BIOVOICES – Mobilisation and Mutual Learning Workshop on Waste Valorisation

BioVale, Biorenewables Development Centre (BDC) and Minerva Communications are hosting a workshop focused on the advancement of bio-based products and processes in the UK market, contributing to a national drive to collect and collate view on challenges and opportunities facing the bio-based sector.

Minerva, as the UK partner for the EU funded H2020 project BIOVOICES, is working towards identifying and overcoming key challenges currently hindering the uptake of bio-based products across Europe. Through a series of Mobilisation and Mutual Learning events, Minerva is promoting dialogue to identify and address the key challenges relevant to the UK market.

The aim of this event is to identify these challenges and work towards overcoming them to advance the bio-based economy within the UK.

This event, one of four regional UK events, will focus on waste valorisation, which is driving a wide range of bio-based areas and the production of bio-based products, with the aim to identify key challenges and work through a combined effort to agree ways to progress the UK bio-based industry through discussions with key figures from each of the identified stakeholder; Civil Society, Business and Innovation, Research and Education and Public Administration.

If you are interested in attending, please email emma.needham@biovale.org with your details and we will get in touch.

The BBI JU Info Day 2019 will take place on 12 April 2019 in Brussels.

The aim of the event is to bring together potential participants interested in the BBI JU 2019 Call for proposals.

Registration for the event is free but obligatory and needs to be completed using the electronic registration tool. Places will be offered on a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis so we would advise to register as soon as possible.

The morning sessions will provide information about the BBI JU initiative and all aspects of the Call process. Details of the 2019 Call topics as well as more information on the event are available on the BBI JU website.

The afternoon will provide an opportunity for participants to hold face-to-face meetings that can be scheduled as of 8th of March using the professional/corporate profile in the BBI JU Partnering Platform.

Throughout the day, participants will have the opportunity to speak to representatives from BBI JU’s founding partners and Member States as well as exchange views with entities in synergy with BBI JU. The BBI JU’s Programme Office staff will also be available to answer questions about the Call process and procedure.

We look forward to welcoming you to our 2019 Info Day in Brussels!

Read the news on BBI JU website

On the 9th of April 2019 will be held in Biella the Mobilization and Mutual Learning (MML) Workshop entitled “Bioeconomy as an opportunity to boost local development based on territorial resources“, organized by the Horizon 2020 BIOVOICES and Biobridges projects, in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce of Biella and Vercelli, CNR National Research Council, the European Bioeconomy Network, Chimica Verde Bionet and Onda Verde Civica.

The workshop aims to stimulate and facilitate the collaboration between stakeholders for the creation of shared action plans, to promote regional development, based on Piedmont territorial resources, with particular attention to the textiles industry.

The morning session will provide insights and practical examples to stimulate the afternoon discussion in which the stakeholders of Quadruple Helix will work on the challenges, opportunities and barriers to promote regional development on the two thematic lines:

• The textile industry of the future. Opportunities represented by the circular bioeconomy for the re-launch of the textile industry in a sustainable key.

• Not just textiles: Opportunities and challenges for integrated territorial development in a Green key

The cutting of the day will be practical to generate ideas and stimulate possible collaborations among the participating stakeholders to promote the sustainable development made possible by the bio-economy, with particular attention to the Piedmontese territorial reality.

For more information and registration: www.biovoices.eu/biella

Mainz, 1 March 2019

How would you know if the bio-based cup from which you are drinking your coffee is actually sustainable? The question of sustainable certification and branding for bio-based products, as well as key actions to be taken to support the expansion of the European bioeconomy, were at the centre of discussions during the workshop organised by the BIOrescue project on 28 February in Mainz. The event, hosted by the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, and organised in cooperation with Imperial College, with support from Greenovate! Europe and project coordinator CENER, brought together over 30 actors from bio-based value chains, including researchers, industry players, clusters and network representatives, as well as standardisation consultancies. Through presentations and open exchanges, participants outlined a set of principles and priorities to guide bio-based products and processes towards successful market uptake in the European Union.

Biomass sources are flourishing across Europe, making the bio-based industry a fruitful business to invest in for the future. Nevertheless, along the way towards sustainable bio-based value chains, the availability of suitable infrastructures is essential for developing and validating new processes. To that end, the Pilots4U initiative, introduced by Lieve Hoflack, Project Acquisition Manager at Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, has created a free online database to help partners find open access pilot plants to test and improve their concepts.

As well as equipment, another key element to bring bio-based value chain actors closer together is industrial clustering and networking. As an example, the Cradle to Cradle school of thought in Germany, represented in the event by Nadine Kümmel, has created regional stakeholder groups to close the loop from research to market and make circular economy a reality in the country and beyond. For Frederik Wurm, Research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research and partner of the BIOrescue project, such networks help in bridging the gap between different sectors to develop new bio-based products: “Within BIOrescue for instance, we connected chemistry and agriculture by developing biodegradable nanocarriers from mushroom compost, a natural source of lignin. The capsules can be loaded with biopesticides or fertilisers, and thus return to the agro-food industry, but they also have a myriad of different uses in other sectors, such as pharmaceuticals or food enhancement”.

The bio-based economy has huge growth potential in Europe, with the packaging industry, for example, representing 40% of the global market, with only 2% of packaging currently made from renewable materials. But for this potential to be fully exploited, new bio-based products need to be market-oriented, as highlighted in the workshop by Athanassios Nikolakopoulos, Senior Researcher at the National Technical University of Athens and representative of the BIOPEN innovation platform. This means actors from the whole value chain, and especially consumers, must be involved in the design of new bio-based products, and made aware of their environmental benefits. To support this effort, the STAR4BBI project, presented during the workshop by Tatevik Babayan, Scientific Associate at Nova-Institute, prepared tailored recommendations to coordinate the development of a favourable and harmonised European standardisation framework for bio-based products, identifying current gaps and issues, such as waste regulations or competition in subsidies with biofuels.

In conclusion, workshop participants identified the need for a strong and common political vision at the European level as a critical factor to safeguard investment in the bioeconomy sector. In this regard, outcomes from the discussions will feed the policy recommendations to be developed by the BIOrescue project and presented at the project’s final conference, to be held on 4 April 2019 in Brussels.

You can find here the agenda, presentations and pictures from the event.

For more information, you can visit the BIOrescue website at www.biorescue.eu and watch our project video. If you would like to meet us, do not hesitate to have a look at the agenda of our final policy conference and click here to register.

Press and media enquiries can be directed to b.julliard@greenovate-europe.eu +32 (0)2 00 10 07.

We would like to invite you to the Stakeholder Workshop of STAR4BBI on 14.05.2019 in Cologne, Germany.

Title of the workshop: Define Better Regulation and Standardisation to Promote a Level Playing Field for Bio-based Products.

At the workshop, the current regulatory and standardization barriers of bio-based economy, as well as a forecast analysis of future technologies and barriers expected, will be presented.

We invite you to participate at the workshop and to interact on our suggestions for overcoming these barriers. The project partners welcome your input on the proposals for a future supportive regulatory and standardization framework. To learn more about the workshop please see the workshop programme below.

Date: Tuesday, 14 May 2019, 10:00h – 14:15h

Program

10:00 – 10:15  Introduction of the STAR4BBI project

10:15 – 11:30 Discussion with the attendants on the proposal for regulations and standards for elimination of the market entry barriers

11:30 – 11:50 Discussion on best ways to further develop identified specific standards and certification schemes for bio-based industry

11:50 – 12:50  Lunch break

12:50 – 14:05 Discussion with the attendants on STAR4BBI proposals for a future supportive regulatory and standardization framework

14:05 – 14:15  General wrap-up and ways forward after the project

14:15   Closure

Venue:Maternushaus, Kardinal-Frings-Str. 1-3, 50668 Cologne, Germany

Participation is free of charge. To register for the workshop please click here: http://nova-institute.eu/star4bbi/workshop

The STAR4BBI project, funded by Horizon 2020 BBI JU Programme, investigates a regulatory and standards framework favourable for bio-based industries.