At the 2026 Hello Tomorrow Summit, Forbion BioEconomy General Partner Alex Hoffmann and fellow authors introduced the whitepaper Beyond the drill: How biology is reshaping the mining industry.
As demand for critical minerals accelerates, conventional mining faces declining ore grades, rising costs and growing ESG pressure. During the below panel, the members explored how biomining, the use of biological systems to extract minerals, could open new resource pathways while reducing environmental impact.
Alex Hoffmann joined Isabella Fandrych, General Partner at Nucleus Capital; Bruno Meireles de Sousa, Operating Partner at Bidra Innovation Ventures; and Fabien Koutchekian, CEO and Co-Founder of Genomines. Moderated by Nadine Geiser, Principal at World Fund, the discussion covered what it will take to make biomining a core pillar of global mineral supply, and how to scale these technologies in a conservative, capital-intensive industry.
Alex Hoffmann and Forbion Senior Analyst Joseph Iwasyk co-authored the white paper, which was published with Bidra Innovation Ventures, Nucleus Capital and World Fund. The paper maps the biological toolkit and emerging startup landscape, and examines the path from laboratory validation to field deployment at scale.