On April 21, 2020 at 10:00 CEST it will be held the interactive online workshop titled “Creation of a Chain of Native Wool in Italy” organized, in the context of the EU funded projects Biobridges and BIOVOICES, in collaboration with the University of Bari.
The workshop aims at creating a new supply chain for the valorisation of native Italian wool and provide innovative solutions to solve current problems.

During the workshop case studies and good practices will be presented, challenges, barriers and opportunities to promote the development of the supply chain that enhances the use of native wool will be identified and discussed aith the audience.
The workshop will be practical and aimed at generating ideas and stimulating possible collaborations among the participating stakeholders and promoting the sustainable and circular development of the bioeconomy in the Italian reality.

The event will be held in Italian.

More info and registration HERE

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

The BBI JU ICT-BIOCHAIN project has the pleasure to invite you to our webinar `Train-the-trainer´, where the outcomes of the project will be delivered by our team on the 2^nd of April at 11:00 h CET.

In this event, the project STAR-ProBio, which is finalising this month, will also introduce the best practices and lessons learned during its development.

The general objective of the webinar is to introduce bioeconomy regions and stakeholders to the BBIJU ICT-BIOCHAIN and STAR-ProBio projects.

The ICT-BIOCHAIN project aims to promote the adoption of ICT solutions, IoT and industry strategies 4.0 in order to improve the logistics of biomass in the region through the development of regional ‘Digital Innovation Hubs’ across the European Bioeconomy regions. The platform developed in the project will also be launched.

The STAR-ProBio project covers gaps in the existing framework for sustainability assessment of bio-based products, and improve consumer acceptance for bio-based products by identifying the critical sustainability issues in their value chains.

The agenda of the event is as follows:

11:00 – 11:05 Welcome and introduction

11:05 – 11:15 ICT-BIOCHAIN & the two ready-made, test-bed bioeconomy regions

11:15 – 11:25 STAR-ProBio

11:25 – 11:35 The ICT-BIOCHAIN Platform

11:35 – 11:45 The STAR-ProBio Sustainability assessment tools

11:45 – 11:55 Conclusion and roadmap overview

11:55 – 12:00 Q&A

If you are interested in participating, please, register here. The project will send you the information for connection the day before the webinar.

Due to the recent problems of the spread of the #COVID19, the Biovoices MML workshop has been postponed. Save the new date: 30 June 2020 | Ghent, Belgium

The main objective of the workshop, organised by the BIOVOICES and BBEU Pilot Plant, is the identification of needs and actions to fill existing gaps in the bio-based products development from laboratories to market. In general, SMEs and start-ups working in the development of promising bio-based solutions or processes need to establish partnerships to reach successfully the market. Testing activities in operational environment, demonstration at large scale, compliance with existing standards and regulations, consumers’ acceptability, financial resources for the product industrialisation are some of the issues that companies have to face in the scaling-up stage. BBEU Pilot Plant has developed good practices to help companies in crossing the “valley of the death”, and can also help them in establishing partnerships, networking with various stakeholders, etc. Speakers – representing quadruple helix stakeholders – will address the topic from their different perspectives presenting best practices and highlighting existing challenges and barriers. Thanks to the active participation of the audience, involved both in the roundtable through interactive tools and in the following MML workshop, the event will co-create and generate ideas to improve the bio-based products marketability. Recommendations collected will be part of the policy brief that will be presented to the European Commission and the European Parliament by the end of the project (December 2020). Finally, participants will have the occasion to concretely understand the opportunities that a pilot plant can offer thanks to the site visite of the BBEU Pilot Plant.

More info and agenda:

https://www.biovoices-platform.eu/registeredarea/mmls/viewMml/6428

REGISTER USING THIS LINK:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bio-economy-research2market-crossing-the-valley-of-death-hand-in-hand-with-a-pilot-plant-tickets-94190186383

Venue: Permanent Representation of the Slovak Republic to the EU, Avenue de Cortenbergh 79, 1000 Brussels

The European Commission announced an ambitious roadmap to tackle the challenges ahead of us. The “European Green Deal” is designed in such a way that no individual nor any region should be left behind the great transformation. The governmental initiative for knowledge-based agriculture, aquaculture, and forestry in the bioeconomy – BIOEAST, of 11 Central and Eastern European member states could play a key role in helping to form the necessary partnerships, to join forces in developing needs, priorities and to work together at the European level in order to achieve the common objectives.

The high-level conference on the 1^st day aims to gather key political figures (state secretary level), ministry officials, policymakers, researchers, academia and other stakeholders involved in different parts of the BIOEAST environment to inform them about emerging policy developments and to discuss key priorities at the European level. Moreover, the aim is also to inform the EU institutions and respective officers dealing with the countries from the macro-region about the BIOEAST potential.

The conference agenda and concept note are available at the following link: BIOEAST Conference and TWG agendas & Concept note.