As fossil reserves become scarcer and the price for crude oil drastically increases, new energy sources
have to be explored. The transport sector today mainly depends on liquid fuels and an opportunity to substitute fossil fuels is biofuels. Thus, the European Union (EU) has implemented several policies to support the use of biofuels,relying on both, domestically produced and imported biofuels, as available agricultural land for biofuel production in the EU is limited. The potential for biofuel production in Latin America is much larger and cooperation among the two continents is encouraged. Therefore the European Commission supports the BioTop project in the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7). The overall objective of BioTop is to identify technical opportunities and research needs for Latin America and to create and support specific RTD cooperation activities between Latin America and the European Union in order to maximize synergies in the biofuels sectors. This paper presents objectives and first results of the BioTop project with special emphasis on biomass potential, improved conversion technologies, sustainability, standardization, trade, and RTD cooperation
opportunities.