Implementing industrial-academic partnerships to advance bioenergy research: the Energy Biosciences Institute

•The EBI was an unprecedented partnership between a company and academic partners.•The partnership funded over 400 scientists with over $300 million.•Company scientists stationed in the EBI contributed many creative ideas and important technical capabilities and knowledge.•A notable outcome was the development of a new class lubricants from sugars.

The Energy Bioscience Institute (EBI) is an example of an ambitious academic-industry collaboration. We present a summary of how the EBI was organized during the first eight years and examples of several major research thrusts within the Institute to develop renewable biodiesel, jet fuel and lubricants from carbohydrates. In particular, we describe how the multidisciplinary nature and management structure of the organization led to hybrid approaches in which bioconversions and chemical synthesis were combined to develop new products.

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