Category: Awareness raising

Brilian project

Brilian project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
This project ends on: 31/05/2027

Cooperative business models for bio-based chains in rural areas

BRILIAN has been conceived to support the adoption of circular and sustainable cooperative business models in rural areas and enable a better transition to bio-based economies, playing a pivotal role in revitalizing these regions and fostering sustainable economic and social development, making primary producers active actors of the supply chain.

BRILIAN will implement a multi-actor approach for the validation of a group of Actions for the Bio Innovation, seeking to:

  1. Forge robust rural bio-communities
  2. Increase circularity and sustainability
  3. Promote the integration of short supply chains
  4. Produce value-added bioproducts

These Actions for the Bio Innovation will validate ten bio-based value chains starting from cardoon, safflower, and sunflower (in Italy), potato (in Spain), and rapeseed (in Denmark) as raw materials and will develop sustainable and circular business models encompassing a wide range of high-value-added bio-products, such as bioplastics, biolubricants, proteins, bioadhesives, bioherbicides, products for animal feed or the cosmetic sector. This will allow primary producers to diversify their income while reducing risk.

BRILIAN is an ambitious four-year project with a budget exceeding 6 million euros, co-financed by the Circular Bio-Based Europe (CBE) joint initiative under the European program for innovation and research ‘Horizon Europe 2021-2027’ (HE). The project involves 13 entities from 6 different countries: Spain, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, the Czech Republic, and Greece, including 3 large companies, 3 SMEs, 3 research organizations, 2 clusters, and 2 associations.

Contacts:

Olga de Blas (D&C Area): Odeblas@clusterfoodmasi.es
Maider Gómez (Project coordinador): mgomez@fcirce.es

website: https://brilian.eu/

BioBeo project

BioBeo project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
This project ends on: 30/04/2025

Innovative education for the bioeconomy

BioBeo introduces new thinking and approaches in education on the circular bioeconomy across Europe. While strategically overcoming the institutional and cultural barriers to implementing relevant circular bioeconomy education programs in preschool, primary, and secondary schools, we are defining and delivering novel curricula in schools. Our aim is to enhance young people’s and citizens‘ involvement in policy-making for bioeconomy.

BioBeo is a two and a half-year project with 15 partners with the aim to develop and deploy an education programme to enhance engagement across society regarding lifestyle, circularity and bioeconomy, using 5 bioeconomy themes:

  • Interconnectedness
  • Outdoor Learning
  • Forestry
  • Life Below Water
  • The Food Loop

Partners are committed to promoting the bioeconomy concept and will co-create and co-deliver the programme. BioBeo will provide better coordination between bio-science and education in schools by developing the Circular Economy Science-Society message with a particular focus on circular lifestyle and behaviours, and a governance framework on society-wide engagement in bioeconomy policy. BioBeo addresses social issues such as gender bias, disadvantaged youth groups, migrants and members of society with additional needs.

Tom Curran: tom.curran@ucd.ie

website: https://www.biobeo.eu

P2GreeN project

P2GreeN project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
This project ends on: 30/11/2026

Closing the gap between fork and farm for circular nutrient flows

Converting human sanitary waste into bio-based fertilisers Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilisers are important for plant growth. However, excessive nitrogen and phosphorus in the environment result in pollution of the air and water. The EU-funded P2GreeN project will develop new circular governance solutions for the fork-to-farm framework to eliminate N & P pollution. The project will focus on circular nutrient flows of N & P by connecting the blue urban with the green rural infrastructures. P2GreeN will implement and demonstrate innovative N & P recovery solutions based on human sanitary waste from urban settlements and its conversion into safe bio-based fertilisers for agricultural production. The project will test the solutions in three pilot regions on a north-south trajectory

Anita Beblek, Project coordinator, agrathaer: anita.beblek@agrathaer.de

website: https://p2green.eu/

BIO2REG project

BIO2REG project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
This project ends on: 31/12/2026

Enabling transition towards circular and systemic BIOeconomy model regions by a Regions-to-Regions approach

A sustainable bioeconomy is essential for achieving the goals of the Green Deal. However, implementing a regional bioeconomy comes with various challenges. Bioeconomy model regions offer a systemic approach to transitioning to sustainable development. The EU-funded BIO2REG project aims to help greenhouse gas-intensive economies unlock their bioeconomy potential by moving towards model regions. The project will encourage interregional exchange and cooperation, providing regional stakeholders with a conceptual framework for regionalisation in model regions. This involves mapping best practices in a circular and sustainable bioeconomy, assessing bioeconomy potential, offering mentoring and training, forming transition alliances, and making policy recommendations. The project adopts a multi-actor approach by collaboratively creating tools and guides with regional stakeholders and engaging with regions through guided on-site exchanges.

Denise Gider: d.gider@fz-juelich.de

website: https://bio2reg.eu/

INNOPROTEIN project

INNOPROTEIN project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
This project ends on: 31/05/2027

New Sustainable Proteins For Food, Feed And Non-Food Bio-Based Applications

By 2050, with the global population expected to reach 10 billion, producing sustainable, high-quality protein becomes a pressing environmental, economic, and social challenge. The EU’s “protein gap”, importing 70 % of protein-rich crops and 90 % of soybeans, adds urgency to the quest for new, nutritious, and eco-friendly protein sources that cater to diverse markets.
InnoProtein will deliver new products for food, feed and non-food based applications that meet end-users’ needs and expectations. By using under-exploited and unexplored protein sources, including microalgae, fungi, bacteria and insects together with new advanced techniques for protein extraction, the project will contribute to reducing the EU protein gap and the pressure on natural resources.
The experienced consortium will provide an eco-business model, proving the economic availability of the solution and the social and environmental benefits. To improve the efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of the protein extraction, InnoProtein will adopt a circular and zero waste approach by using the residual biomass and the streams of protein production processes to obtain bioplastics and biostimulants.

Giacomo Sini: giacomo.sini@eufic.org

website: https://www.innoprotein.eu/

BIORADAR project

BIORADAR project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
This project ends on: 30/06/2026

Monitoring system of the environmental and social sustainability and circularity of industrial bio-based systems

BioRadar project aim to help organizations, policy-makers and investors have the necessary information to step towards a more sustainable bio-based economic model with an information and self-assessment platform for bio-based industries.BioRadar proposes the simple, objective, and quantitative Bio-based systems Transition Indicators (BTI) framework. The project develops a one-stop digital solution including AI-benchmarking and analytics platform, a flexible and user-friendly self-assessment tool, a regulatory tracker tool, and an innovative multidimensional performance measurement scorecard. The framework and digital tools allow industries, investors, and policymakers to assess the circularity, environmental sustainability, and social aspects of bio-based products and services with just a few clicks.

Emad Yaghmaei: ey@yaghma.nl

Shiva Noori: sn@yaghma.nl

website: http://www.bioradar.org/

BlueMissionMed project

BlueMissionMed project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
This project ends on: 31/12/2025

SUPPORTING THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA BASIN FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EU MISSION RESTORE OUR OCEAN AND WATERS

BlueMissionMed will Inspire, Inform, Assess, Mobilise, Connect and Empower all the actors that can Take a Role in preventing and eliminating pollution in the Mediterranean sea and waters.

The BlueMissionMed Coordination and Support Action (CSA) will design, structure and support a well-functioning basin scale innovation ecosystem, ensuring fast progress towards the achievement of EU Mission “Restore Our Oceans and Waters by 2030” objectives and important impact on the society.

The project builds on, connect and structure existing initiatives and activities to disseminate and upscale solutions and mobilise relevant actors with the specific aim of addressing the Objective 2 of the Mission, namely “prevent and eliminate pollution of our ocean, seas and waters”.

BlueMissionMed will engage stakeholders from Policy, Business, Research&Innovation and Civil Society, as well as the so-called Ecosystem Enablers to synergize the actions of the Mission Lighthouse in the Mediterranean basin.

Specifically, the project will support the development and deployment of transformative innovative solutions in all forms: technological, social, business, governance by:

  • BOOSTING A WELL-FUNCTIONING BASIN SCALE INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM ATTRACTIVE TO INVESTORS AND BUSINESSES
  • FACILITATING COHERENCE, ALIGNMENT AND MONITORING OF EU, NATIONAL AND LOCAL POLICIES, INITIATIVES AND ACTIONS ONGOING THE MEDITERRANENAN BASIN
  • PROVIDING TECHNICAL SERVICES, GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS MODELS TO SUPPORT AND GUARANTEE A SUSTAINABLE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE MEDITERRANENAN BASIN
  • ENSURING ENGAGEMENT OF ALL STAKEHOLDERS, INCLUDING THE SOCIETY AT LARGE, THANKS TO A ROBUST AWARENESS RAISING AND CITIZEN SCIENCE APPROACH

Contacts:

Fedra Francocci: coordinator@bluemissionmed.eu

website: https://bluemissionmed.eu/

GenB project

GenB project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
This project ends on: 30/04/2025

Informing and educating young people on more sustainable behaviours and choices to build a future Generation informed and interested in Bioeconomy

GenB aims to raise the Generation Bioeconomy aware on environmental issues co-creating innovative approaches in cooperation with young people, parents, teachers and other formal and non-formal education professionals. GenB widely communicates and engages the society, create synergies with other projects and initiatives, consolidate the GenB education model, produce policy recommendations targeting Ministries of Education and other policy makers.

Objectives:

  • Co-create approaches and tools through the cooperation between children, parents, teachers and other education professionals, to provide educational and informational toolkits;
  • Raise awareness of students at all stages on the environmental, social and economic benefits of sustainable and circular bioeconomy and its sectors;
  • Increase interest among new generations to join education and training on bioeconomy, create new ways of attracting talent in the life science, technology and the bioeconomy opportunities;
  • Maximise the project’s impacts towards behavioural and socio-economic changes by sparking multipliers and GenB networks and ensuring exploitation of project’s outcomes

Contacts:

Chiara Pocaterra: pocaterra@apre.it

website: https://www.genb-project.eu/

RefreSCAR project

RefreSCAR project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
This project ends on: 31/08/2027

RefreSCAR – Improved coordination of national and European bioeconomy research and innovation programmes in the ERA through strengthened SCAR Working Groups

The Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR) is a long-standing committee of EU Member States and Associated Countries presided over by the European Commission. It has become a respected source of advice on European agricultural and wider bioeconomy research and has been a catalyst for the coordination of national research and innovation (R&I) programmes. It is supported in these strategic functions by SCAR Working Groups (WGs), including a Foresight Group, which provide domain-specific expert advice and input. RefreSCAR will strengthen the strategic functioning and capacities of SCAR WGs in order to facilitate the improved coordination of national and European bioeconomy R&I programmes. Through a toolkit of measures, RefreSCAR will provide robust scientific support to SCAR WGs through regular portfolio analysis of projects, expert studies and support for the SCAR Foresight process. Combined with practical administrative support, this will enable a better structured organisation, facilitation and reporting of SCAR WG activities in themes of relevance for Horizon Europe, the Common Agricultural Policy, European Green Deal, Digital Europe and the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies. In order to boost the participation of under-represented countries in SCAR WGs, a SCAR-Engage Programme will be developed involving tailored action plans, financial and peer-to-peer support, networking and knowledge exchange. Targeted support for communication and dissemination will immerse a broad audience of stakeholders in the activities of the WGs. Furthermore, RefreSCAR will cultivate connections between SCAR WGs, key actors in EU policy, practitioners and relevant EU and international initiatives through dedicated fora, helping to build a bridge between R&I, policy and practice. The outcome will be more impactful SCAR WGs that are better resourced and empowered to deliver strategic advice, contributing to a strengthened SCAR within the European Research Area.

Contacts:

Dr. Órlaith NÍ CHONCUBHAIR: refrescar@teagasc.ie

 CIRCULAR BRICKS project

 CIRCULAR BRICKS project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

Circular Bioeconomy for improving agrifood VET institutes’ teachers’ skills and competencies

Biotechnology has the potential to reduce the impact of human activities in nature. By developing new bio-based production platforms towards a more efficient use of waste streams, a step forward in industrial circularity can be achieved.

To help train and educate the new generation of bioeconomy professionals with the necessary hard and soft skills, we need to rethink and improve our current educational model for the bioeconomy. This is the long-term ambition of Circular Bricks. Across Europe, some initiatives have already been put in place. However, there seems to be a lack of generalized and consistent schemes, especially with regards to the VET field. In order to address these needs, Circular Bricks will train VET teachers from the agri-food sector in order to make them able to educate their students (i.e. the future generation of circular bioeconomy professionals) with the necessary green skills which are required by the current and future industries operating in the European circular bioeconomy.
The project will develop innovative pedagogical material on circular bioeconomy related topics for VET teachers, keeping a train-the-trainer approach. Specifically, involved teachers will be provided with a thorough and practical approach to circular bioeconomy principles and their implementation in the agri-food sector, as well as with efficient tools for holding effective design thinking sessions and preparing learners to become true agents of change. At the end of the project, both teachers and students will have acquired new green skills and competencies, thus adding “circular bricks” to their know-how.

Contacts:

Piergiuseppe Morone: piergiuseppe.morone@unitelmasapienza.it

website: https://www.circularbricks.eu/