LIFE EBP (Ecofriendly multipurpose Biobased Products from municipal biowaste) addresses environmental problems in municipal biowaste (MBW) management, agriculture and chemical industry by proving feasible production and use of new biobased products (BPs) obtained from MBW.
Contacts: Piergiuseppe Morone piergiuseppe.morone@unitelmasapienza.it
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
Converting bio-waste into valuable products will contribute to a circular economy. The EU-funded WaysTUP! project aims to establish new value chains for urban bio-waste utilisation to produce higher value products, including food and feed ingredients through a multi-stakeholder approach. The project is set to showcase a rash of new products produced from urban bio-waste-to-bio-based processes starting from different feedstocks, including fish and meat waste, spent coffee grounds, household source separated bio-waste and used cooking oils. In its implementation, WaysTUP! will develop a behavioural change approach with citizens and local communities, improving and changing longstanding perceptions on urban bio-waste. It will also help promote active participation of citizens in the collection of urban bio-waste.
Contacts: Manolis Tsantakis: mdt@etam.gr
Maroulla Schiza mcs@etam.gr
ProBIO is a support action directly benefiting consortia of FP7 KBBE and H2020 bioeconomy. The overall objective is two-fold:
To achieve its objectives, ProBIO screens all 411 KBBE projects for results, describes them in interaction with the KBBE consortia, and finally classifies each result according to its nature. The results will be of different technological maturity level: some will be mature for direct market introduction, others need further development to reach a higher TRL, and some are not technological results, but knowledge and instruments of relevance to policy makers.
The ProBIO experts take this diverse nature and maturity level of research results into account and support each type of result with dedicated professional coaching and tools with a view to:
ProBIO also foresees a range of events and communication activities supporting knowledge exchange and linkage of different actors along the bioeconomy value chains and making use of synergies through networking.
The multi-disciplinary team of the ProBIO consortium is built around highly specialised green innovation consultancies and a European expert group who together have an outstanding track record in promoting the uptake of results from public research. Additional thematic expertise is ensured by two technical centres, and communication is in professional hands, too.
Contacts: Ilaria Bonetti: ilaria.bonetti@mi.camcom.it
ICT-BIOCHAIN is a project aiming to promote the adoption of ICT, IoT and industry 4.0. solutions to improve the efficiency of biomass value chains. In order to achieve this, it developed a platform to connect stakeholders in the bio-based industry with ICT providers, and it established two Digital Innovation Hubs, located in ready-made, test-bed bioeconomy regions: South-East Ireland and Andalusia (Spain). Leading experts and support networks developed region-specific bio-resource data models and provided access within these hubs to best practices, expert knowledge, and information.
Contacts: Ana I. Martinez: anamartinez@sustainableinnovations.eu and info@ictbiochain.eu
With a turnover value of €2.3 trillion and accounting for 8.2% of the European Union’s workforce, the bioeconomy is a central element to the success of the economy overall, and brand owners delivering bio-based products and bio-based packaging are one of the main drivers to boost it. However, brand owners are often reluctant to invest in taking a bio-based approach due to perceived risks and uncertainties, and to a lack of adequate support from the innovation ecosystems. BIOSWITCH aims to encourage and support them to switch to bio-based approaches by hosting a set of communication actions and events that will allow shaping solutions to mitigate brand owners’ perceived risks. Furthermore, the project will develop a toolbox that will allow to assess the brands’ bio-based maturity level and assist their owners in the transition journey. The project will focus on four regions that will serve as model demonstrators: Andalusia (Spain), Denmark, Finland, and Flanders (Belgium).
Contacts: Anna Tenhunen (Project Coordinator CLIC Innovation Ltd): anna.tenhunen@clicinnovation.fi
Jeisel Goyanes (Sustainable Innovations (SIE) and BIOSWITCH Dissemination and Communication Manager): jeiselgoyanes@sustainableinnovations.eu
Project contact: info@bioswitch.eu
Nowadays, the center of the bio-based economy is the development of integrated value chains removing sector barriers, where market and product innovations are driven by societal needs and vision of brand owners, and require the collaborations between different sectors through new bio-based value chains (from feedstock to products), also establishing co-operations throughout industry clusters.
Open innovation has been identified as the major driver to perform innovation through the flow (in and out) of knowledge, technologies and competences, for organisations to design, plan, and implement market and product innovations as well as to establish sustainable partnerships joining forces with customers, feedstock suppliers, academia, and financial sector.
In BiOPEN a consortium highly specialized in the bio-based industry, composed by five European bio-based clusters, three open innovation expert companies, and one research centre, will embark on an ambitious programme to support collaboration and knowledge sharing in the bio-based industry, stimulating the set-up of co-innovation partnerships for the development of new products and markets in the sector.
BIOPEN ambition is to become a single voice for the bio-based industries in Europe, gathering expertise and promoting engagement and involvement of industry, researchers and academia at European and national level, by setting up an Open-innovation platform addressing strategic cross-cutting challenges such as (i) clustering and networking to develop new value chains and favour the emergence of co-innovation partnerships across the value chains; (ii) Stakeholders engagement and support with regards to setting-up at least 20 co-innovation partnerships alongside existing and new value chains; (iii) creation of a knowledge centre collecting the prospective and insight of the community, and providing access to relevant information for markets and products innovations in the bio-based ecosystem.
Contacts: Patrizia Circelli: p.circelli@cioatech.com
The overall objective of the Monitoring the Bioeconomy (BioMonitor) project is to establish a sustainable data and modelling framework for the bioeconomy.
This will be achieved by developing and implementing a data and modelling framework that is effective (supported by a stakeholders’ platform) and robust (implementable in existing systems of statistical and customs offices, laboratories and industries).
The framework will enable quantification of the bioeconomy and its economic, environmental and social impacts in the EU and its Member States. Interlinks with current CEN standardisation work related to bio-based products will be established from the outset of the project.
The contributions of BioMonitor are threefold.
The platform will inform the formulation of strategies and policies directing the bioeconomy to achieve its economic, environmental and social policy objectives according to the EC Bioeconomy Strategy and Action Plan. The awareness about the importance of measuring the bioeconomy within the industry will be raised through tailored training on bioeconomy standards and measurement of sustainability indicators targeted towards SMEs within the sector.
Contacts: Justus Wesseler: Justus.Wesseler@wur.nl
The BioBase4SME network, representing many leading bio-based economy experts, will advise SMEs from across North-West Europe on how to develop new ideas into marketable products. The BioBase4SME project intends to help Start-ups and SME to overcome technological and non-technological barriers to bring their innovation to market. The project is based on three pillars:
The support offered through the voucher system can consist of:
or a combination thereof.
Partners involved are AC3A (France), Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (Belgium), CLIB2021 (Germany), Ghent Bio-Economy Valley (Belgium), Materia Nova (Belgium), NNFCC (UK), REWIN (NL), TCBB Resource (Ireland).
In the biobased economy lays a big opportunity for Europe. Locally produced biobased feedstocks rather than imported fossil resources are used to produce materials, chemicals, energy… creating a new knowledge and technology intensive economy with high employment potential and with reduced environmental impact.
Contacts: Tanja Meyer: tanja.meyer@bbeu.org
The overall goal of BE-Rural is to realise the potential of regional and local bio-based economies by supporting relevant actors in the participatory development of bioeconomy strategies and roadmaps.
BE-Rural will investigate the particular characteristics of the selected regions at a macro level, as well as existing best practices and business models geared towards the bioeconomy.
This higher-level analysis will aid in the assessment of the ‘bioeconomy potential’ of the selected regions. This work will set the foundation for the implementation of a series of regional Open Innovation Platforms to kick-start the co-creation process, bringing together key stakeholders from academia, policy, business and civil society to develop ideas and capitalise on this bioeconomy potential. Activities will include research & innovation capacity building workshops, educational seminars and webinars, summer schools, and Bio-based Pop-up Stores. Building from this, the proposed ‘Network of Knowledge’ will aim to share knowledge and lessons learned from the Open Innovation Platforms at an inter-regional level, further disseminating best practices, closing the information gap on issues related to sustainability, and increasing capacities of regional authorities and stakeholders.
Contacts: Holger Gerdes: holger.gerdes@ecologic.eu
Zoritza Kiresiewa: zoritza.kiresiewa@ecologic.eu