Grenzeloos Biobased Onderwijs (Boundless Biobased Education) works on the development of demand-driven biobased education programs at secondary, higher and university level and on better training and research facilities for education and business.
Contacts: Bas Koebrugge: b.koebrugge@avans.nl
GreenProtein is an European project which aims at a major innovation in the fields of protein production and food loss reduction in the EU by producing high-added value, food-grade functional proteins and other ingredients, out of green field waste.
The general objective of the GreenProtein project, that gathers 7 different European partners during 4.5 years, is to establish a demo plant for the extraction and purification of functional RuBisCo protein isolate at industrial scale. GreenProtein will demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of the revalorisation of green residues from existing agroindustry.
The demo plant is design so it is a replicable system with a high spreading projection in the whole EU.
Contacts: Africa Matilda Pardavila Morris: africa.pardavila@innovarum.es
Grasslands are important for land use in Europe, covering more than a third of the European agricultural area. Grasslands are also diverse in terms of management, yield and biodiversity value, providing forage and other key resources for Europe’s livestock sector. The EU-funded GO-GRASS project will create new opportunities in rural areas based on grassland and green fodder. These will be tested in four EU regions at small scale to ensure wide replication. Within a circular system, the project will develop business models that are circular, sustainable and suitable for remote areas with unexploited resources. The GO-GRASS consortium comprises a multidisciplinary team of 22 partners from 8 European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, Romania, Spain, and Sweden).
Contacts: Philipp Grundmann (coordinator): go-grass@atb-potsdam.de
Natalie Höppner (communication & dissemination): nah@esci.eu
Danube regions and cities face major societal challenges regarding demographic change and brain drain. Rural exodus, loss of opportunities for youth and territorial imbalances are only the tip of the iceberg. However, Danube regions can make a change. A new beginning is possible through multi-level governance and stronger institutional capacities.
The bioeconomy potential of the Danube macro-region is vast. GoDanuBio advocates for the circular bioeconomy as a main tool to revitalize rural areas and establish rural-urban synergies from the Black Forest to the Black Sea. A way ahead is bioeconomising[1] clusters landscapes and value chains, and shaping innovation ecosystems. GoDanuBio inherits the results of DanuBioValNet project (2017-2019) and with a wider thematic scope focuses on participative governance and mutual learning to unleash transformation.
[1] The full deployment of the bioeconomy potential lies in the engagement and participation of all related-industries and stakeholders through the bio-based value chains. Missing gaps should be identified and integrated.
Contacts: Sergi Costa (Coordinator): costa@bio-pro.de
Teodora Atanasova (Communication): teodora.atanasova@brait.bg
The EU-funded Glaukos project aims to develop innovative and environmentally sustainable textile fibres and coatings. The complete life cycle of these textiles will be redesigned: their sustainability performance (i.e. biodegradability and bio-recyclability) will be enhanced significantly, while their technical performance will be matched to end-user requirements. Glaukos builds on two concepts: triggerable biodegradability as a key concept in polymer design to mitigate textile-based microplastics pollution, and bio-recycling as a sustainable end-of-life solution. The supply chain distance is also substantially reduced by scaling up a disruptive way of producing the main polymer building block from several bio-based feedstocks. The underlying objective of Glaukos is to reduce the carbon and the plastic footprint of clothing and fishing gear. Stakeholders’ engagement will be encouraged through the involvement of individuals from the clothing and fishing gear industry.
Contacts:
Project Coordinator Zsófia Kádár zsofia.kadar@bbeu.org
Project Manager Tanja Meyer tanja.meyer@bbeu.org
Project Communication and Dissemination Manager Louis Ferrini ferrini@fvaweb.it
FASTER – Farmers’ Adaptation and Sustainability in Tunisia through Excellence in Research will reinforce research and knowledge transfer capacity of INRGREF related to innovative land and water management in view of climate change and its implementation through the use of Farm Advisory Systems (FAS). To achieve this, we will develop a sustainable framework for research capacity building, international networking and FAS practice. Strengthening of researchers and technicians of INRGREF and associated centres (IRESA) will be developed by EU partners of established scientific excellence in the topic (CREAF, LU) and demonstrated experience in economic impact and awareness raising (EFB, Vision), and integration into national policies (AVFA). The proposal is structured into 5 work packages, during 3 years and amounting 1million €, including: coordination; capacity building through training and staff exchanges; living lab stablishing through summer schools, e-learning and stakeholder involvement; project sustainability by monitoring, networking and governmental support; and communication through awareness raising and knowledge co-creation. Expected impacts to INRGREF and Tunisian partners are increased number of publications in peer review journals, mobility and international co-funding, increased international reputation, awareness and engagement, new skills and competencies, new services and employment related to FAS, and new research avenues.
Contacts:
Dr Sihem Jebari, FASTER Project Coordinator:sihem.jebari@gmail.com
Chiara Colalelli (Communication and Dissemination): chiara@vision-communication.org
ENABLING is the initiative of 16 partners in 13 EU and associated (IL, NO) countries. The main goal is to support the spreading of best practices and innovation in the provision (production, pre-processing) of biomass for the BBI (Bio-Based Industry).
In particular, ENABLING aims at creating appropriate conditions for the development of efficient biomass to BBPs (Bio-Based Products and Processes) value chains.
The consortium’s vision is that Europe bears a huge potential for optimising the supply of biomass into innovative bio-based processes and products.
Upscaling biomass production and pre-processing, and combining streams towards the BBPs with those of more traditional bioenergy chains would enhance at least three interlinked types of impact. a) biomass production gains scale to meet higher demand in both sectors (bioenergy and the BBI); b) the reinforcement of biomass supply for the BBI benefits smaller BBI players, helping them diversify and consolidate biomass input sources; c) reinforcing the biomass and BBPs linkages may contribute to job-creation, due to the increased need for specialised workers.
To realise such potential, ENABLING also anticipates its longer term exploitation pathways. In the intention of the consortium, the project should aggregate and engage partners for the establishment of a permanent innovation brokerage platform, likely to become in the future, one of the main marketplaces and innovation transfer accelerators at European level.
In this sense, the project organises its work around two building blocks: one relates to animating the stakeholders (on the farming and BBPs sides), identifying best practices, turning them into easy to access content (in the EIP format) for their potential users and providing stakeholders with coaching and guidance on innovation. The other one looks at future developments, with the consolidation, in a self-sustainable way, of the innovation brokerage platforms after the end of the EU funded initiative.
Contacts: Zusepe Elias Zidda: zusepe.zidda@euknow.eu
The Danube Transnational Programme is a financing instrument of the European Territorial Cooperation (ETC), better known as Interreg. ETC is one of the goals of the European Union cohesion policy and provides a framework for the implementation of joint actions and policy exchanges between national, regional and local actors from different Member States.
The Danube Transnational Programme (DTP) promotes economic, social and territorial cohesion in the Danube Region through policy integration in selected fields.
In order to achieve a higher degree of territorial integration of the very heterogeneous Danube region, the transnational cooperation programme acts as a policy driver and pioneer to tackle common challenges and needs in specific policy fields where transnational cooperation is expected to deliver tangible results.
Considering its geographical coverage, this highly complex programme provides a political dimension to transnational cooperation which is unique in Europe, successfully facing challenges such as ensuring good mechanisms to contract partners who receive funding from different EU instruments.
The Danube Transnational Programme finances projects for the development and practical implementation of policy frameworks, tools and services and concrete small-scale pilot investments. Strong complementarities with the broader EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) are sought.
Contacts: Gilda Niculescu: programe@adrmuntenia.ro
A sizeable category in terms of organic content within MSW is represented by Absorbent Hygiene Products (AHPs; e.g. nappies, adult incontinence products, feminine hygiene items, wipes, etc.) waste, which is currently considered as non-recyclable fraction of MSW and finds its way to landfills or incineration, leading to important environmental concerns. Indeed, each year 8,500,000 tons of such waste are incinerated or landfilled in Europe (the equivalent of almost 30 landfills every year), and over 30,000,000 tons in the world. AHP are mainly composed of a mix of natural fibres (cellulose) and polymers (PP/PE and superabsorbent polymer), valuable materials that currently don’t find a proper valorization. Within EMBRACED project, a first-of-its-kind multi-purpose integrated biorefinery will be established in order to valorize in a relevant environment scenario the cellulosic fractions obtained from AHP waste towards the production of bio-products of significant commercial interest, and – concurrently – high added-value co-products, such polyolefinic plastics and SAP (superabsorbent polymers).
This innovative biorefinery model will involve all the main actors of the whole value chain, from AHP consumers and local population to waste management and logistic companies, leading AHP producers and bioprocess developers, as well as final products developers. In a view of circular economy, all the fractions obtained from the processed AHP waste will be reused through valorization into final products, and in particular the high-quality cellulosic fraction of AHP (ca. 1,275,000 ton/y in Europe), which has significant advantages vs. traditional 2nd generation lignocellulosic feedstocks in terms of homogeneity and downstream bioprocessing costs, will be converted and valorized in two parallel value chains, leading to the production of biobased building blocks, polymers and fertilizers.
Contacts: Orsola Bolognani: embraced@fatergroup.com
Communicate and Bridge BioEconomy Research to Business.
The overall objective of the CommBeBiz project is to contribute to the improvement of sustainable living conditions through the most effective and responsible use of our biological resources.
This will be achieved through designing, delivering, assessing & evaluating a Pilot scheme (BeBizPilotPlan), that provides tailored and targeted support and co-ordination activities across all Member States.
The Pilot will bring KBBE funded research projects in FP7 and Horizon2020 programmes together with bioeconomy research, knowledge transfer, social innovation, policy development and communication experts, SMEs and entrepreneurs to drive innovation and exploitation faster for the environmental good and commercial benefit.
The full results of the BeBizPilotPlan will be published in the BeBizBlueprint. The project will use a tailormade approach to the segments of the bioeconomy : agriculture, fisheries, food, forestry and biotechnology. CommBeBiz will work collaboratively on the FP7 database with ‘Allied Projects’ BioLinx and ProBio utilising the Heads of Agreement document agreed between us (July 2015).
Contacts:
Rhonda Smith: rhonda@minervacomms.net
Virginia Neal: virginia@minervacomms.net
Marie Saville: marie@minervacomms.net