Catalyzing Across Sectors to Advance the Bioeconomy (CASA-Bio) was initiated by the NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences and inspired by the Executive Order (EO) on Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe, and Secure American Bioeconomy. Released by the White House in September of 2022, the EO laid out a grand vision to advance biotechnology and biomanufacturing through foundational and use-inspired research and development in five thematic areas (Bioeconomy EO Themes):
-- climate change
https://www.casa-bio.net/climate-change-solutions
-- food and agriculture
https://www.casa-bio.net/food-agriculture-innovation
-- supply chain resilience
https://www.casa-bio.net/supply-chain-resilience
-- human health
https://www.casa-bio.net/human-health
-- cross cutting areas to advance all these areas
https://www.casa-bio.net/cross-cutting-advances
Moreover, the EO called for this vision to be enabled by collaboration among government, industry, the private sector, and public sector researchers. That sparked our thinking, and we initiated CASA-Bio.
CASA-Bio is a collaborative, facilitated activity involving stakeholders from federal funding agencies, industries, non-profits, and the public sector research community. The overall goal is to give life to the vision of the Bioeconomy EO by seeking synergy through collaboration in areas of mutual interest. See our Action Plan.
Call to Action -- Stakeholders from Federal agencies, industry, and non-profits have identified a group of Subtheme Challenges that span the five Bioeconomy EO Themes. We now call on you, the research community, for input for the next step. Please explore the Subtheme Challenges, join us at one of our Virtual Town Hall Meetings, and share your ideas for research on these or other areas that have the potential to advance the bioeconomy. Your input will be critical for moving CASA-Bio forward to advance the bioeconomy.
There are multiple ways to participate: Share your ideas in a virtual Town Hall and/or share your ideas online. In February, we will host four virtual Town Hall meetings to hear from the research community about the ideas they view as having exciting potential to advance the bioeconomy. These Town Halls will be highly interactive with lots of time for breakout discussions among community members. The Town Halls will all have the same agenda but are offered at different days and times to accommodate different schedules. Everyone is welcome to attend the Town Halls and to share research ideas! We suggest you view the EO Themes and Representative Subtheme Challenges, as you consider the challenges and ideas you would like to share.
When you submit your responses, you’re not just sending information into the void. Your ideas have the potential to resonate with others. As part of our commitment to a collaborative community, we may share your individual ideas with other participants of CASA-Bio or during subsequent meetings. This sharing aims to foster a sense of connection and shared purpose among us all. Patentable ideas, trade secrets, privileged or confidential commercial or financial information, disclosure of which may harm the submitter, should not be included in any submissions.
Your input will also play a crucial role in shaping a bigger picture as we seek to synthesize and identify priority research areas for the next phases of CASA-BIO. We’ll be using text analysis and AI methods to analyze the collective data. The goal is to identify common themes, trends, and topics that emerge from the multitude of voices. Your data, along with everyone else’s, will contribute to this aggregate view, offering us insights that no single perspective can provide.
CASA-Bio:
https://www.casa-bio.net/
Slides:
https://nsfbiobuzz.files.wordpress.com/2024/01/casa-bio-slides-for-voh_011824.pdf
Action plan:
https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/kistorm-media.appspot.com/o/CASA-Bio%20Action%20Plan.pdf
FAQs:
https://oadblog.nsfbio.com/2024/01/24/january-2023-virtual-office-hours-recap-catalyzing-across-sectors-to-advance-the-bioeconomy-casa-bio/
EO on Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe, and Secure American Bioeconomy
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/09/12/executive-order-on-advancing-biotechnology-and-biomanufacturing-innovation-for-a-sustainable-safe-and-secure-american-bioeconomy/