The Ministry for Science, Research and Arts of the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg (BW-MWK) has provided funding for a bioeconomy graduate school to support the development of this interdisciplinary research field. The resulting BBW ForWerts graduate program was founded in July, 2014 and is aiming to educate excellent young academics who will take on the task of finding solutions for global problems and meeting current economic demands through the natural sciences.