Category: Projects

 BioCannDo project

 BioCannDo project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

The Bioeconomy Awareness and Discourse Project (BioCannDo) aimed to raise awareness and acceptance of the broad public towards the bioeconomy and bio-based products through a strategic, stakeholder-driven information campaign and education.

Convincing people that the bio-based economy offers something desirable, with new products, functionalities and applications for their daily life, that provide answers to societal concerns (e.g. climate change), requires neutral and science-based information. BioCannDo presented such information in a way that is easy to understand for the broader public. It provided various means for feedback, interaction and encouraged engagement in a discourse on common questions and concerns.

Collaborating with bio-based stakeholder networks and communities at EU, regional and national level, BioCannDo provided information, educational materials and key communication messages through such channels as a community of related projects and educational partners and an Infohub which combines different means of online communication (i.e. social media, blogs, videos, journalistic articles).

BioCannDo built on the legacy of previous projects (i.e. by using their networks, or social media accounts), existing material developed by them and collected, connected, aggregated and reformulated content from different actors and resources. It generated new content addressing the most urgent gaps in information and education. Such dual approach helps to maximise synergies and increase impact of both existing and new material.

The developed content and key communication messages was assessed and tested by stakeholders and target users through focus groups and a market survey. Findings were used in feedback loops to adapt the content and messages.

Contacts:

Martin Behrens, Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. (FNR): m.behrens@fnr.de

John Vos, BTG Biomass Technology Group BV: vos@btgworld.com

Website

 Biobridges project

 Biobridges project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

BIOBRIDGES is a 24 months action aiming at boosting the marketability of bio-based products – BBPs by establishing close cooperation and partnership between bio-based Industries – BBI, brand owners and consumers’ representatives. The ultimate goal is to stimulate and support the active engagement of and interaction among all stakeholders (including local communities and local authorities) and improve market acceptance of BBPs.
BIOBRIDGES will design and implement replicable methodologies, procedures and good practices supporting multi-stakeholders’ interaction, leading to new cross-sector partnerships.

Main activities will be:

  • Identify the cooperation challenges among consumers, brand owners and BBI
  • Create a sustainable multi-stakeholder community involving consumer representatives, BBI and brand owners from different bio-based economy clusters and stimulate dialogue and cooperation
  • Following a co-creation approach, increase consumers’ and brand owners’ awareness, confidence and trust on the benefits of BBPs compared to the fossil-based counterparts
  • Support the establishment of at least 2 new cross-cutting interconnections in bio-based economy clusters and define replicable procedures and good practices leading to the establishment of new cross-sector partnerships and business opportunities
  • Stimulate the multi-stakeholder discussion toward pre-and co-normative research, new standardisation/labelling and emerging co-creation models (B2B and B2C)

At the end of the project, at least 2 new cross-sector interconnections in bio-based economy cluster will be established, while the foundations for the creation of new ones based on the arguments, best practices and recommendations deriving from the project will be formed.

The BIOBRIDGES consortium merges a variety of complementary expertise, aiming to build a consistent multi-actor approach integrating 9 partners already involve in other projects like BIOWAYS, BIOVoices and BIOSTEP.

Contacts: Alexandre Almeida: alexandre@loba.pt

Website

 BioBase4SME project

 BioBase4SME project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

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:

  • Free workshops and professional training (see ‘events’)
  • Innovation Biocamps (see ‘events’)
  • Innovation vouchers worth up to €100.000.

The support offered through the voucher system can consist of:

  • Technical assistance such as scale-up to pilot scale
  • Life Cycle Assessment
  • Techno-economic evaluation
  • Market research
  • Feedstock analysis
  • Social acceptance
  • Business planning and business plan support
  • …

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

Website

 Bioapp project

 Bioapp project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

Overall Objective of the Project: 

The main objective of the project was to establish a new technology platform by strengthening cooperation between research organizations and key economic stakeholders to accelerate the development of pilot technology in the field of advanced biopolymers. The project has made a positive contribution to the specific objectives of the cross-border cooperation program, namely through the mentioned technological platform, which paves the way for innovative business initiatives and encourages the necessary exchange of knowledge, technology and innovation

Project summary: 

Global aquaculture and shellfish production currently produces over 10 million tonnes of biomass per year, generating a considerable amount of waste in the form of shells and exoskeletons. These abundant yet under-utilised renewable biomasses have enormous potential for the production of advanced materials (biopolymers), and fall within the scope of the Key Enabling Technologies and the key areas of the Smart Specialisation Strategies identified by the “New Materials, Green Chemistry and Health” program.
Numerous research institutes and companies are actively involved in various biopolymer product development stages; however, the synergies and technology transfer dynamics between them are still insufficient.

To overcome these obstacles, the BioApp project developed a new supra-regional technology platform and combined the complementary knowledge and skills of partners, with a vision to promote solutions, development and applicability of commercially interesting highly innovative biopolymers and biomaterials.

Through a regional cooperation effort involving complementary and interdisciplinary partners, ranging from the academic world (UNITS), to public and private research institutes (COBIK, KI), start-ups (BIOPOLife) and medium-sized companies (ACIES BIO), the project provided an integrated solution that uses natural resources to produce materials designed to improve people’s quality of life. All project partners benefit from the developed pilot technology for technology transfer, social and eco-innovation and strengthen links and synergies between companies, research and development centres and in the field of higher education. This trans-regional platform facilitates the integration of new stakeholders through the development of the technology and the commercialisation of the relative product, according to the “economy of closed material cycles” principle, as regards the new business models for a circular economy.

Contacts: Uros Novak, Coordinator: uros.novak@ki.si

Website

 Bio4Products project

 Bio4Products project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

Bio4Products successfully created renewable and natural alternatives to fossil-based processing streams such as phenols and creosote. Project coordinator BTG Biomass Technology Group launched operation of a first of a kind thermo-chemical fractionation plant, an important step towards the commercialisation of a fast pyrolysis based biorefinery. The project also demonstrated the integration of the sustainable intermediate materials into four end products: phenolic resins, insulation foams, sand moulding resins, and modified wood.

The project ended in June 2021. Click here to find out about the project results and discover the project resources.

Contacts:

Bert van de Beld, Coordinator: vandebeld@btgworld.com
James Ling, Communication and Dissemination:
j.ling@greenovate-europe.eu

Website

 BIO4ECO project

 BIO4ECO project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

BIO4ECO aims to improve regional and national policy processes and policy implementation and delivery addressing the transition to a low carbon economy, in relation with renewable energy use, energy efficiency of building, and forest and agricultural biomass.
The main expected outcomes are:

  • increase the share of renewable energy in the overall energy mix (17 M€ of ERDF funding benefited by the project)
  • take into account bioenergy and bioeconomy in all planning and decision-making
  • lay the groundwork for future integrated strategies and programmes for regional bioeconomy and carbon neutrality.

BIO4ECO will organise interregional and local learning process by thematic workshops, study visits and local stakeholder groups meetings, to achieve a greater integration among the lessons learned. These are going to be the cornerstone of the learning process.
Topics that will be worked in these events are the following:

  • Role of forests within regional and national low carbon and bioeconomy strategies and programmes
  • First-hand experience on integral solutions for bioenergy policies and strategies
  • The Energy-Foof-Water land use nexus: possible equilibrium for the low-carbon transition
  • How to increase social acceptance of bioenergy policies?
  • Priorization of bioenergy production at different geographical scales

Contacts: Adriano Raddi: adriano.raddi@ctfc.cat

Website

 BE-Rural project

 BE-Rural project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

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

Website

 BERST project

 BERST project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

The implementation of the European bioeconomy occurs under the impulsion of entrepreneurs (ranging from carbon-based industries to farmers and foresters) and political authorities, assisted by knowledge workers (R&D).

The drivers are (1) the search for alternative resources for fossil fuels, (2) the response to climate warming by becoming as CO2 neutral as possible and (3) the industrial demand for new functionalities offered by biobased materials and chemicals. Regions can be encouraged to apply new development strategies.

Regions can also be guided to find ways to support, encourage and enhance concrete actions towards the bioeconomy by current and potential entrepreneurs within a bioeconomy. All regions are potentially ‘bioregions’, and the BERST project provides tools (sets of criteria, catalogues both of instruments and measures as well as of good practices and case studies, and guidelines for elaborating regional profiles to prepare for smart specialisation strategies) to help regions in their trajectory of bioeconomic development.

The aim of this project is to take into account the bioeconomy potential and strategies of a range of different regions in Europe, and therefore to gain understanding of the possibilities and challenges related to the enhancement of biobased economies. The project also provides a support network in order to promote the development of smart specialisation strategies based on regional bioeconomic potential.

The results and outcomes of this project will be linked to each region’s “normal” planning and strategic development processes, and therefore to give additional tools for the regions to enhance their bioeconomies. This also means to promote stakeholder relations within bioregions, so that entrepreneurs can guide regional priorities in the development of the bioeconomy. The outcome of the project – with both a toolkit and an operating bioregional network – is intended to be taken over by the nascent EU Bioeconomy Observatory.

Contacts: Myrna van Leeuwen: Myrna.vanLeeuwen@wur.nl

Website

 BalticBiomass4Value project

 BalticBiomass4Value project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

The Baltic Sea Region (BSR) holds a great potential for circular bioeconomy development. Therefore, the BalticBiomass4Value project aims to enhance capacity of public and private actors within the BSR to produce bioenergy in more environmentally sustainable and economically viable way by utilizing new biomass sources (chiefly, biological waste) for energy production, as well as possibilities to use bioenergy side streams for higher value bio-products. Biomass from different sources (agriculture, food and feed industry, forestry, wood industry, municipal waste and sewage sludge, fishery, algae), its logistics, various biomass conversion technologies and value chains will be mapped to identify best practices of bioenergy generation and the potential of more efficient and sustainable deployment of biomass in the BSR.

Seventeen partners from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Norway and the Russian Federation will bring together the producers of biomass and bio-based products, as well as relevant public authorities and policy stakeholders for the implementation of the project.

Contacts: Virginija Kargytė: virginija.kargyte@vdu.lt
Lena Huck: l.huck@fnr.de

Website

 AgriMax project

 AgriMax project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

Objective

Approximately one third of all food produced globally is wasted every year throughout the whole value chain-from farmers to consumers. To extract the significant amounts of valuable compounds contained in these wastes, AgriMax will combine affordable and flexible processing technologies (ultrasound assisted and solvent extraction, filtration, thermal and enzymatic treatments) for the valorization of side streams from the horticultural culture and food processing industry to be used in a cooperative approach by local stakeholders.
Through the selection of case-scenarios previously developed to a pilot scale by the participating RTOs and their industrial transfer in new applications as food additives, packaging and agricultural materials among others, the project will disclose the holistic potential of four new agro-value chains (residues and by products from the culture and processing of tomato, cereals, olives, potato). Any by-product generated along the production cycle will be valorized in a cascade manner to reach over 40% of high value use of the waste. This will lead to additional production of active ingredients in lower concentration, but also fibres, biogas and fertilizers from the left biomass (the latter with the aim of being used in closed loop in the culture of the crops used in the project to prevent soil impoverishing). An LCA and LCC will also study the best approach to minimize the environmental impact of the new value chains without jeopardizing the cost effectiveness of the operations. The pilot multi-feedstock bio-refinery processes will be validated in two demonstration sites in Spain and Italy. Societal, ethical, safety, techno-feasibility and regulatory aspects will be studied. Last but not least, a business model and platform for communication between the potential raw materials suppliers will be set up to maximize the use of the cooperative treatment plants throughout the year.

Funding source: H2020 – Bio-based Industries Joint Technology Initiative (BBI-JTI)

Contacts: Albert Torres: albert.torres@iris.cat

Website

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