The European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB) was established by European scientists in 1978. It is a non-profit federation of national biotechnology associations, learned societies, universities, scientific institutes, biotechnology companies and individual biotechnologists working to promote biotechnology throughout Europe and beyond.

As the independent “Voice of Biotechnology in Europe”, EFB promotes the safe, sustainable and beneficial use of fundamental research and innovation in life sciences, to provide a forum for interdisciplinary and international cooperation, to improve scientific education and to facilitate an informed dialogue between scientists, the biotechnology industries and the public.

The first European Congress of Biotechnology in Interlaken, Switzerland, in 1978 marked the inauguration of EFB. In 2024, the latest edition was held in Rotterdam, continuing the legacy of the longest-running biotechnology congress in Europe. The 20th Congress of the European Federation of Biotechnology will take place in Antwerp in 2026.

EFB began as a small group of working parties from different European countries, with interests ranging from fermentation technology to public perception, applied microbiology, genetics, downstream processing, and measurement and control. Forty-five years later, EFB is open to all who support its mission of promoting the safe, sustainable and ethical use of biological systems for the benefit of mankind.

With over 25,000 individual members worldwide—from Latin America to China, Korea and Japan—EFB reflects the growing global interest in biotechnology. Its focus areas now span green, red and white biotechnologies: from plant, food, agricultural and environmental biotechnology, to healthcare, antibiotic resistance, biomaterials, systems biology, synthetic biology and more.