Experts from research and industry sectors convened in Yantai, China from 2^nd to 3^rd April, 2019 for the 2^nd International Conference on Sustainable Biofuels. The conference was organized by Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, CAS, in the context of the mandate of Mission Innovation (MI).

Sustainable Biofuel Development is a key challenge as well as an opportunity for governments, researchers, investors and industry to work together. The Sustainable Biofuels Innovation Challenge (IC#4) is one of the eight innovation challenges under the MI framework, striving to develop ways to produce, at scale, widely affordable, advanced biofuels for transportation and industrial applications.

The two-day conference was fruitful with 29 excellent reports comprised of plenary speeches about the biofuel outlook worldwide and international bioenergy collaborations opportunities and challenges, national perspectives about the biofuel development in six member countries, and academic reports on the latest advanced technologies in fields of biomass bio-chemical conversion technology, catalytic conversion technology, and thermal-chemical conversion technology and combustion. The panel discussion focused on how to promote biofuels scale-up and facilitate international collaboration under MI framework. And the round-table discussions confirmed the strong commitment of IC4 members to biofuels development and up-scale.

In conclusion, the conference led to clear understanding of latest developments in bio-energy in both R&D and commercialization; better awareness of the challenges and barriers for biofuel up-scale, as well as the aspirations of investors and industry for large scale commercialization; enhanced understanding about the specific collaborations programs and funding mechanisms in different countries, and establishment of direct contact between researchers/ industry/ investors of different countries.