The four-year Alliance for Socially-acceptable & Actionable Plants (ASAP) is an international research project financed by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) together with other funding organizations of the partner countries with the Global Centers financial instruments.

The Finnish subproject carried out by the University of Vaasa is financed by the Research Council of Finland with approx. 1,3 million euros. The project’s international research consortium is led by the University of Illinois, USA. In addition of the University of Vaasa and the University of Illinois, the international research consortium gathers the University of Stony Brook in the United-States, the University of Oxford and the University of Essex in Great-Britain, and the University of Yamaguchi in Japan.

The research project develops transgenic plant species intended for the production of biofuels. The main goal of the project is to demonstrate the possibility to produce energy-dense and water efficient plant species for industrial use. The project’s experts will also investigate the social acceptance and ethical issues surrounding genetically modified crops and the biofuels produced from them. The purpose of the research is to show how the new ideas around synthetic plant biology can help in promoting the development of a sustainable, profitable and flexible bioeconomy that is socially acceptable. In addition, the project will examine cultural and legal factors that influence public acceptance, amongst others are factors such as the policies on genetic modifications, or the attitudes towards new technologies

The University of Vaasa’s involvement in the project focuses on determining the social acceptance of genetically modified plants and the biofuels produced from them, alongside ethical issues on the topic. The University of Vaasa will be cooperating closely with the University of Essex on these themes. Moreover, the University of Vaasa will conduct research tasks related to the regulations, standardizations and monitoring of biofuels. The materials for the research will be collected from the United-States, Great-Britan and Finland. The project and its research will result in recommendations for the monitoring and public control of genetically modified biofuel production.