First Meeting in Dublin, Ireland, 10 September 1996

Chairman: Prof. K.Ch.A.M. Luyben

Welcome
Prof. Luyben opened the first meeting of the Section and welcomed all present. He introduced the members of the Interim Board and shortly illustrated the history of the now inaugurated Section on Biochemical Engineering Science. As described in the provided hand-out the Section aims to be a forum of European scientists dealing with Biochemical Engineering Science with the objective to organise activities that encourage integration and interaction such as:
- bi-annual congresses
- courses
- exchanges of PhD students and Post-doctoral fellows and lecturers between European laboratories
- discussion workshops on new developments
It was stressed that the Section has an open structure, all interested biotechnologists are invited to become a member and applications will be accepted from now on. Prof. Luyben further announced that all present at this meeting would be noted as Section members until they notify the secretariat of their resignation. A present list was circulated for this purpose.

Presentation of Task Groups
Working Parties had been asked to come forward with suggestions for Section Task Groups and a number of suggestions were received. Task Group leaders were subsequently invited to present their ideas for Task Group activities to the Section during this meeting. Annex I provides a detailed description of these presentations. Prof. Luyben invited Section members to become active members of one or maximally two of these Task Groups or to come forward with their own ideas for a Task Group. A subscription form was presented in the Symposium bag for this purpose.

Prof. Tramper asked clarification on the relationship Working Party - Section - Task Group. Prof. Luyben replied that his personal view was that the Working Parties would eventually disappear when the Section and the Task Groups are well running. Prof. von Stockar illustrated the view of the EFB Executive Committee which clearly states that for the time being the Working Parties will continue in their existence and activities as before, and that it is up to the members of the Working Parties to decide upon their future. Prof. Howell asked about the financial arrangements for Section members to attend meetings, since the Section has an open structure and does not work with national delegates. Prof. Luyben replied that presently only 10% of Working Party national delegates are able to receive funds from the society they represent and that already 3 countries (United Kingdom, Germany and The Netherlands) had indicated their willingness to support Section members in the same way as national delegates. Dr. Sisak emphasized that especially for Eastern European members it would be very unfortunate if the national delegate system was abandoned. Prof. Luyben agreed and said that he was not suggesting to abandon the system and that the EFB should look for means to continue this system in the Section structure. Prof. Nienow remarked that he did not believe that the IChE or the SCI in the UK would support more than two Section members. Prof. Luyben admitted that there would certainly be more people from one country who would wish to become Section members and he suggested that the Section should look for ways to create funds in order to support all. He mentioned the example of the EFB Task Group on Public Perceptions which had acquired European Commission funds to support their activities. Prof. Schugerl suggested that a more open and flexible system would be good. He referred to the example of national delegates who are 85 years old and who have represented for a too long time several organisations. Prof. Luyben emphasized that the Section is especially looking for active members and that the fact that they are or are not national delegates is of less importance.

Board elections
Prof. Luyben explained that the Section would ideally have started with open elections. However it proved unpractible to organise such at the start of the Section. Therefore the EFB Executive Committee together with the Section Interim Board had decided to organise elections within the three Working Parties (Bioreactor Performance, Downstream Processing and Recovery of Bioproducts, and Measurement and Control) which have been involved in the set-up of the Section. He stressed that the elected members would fully represent the Section and would not in any way represent the Working Party they originated from. Each Working Party had elected two members for the Section Board, who were presented at the meeting. The Executive Committee had further decided that two co-opted members should be elected. For one of the co-opted members the Interim Board is suggesting to elect Prof. Malcolm Lilly, who has very kindly agreed to this candidacy, while the Interim Board would like to suggest to ask an industrial person for the remaining place. He asked the Section to come forward with suggestions of names and motivation in order to fill this vacancy. He further emphasized that the Interim Board fully realized that this procedure is not the most democratic but that in the light of events it would have been impossible to organize this otherwise. He asked the Assembly if there were any objections to the procedure. None were received. He further asked if there were any objections against the presently presented Board. No objections were raised. Prof. Luyben thanked the attendants and informed them that the presently elected Board would serve for two years. At the next ESBES Symposium in 1998 all Board members will resign upon which open elections will be organised. Board members wishing to remain such can be re-elected for another two years, but no Board member can serve longer than 4 years in total. Prof. Luyben closed this agenda item by mentioning that the Board would elect its chairman during the Board meeting on 21 September 1996 and by thanking all on behalf of the Interim Board and the now elected Board for their confidence.

Any other business
Prof. Luyben asked all who wish to become an active member of one or two Task Groups to fill in the supplied form and put it in the box provided for this purpose. He also asked people to give their suggestions for an industrialist Board member to one of the elected Board members.

Next meeting
The next plenary meeting will be held in Budapest during the 8th European Congress on Biotechnology.

Drs P. Osseweijer, 19 November 1996