Minneapolis, MN October 17, 2011 – BioAmber, Inc. has been awarded a 2011 ICIS
Innovation Award, winning the Best Business Innovation category for the development and
commercialization of its biobased succinic acid platform. BioAmber joins an elite group of
past winners that includes Huntsman in 2010 and DSM in 2009.
BioAmber becomes only the second company to have won the prestigious ICIS Innovation
and the EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge awards in the same year. Dow was the
first company to accomplish the feat in 2008, when Dow Chemical won an ICIS Innovation
Award and Dow AgroSciences won an EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award.
The ICIS Innovation Award for Best Business Innovation, voted by a panel of judges from
DSM, Dow Corning, NNFCC, CRA International and New Scientist, highlights innovation in the
way chemical companies do business. The panel recognized BioAmber’s use of open
innovation and industrial biotechnology to bring to market a sustainable, cost effective
technology that produces a range of C4 chemicals including succinic acid and 1,4-butanediol.
“We thank the ICIS Innovation judges for recognizing BioAmber’s use of open innovation,
which has helped us to accelerate the development and commercialization of a robust
platform chemical. Our success demonstrates that open innovation is not just for large
companies and that renewable chemistry has matured to the point of being a real option for
the chemical industry,” said Jean-Francois Huc, CEO of BioAmber.
Through its use of open innovation and extensive partnerships, BioAmber is the first
company to commercialize biobased succinic acid, using a cost effective and
environmentally responsible process that represents a viable alternative to petrochemicals.
BioAmber currently produces biobased succinic acid in France and has announced two
additional plants that will produce biosuccinic acid and 1,4 butanediol: Sarnia, Ontario,
which will be commissioned in 2013 and Thailand, which will be commissioned in 2014.
Also announced today, BioAmber was named to the 2011 Global Cleantech 100, an annual
list of the most promising global cleantech companies. Cleantech 100 nominees must be
independent, for-profit companies that are not listed on any major stock exchange.
Companies are scored on their innovation, market size and growth and their ability to
execute their technology.
About BioAmber, Inc.
BioAmber, a renewable chemistry company, is the market leader in the development and
commercialization of biobased succinic acid and derivatives including 1,4 butanediol and
modified PBS, a biodegradable plastic offering better heat resistance and processability than
other biopolymers. BioAmber operates the world’s only dedicated biobased succinic acid
plant and has partnerships with market leaders including Cargill, DuPont Applied Biosciences, Mitsubishi Chemical, Mitsui & Co. and PTTMCC Biochem. BioAmber is also
leveraging its succinic acid experience and know-how to develop a biobased adipic acid
platform. The company has offices and research labs in Minneapolis, MN, an office in
Montreal, a sales office in Shanghai, China and a production plant in Pomacle, France. For
Media Contact
Kathryn Sheridan
Sustainability Consult
ks@sustainabilityconsult.com
Phone: 202 470 3239 (US) / +32 496 116198 (Europe)
Investor Relations
Mike Hartmann
Executive VP
mike.hartmann@bio-amber.com
Phone: 514 844 8000 extension 120