies are integrating bio-based ingredients into products and packaging — not just as a sustainability measure, but as a way to build brand equity, consumer trust, and market differentiation. It also tackles the trade-offs between performance, cost, and environmental value.

Chair: Dr Jen Vanderhoven, COO, BBIA

Speakers: Sarah Hoskings, Biosourcing Platform Leader, Unilever; Kristal Goodman, Head of Product Innovation, THG Labs; Russ Tucker, CEO, Twig; Professor Joanna Gavins, University of Sheffield; Clare Walker, Head of Global Regulations and Product Safety, Holiferm.

14:45 Collaboration Award shortlisted applicants’ pitches

15:30 Break and Exhibition

16:00 Panel Discussion: Circular by Nature: Rethinking the Lifecycle of Bio-Based Products

As the demand for sustainable alternatives to fossil-based products grows, the conversation is shifting beyond bio-based origins to focus on their full lifecycle — including what happens after use. This panel explores how companies, researchers, and policymakers are working to ensure that bio-based products are not only renewable, but also designed for circularity from the ground up.

Chair: Andy Sweetman, Vice-Chair, BBIA

Speakers: Professor Anju Massey-Brooker, Programme Lead, RSC's Sustainable Polymers in Liquid Formulations Programme, Royal Society Chemistry; Jonathan Edmunds, Sustainability Director, Woodly; Eilidh O'Connor, Head of Environmental, Vegware; Robbie Staniforth, Innovation Director, Ecosurety; David Greenfield, Founder and Managing Director, Social, Environmental & Economic Solutions (invited)

16:45 Awards Presentation – Presented by Lord Deben

Bioeconomy Champion, Product Innovation, Collaboration, Start-up-of-the-Year

17.15 Celebration Drinks and Networking

18.30 Close