Category: Bioeconomy Education

 FOEBE project

 FOEBE project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

FOSTERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR THE BIOECONOMY

FOEBE project is funded by the Erasmus+ programme. It aims at equipping bioeconomy students with sustainable entrepreneurship skills to speed up the European expansion of the bioeconomy sector.

It is a European Union; Erasmus+ project which runs from September 2020 – August 2023 and is coordinated by AgroParisTech, France.

Bioeconomy is a key strategy for the European Union, whose thorough deployment is a prerequisite for the success of the Green Deal. This new, systemic approach, which includes different economic sectors and is based on circularity and sustainability principles, requires a paradigm shift in both training curricula and pedagogical practices to equip young professionals with sustainable entrepreneurship skills. Those will be instrumental to the advent of the bioeconomy as novel, out-of-the-box environmental-friendly and economically sound solutions are needed.

Current entrepreneurship training programmes are not tailored to the needs of the bioeconomy sector, which hampers its development potential. Furthermore, there is a lack of a European approach in this respect, despite bioeconomy appearing high on the policy agenda. Also, jointly developing content at the EU level would enable students (i.e., entrepreneurs to be) to have a vision encompassing all dimensions of the bioeconomy in such context.

Contact:

Benoit Gabrielle
Professor, AgroParisTech
Project coordinator
email: Benoit.Gabrielle@agroparistech.fr
https://www.linkedin.com/in/foebe-erasmus-plus-2aa5ab205/

 

Talent4BBI project

Talent4BBI project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
This project ends on: 31/08/2026

Talent4BBI, the first industry led PhD MSCA programme is being led by BiOrbic, the Bioeconomy SFI Research Centre located in University College Dublin (UCD). Talent4BBI brings together 10 industry and 7 academic partners across 8 Member States and 1 Associated Country with the aim of training a cohort of 11 highly skilled industry-ready ESRs equipped to lead the future of the European bio-based industry sector. The programme provides a unique opportunity for Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs) to develop key skills, competencies and experience required by the bio-based industries through a targeted programme for future bioeconomy leaders. During the 60-month programme duration, the 11 ESRs will undertake PhDs of 48 months cohosted by industry and academia. The ESRs will be recruited and co-hosted by a consortium of 16 partners across 8 Member States and 1 Associated Country (7 universities and 9 leading bio-based industries) with a wealth of collective experience in training talented mobile researchers. 3 additional industry partners will also contribute their expertise to the PhD training programme.

The programme structure offers a unique opportunity for graduates to thrive in an industrial and academic research setting and enhance the ESR career opportunities in line with the MSCA COFUND work programme objectives.

Talent4BBI’s selection process will be guided by principles of openness, transparency, merit, impartiality, and equality for the ESRs. Talent4BBI will impact the European Research Area through developing a uniquely qualified and career-driven talent pool, driving effective cooperation between industry and academia, and boosting the development of bio-based industries.

Contacts:

Prof. Kevin O’Connor – Programme coordinator
Cathy Quinn – Programme manager

email: Talent4bbi@biorbic.com

Founding source: Talent4BBI project is cofounded by H2020-EU.1.3.4., H2020-EU.1.3.

Website

 BeUBio project

 BeUBio project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

BeUBio – targeting youth in the Baltic Sea Region for the SDG:s and Bioeconomy

This platform was designed to collect stories of young people whose business ideas, jobs and other activities lead the way towards a different and more sustainable economic path. With a variety of different examples, young people from across the Baltic Sea Region, inspire new ways of making business while having a positive impact to the environment and society. The overall aim is to build a community of like-minded people, by sharing our stories and inspiring each other.

This initiative comes from the BeUBio project, a collaboration between different partners across the Baltic Sea Region pushing for youth participation in the transition to a bio-based economy, and create synergies with other actors and initiatives addressing the SDGs.

Contacts:

Swedish Board of Agriculture:
Fredric Nilsson, Fredric.nilsson@jordbruksverket.se
Hans-Olof Stålgren, Hans-Olof.Stalgren@jordbruksverket.se

Nordic Council of Ministers Lithuania:
Helén Nilsson, helen@norden.lt
Lina Janusauskine, lina@norden.lt

Client: The Swedish Institute

Website

 BIOBEC project

 BIOBEC project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

Preparing the creation of Bio-Based Education Centres to meet industry needs and boost the contribution of the bioeconomy to societal challenges

Unlocking the full potential of the bioeconomy and its value chains requires a systematic and collaborative perspective for) the development of new skills, educational approaches and organisational solutions to provide education and training services.
The aim of the BIObec project is to develop a holistic framework for multi-level Bio-Based Education Centers (BBEC) flexible enough to answer the present and future needs of the industry and of the surrounding ecosystem at local, regional, national and/or international levels.
The project will design 6 BBEC pilots assuring a wide geographical coverage in Europe and addressing different topics linked to the variety of value chains and institutional contexts (vocational to university level, primary producers, processors, SMEs to MNCs).
BIOBEC will clarify the needs of the different regional ecosystems and will provide detailed design, economic and financial assessment, governance plans for the educational training centres, as well as plans for life-long-learning programmes. It will also develop collaborative tools to maximize the synergies between them at the European and international level.
The project will mobilise a network of 19 partners, which are leaders in Bioeconomy Education from different perspectives (ranging from academia to industry) together with a wide network of Implementation and Replication Working Groups and local stakeholders based in the EU. This network will pave the way for implementation and replication of the BBEC, in order to boost the contribution of the education sector for the development of the bioeconomy.

Contacts:

Davide Viaggi: davide.viaggi@unibo.it

Founding source: BIOBEC is cofounded by H2020-EU.2.1.4. H2020-EU.3.2. H2020-EU.3.2.6.

 URBIOFIN project

 URBIOFIN project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

URBIOFIN project: Demonstration of an integrated innovative biorefinery for the transformation of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) into new BioBased products

Due to the rapid growth of population, municipal solid waste (MSW) has contributed significantly to the total amount of waste generated by our society. Today in Europe, each habitant generates, in average, 0.5 tonnes of MSW per year, increasing at an annual rate of 10%. Around 40-50% of it correspond to organic waste. This organic fraction mainly contains carbohydrates, proteins and lipids, which are all useful raw material that can be converted to valuable products. Its valorisation will help to solve environmental pollution but also contributes to the transition from a linear to a renewable circular economy. Digestion and composting have contributed to the reduction of the biodegradable fraction of MSW sent to landfill. The low economical value of compost and biogas is limiting the sustainable implementation of separate sourcing systems since increasing citizen environmental (waste) taxes is then needed to tackle important logistic costs. New biobased products can help to improve waste treatment environmental and socioeconomical sustainability.

The aim of URBIOFIN project is to demonstrate the techno-economic and environmental viability of the conversion at semi-industrial scale (10 T/d) of the organic fraction of MSW (OFMSW) into: Chemical building blocks (bioethanol, volatile fatty acids, biogas), biopolymers (polyhydroyalkanoate and biocomposites) or additives (microalgae hydrolisated for biofertilisers). By using the biorefinery concept applied to MSW (urban biorefinery), URBIOFIN will exploit the OFMSW as feedstock to produce different valuable marketable products for different markets: agriculture, cosmetics. URBIOFIN will offer a new feasible and more sustainable scenario alternative to the current treatment of the OFMSW.

Contacts: Project Coordinator Ms Caterina Coll, caterina@perseobiotech.com

Mr Manolis Tsantakis, mdt@etam.gr
Founding source: Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) under the EU Horizon 2020 programme

Website

 UrBIOfuture project

 UrBIOfuture project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

UrBIOfuture’s main goal is to bring Europe to the forefront of the bio-based industry, a sector in full growth that requires a high number of experts in its workforce. However, one of the challenges for its development is the educational gap between the professional profiles demanded by the sector and the existing educational offer. To bridge this gap is one of the main purposes of UrBIOfuture, which started on May 1st with the goal of boosting careers, new educational programmes and research activities. Since then, this initiative carried out research to map European educational programmes involving bio-based activities and to identify the skills mismatch between them and the bioindustry needs. In addition, it involved stakeholders from the education sector, academia and industry, it organised a series of events, and it elaborated a set of materials, all with the aim of setting the path for the industry to attract qualified talent.

Contacts: info@urbiofuture.eu and Ana Martinez: anamartinez@sustainableinnovations.eu

Website

 Transition2BIO project

 Transition2BIO project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

An integrated package of activities for sustainable production and consumption

Production and consumption drive the economy. Global challenges like climate change, land and ecosystem degradation, coupled with a growing population, force us to seek new, sustainable ways of life that respect the ecological boundaries of our planet. The EU-funded Transition2BIO project is proposing an integrated package of activities addressing a wide range of stakeholders (demand side, supply side, multipliers and supportive environment). It will valorise and exploit sectoral communication tools and activities, raise public awareness of bioeconomy and contribute to the transition towards more sustainable production through engagement and education activities. The project is also funding the activities of the European Bioeconomy Network, an alliance of more than 80 projects and initiatives promoting bioeconomy.

Contacts: Chiara Pocaterra: pocaterra@apre.it

Website

 MPowerBIO project

 MPowerBIO project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

Europe’s bioeconomy strategy addresses the production of renewable biological resources and their conversion into vital products and bioenergy. The industry is leading in innovative and sustainable solutions, but SMEs face challenges as regards investments. To address this issue, the EU-funded MPowerBIO will create an online platform with digital tools for evaluating and training skills, enabling SME readiness for investment. It will hold 10 train-the-trainer sessions for 90 European bioeconomy clusters. The aim is to improve capacity to support SMEs in the high-quality preparation process of presenting their projects to investors. The best SMEs will be selected to compete in two final events. In addition, 72 ready-for-investment SMEs will be selected and rewarded during the European Bioeconomy Venture Forum.

Contacts: Britt Sandvad (coordinator) Food & Bio Cluster Denmark: bs@foodbiocluster.dk

Website

 BLOOM project

 BLOOM project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

The main objective of this project was to establish open and informed dialogues, co-created by European citizens, the civil society, bioeconomy innovation networks, local research centers, business and industry stakeholders and various levels of government including the European Commission. For that BLOOM established five regional hubs (communities of practice) that allowed for an iterative process involving different stakeholders through various cycles of value development, enabling cross-fertilization and idea generation through shared knowledge and experiences.
The interactions aimed to (a) raise awareness and knowledge on bioeconomy by enabling open and informed dialogue throughout the bioeconomy innovation processes (b) build up and strengthen a bioeconomy community, (c) gain a common understanding of the concept, providing reliable insights into bioeconomies, its practices, benefits and implications (d) foster learning and education. With that, the project supported the reduction of existing barriers towards a bioeconomy and stimulated bioeconomy activities at the regional and EU level.

The webpage will stay active until December 2025 providing for example guidelines on co-creation and engagement, a quiz on bioeconomy,  several videos and pod-casts and the BLOOM school box which entails learning scenarios for STEM classes (primary and secondary level education) in 6 different languages, co-created and tested by teachers and questions frequently raised at outreach activities are listed and answered. Check it out: https://bloom-bioeconomy.eu

Contacts: Maria Schrammel: schrammel@zsi.at
Judith Feichtinger: feichtinger@zsi.at

Website