Summary
Combining big data exploitation, machine learning- and sophisticated activity-based bioprospecting, protein engineering and nano-biotechnology, FuturEnzyme consortium will strive to develop innovative and efficient tools allowing the use of enzymes in consumer products displaying a markedly higher environmental quality. In a world facing major environmental challenges and threats, Europe has set the challenge, in the European Green Deal, to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050. In this context, enzymes, being green catalysts operating efficiently at low energy costs, undoubtedly have a pivotal duty. By tackling current technological limitations, FuturEnzyme will develop and apply smart technologies to develop a generic technological platform allowing the fast production of enzymes displaying, enhanced performances (incl. environmental). Following a solution-oriented strategy, the systems developed will be integrated in the formulation and sustainable manufacturing of textiles, washing agents and personal/consumer care products. These developments will be undertaken by a multidisciplinary team of 15 European academic and industrial partners.

Objectives
FuturEnzyme will address the challenges through establishing and developing new smart technologies to produce and broaden the range of easy to produce and low-cost enzymes with exquisite proficiency and stability. Being smart by design, the newly developed enzymes shall be integrated in the formulation of real-life consumer products with lower energy and water consumption and carbon footprints. To that end, this project stands on the basis of big data and bioprospecting knowledge generated by our previous European Framework Programs-funded and National projects, access to, and development of, technological platforms and tools going beyond the state-of the-art. This includes bioprospecting, expression & production and engineering tools in combination with massive bioinformatics and computational resources. It also stands on the capacity to integrate the new bioprospecting methods into an industrial context following a decision-based strategy to select the most prominent enzymes to work in solution-oriented areas, textiles, washing agents, and personal/consumer care.

Project Partners
• Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain)
• Barcelona Supercomputing Center (Spain)
• Bangor University (UK); Universität Hamburg (Germany)
• Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Düsseldorf (Germany)
• Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento (Portugal)
• Italian National Research Council (CNR, Italy);
• University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland; ACTYGEA SRL (Italy)
• INOFEA AG (Swiss); Scoeller Textiles AG (Swiss)
• Henkel AG & Co. KgaA (Germany)
• Evonik Operations GmbH /Germany)
• Eucodis Bioscience GmbH (Germany)
• Consorzio Italbiotec Italy)
• CLIB- Cluster Industrielle Biotechnologie (Germany)