The Bio-Based Industries Consortium (BIC) invites stakeholders and society for a public consultation on the new draft strategic agenda for research and innovation for 2030 (SIRA2030).

The draft SIRA2030, published in March, describes the main technology and innovation challenges for the coming years, towards a sustainable and competitive bio-based industry in Europe. It is a step-by-step plan for achieving the ambitions that BIC together with 15 partner organizations published in 2019 in the vision document ‘The circular bio-society in 2050’. This includes:

• Developing new business models involving strategic partners, such as primary and market sectors, more;
• Accelerate the commercialization of sustainable solutions in a circular bio-economy;
• Setting up climate neutral operations to combat climate change;
• Establish new purchasing and consumption patterns for a circular bio society.

The main changes compared to SIRA 2020 are the introduction of end markets (consumers, society as a whole), a better integration of primary sectors in the design of value chains, the increasing role and impact of digitization and the circularity of bio-based value chains.

Substantive contribution

This SIRA2030 was drawn up using input from four task forces with BIC members and the 15 organizations that support the Vision 2050. The advisory bodies of the BBI JU also made a substantive contribution.

Details of the new Horizon Europe innovation program (successor to Horizon 2020) and the European Commission’s underlying European Green Deal are not yet final. And investigations into the availability of bio-waste and into the quantitative contributions of the biobased industry to the UN SDGs and associated KPIs are also currently in a final phase. In the meantime, the draft of SIRA2030 has already been submitted to the European Commission and the public stakeholder consultation.

All relevant stakeholders and society are invited to contribute to the development of the SIRA2030, by participating in a public consultation. BIC will bundle the results of this consultation on an anonymous basis in a report to be published on its website.

Ultimately, in order to implement the agenda, BIC, together with the European Commission, wants to create a new public-private partnership under Horizon Europe. This can build on the performance of the current Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU).

Participation in the public consultation is possible until April 30, 2020. For more information and registration, see the BIC website.

Source: https://www.agro-chemistry.com/news/bic-opens-public-consultation-on-new-research-agenda/

Image: Shutterstock