Training Future Leaders in Sustainable Biotechnology
Bumbuku Creatives partnered with Aarhus University to bring the INTERfaces project to life through engaging animation. This Horizon 2020–funded initiative aims to bridge academia and industry by training the next generation of biotechnologists with both academic knowledge and practical skills.
Finding a compelling way to communicate its innovative training programme for future biotechnologists — during a time when COVID-19 had severely disrupted collaboration, research, and lab access.
Delivering a dynamic animation that told the story of adaptation and resilience, highlighting how the project embraced digital tools to continue offering high-quality training.
Elevating INTERfaces’ visibility, clearly explaining the value of the programme and its relevance in a post-pandemic world. It helped position the initiative as a future-forward model for science education.
At Bumbuku Creatives, we brought the INTERfaces project to life through animation — translating a complex scientific initiative into an engaging, accessible story. Led by Aarhus University and supported by Horizon 2020, INTERfaces is a pioneering PhD training programme that connects academia with industry to prepare the next generation of biotechnology leaders.
Our challenge was to visualise not only the programme’s scientific goals but also its resilience. The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the project: laboratories closed, research activities were delayed, and meaningful collaboration across borders became difficult. This meant that our animation process also had to adapt. We faced delays in sourcing visual material, struggled to coordinate virtual meetings across multiple time zones, and had limited access to key references.
At Bumbuku Creatives, we brought the INTERfaces project to life through animation — translating a complex scientific initiative into an engaging, accessible story. Led by Aarhus University and supported by Horizon 2020, INTERfaces is a pioneering PhD training programme that connects academia with industry to prepare the next generation of biotechnology leaders.
Our challenge was to visualise not only the programme’s scientific goals but also its resilience. The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the project: laboratories closed, research activities were delayed, and meaningful collaboration across borders became difficult. This meant that our animation process also had to adapt. We faced delays in sourcing visual material, struggled to coordinate virtual meetings across multiple time zones, and had limited access to key references.
Despite these hurdles, both INTERfaces and Bumbuku responded with agility. The project embraced remote learning, virtual labs, and digital mentoring to keep its PhD training on track. In parallel, we built a fully remote animation pipeline, relied on asynchronous communication, and collaborated entirely through cloud-based tools — ensuring a smooth creative process from concept to delivery.
The final result is an animation that captures the spirit of INTERfaces: bold, collaborative, and forward-thinking. It not only communicates the scientific ambition of the programme but also celebrates its ability to adapt and thrive in uncertain times.
Through visual storytelling, we helped INTERfaces tell a human story of science, resilience, and innovation — one that continues to shape the future of industrial biotechnology.
The aim of the project is to replicate natural bioprocesses for use in the chemical industry; create 100 per cent pure, natural and sustainable chemical products by mimicking the metabolism of living organisms. The project is potentially ground-breaking for one of the world’s most polluting industries.today one of the world’s
Despite these hurdles, both INTERfaces and Bumbuku responded with agility. The project embraced remote learning, virtual labs, and digital mentoring to keep its PhD training on track. In parallel, we built a fully remote animation pipeline, relied on asynchronous communication, and collaborated entirely through cloud-based tools — ensuring a smooth creative process from concept to delivery.
The final result is an animation that captures the spirit of INTERfaces: bold, collaborative, and forward-thinking. It not only communicates the scientific ambition of the programme but also celebrates its ability to adapt and thrive in uncertain times.
Through visual storytelling, we helped INTERfaces tell a human story of science, resilience, and innovation — one that continues to shape the future of industrial biotechnology.
most polluting industries.
As Bumbuku our part in this project is of course, in digital storytelling. We will be transforming complext data and information about the research and its findings in time for the genaral public. This includes an extensive background research about the project itself, enzymes and how they work in nature. Also finding the core idea and mission behind the project to rise awareness about the issue. Afterwards, we visualise and digitalise the story by animation videos and creating print materials to contribute the events organised for the project. We will be producing many visuals throughout the project.
Successful applied science not only needs to be interdisciplinary but should also be at the interface between groundbreaking research and industrial implementation.
This project contributes to 3 SDGs and as Bumbuku we are trilled to be part of these goals.
