In science – especially in the life sciences – international cooperations are not an option, but they are a prerequisite for remaining competitive in top global research topics. Especially for SMEs located in NRW, it is becoming increasingly important to enter into future markets or to generate international R&D collaborations.

In addition to the traditionally important North American and Japanese markets, the emerging countries of Asia such as China, India, Korea and two other so-called BRIC countries, Russia and Brazil, play an important role in the global biotechnology and bioeconomy. Brazil, Russia and Canada are particularly interesting for companies of NRW because of their natural resources, their economic- and academic contacts, and their cooperation opportunities in the fields of industrial biotechnology and bioeconomy.