Category: Regional potential, bioeconomy strategies and action plans

C4B project

C4B project

This project ends on: 31/12/2027

Circular Bio-Based Business models to create high-value Bio-based products in integrated value chains

Primary production in agriculture and forestry represents an essential part of the European circular bioeconomy. However, the involvement of primary producers in circular bio-based economy is still limited, and the benefits are in most cases not fairly distributed along the value chain, to the disadvantage of primary producers. Fair and sustainable business models that create opportunities for rural entrepreneurship and develop new forms of successful rural business are therefore needed. The purpose of C4B is to accelerate the development of rural communities and their economic viability by developing new fair and sustainable business models for different agricultural and forestry value chains. C4B business models will be designed to balance the share of power and profits across novel biobased value chains and to enhance the cooperation among farmers, foresters and industry. This project will advance the understanding of bio-based value chains by carrying out a holistic analysis of different case studies in EU that considers technology, business environment, primary producers’ behaviour, contractual agreements and ownership, and sustainability. By providing financial support to third parties via Open Call, C4B will demonstrate the applicability, scalability and replicability of the new business models in different business settings and geographical areas, eventually stimulating the uptake of the new business models. Joining forces with complementary and trans-disciplinary stakeholders from agriculture, forestry and industrial sector, the C4B consortium will define key R&I priorities to be implemented by means of the coming EU funding programmes to support the EU Bioeconomy Strategy, as well policy recommendations to advise Member States for implementing realistic and effective national CAP Strategic Plans that entail bioeconomy interventions.

Contact:

Francesco Sottile: francesco.sottile@pnoinnovation.com

website: https://www.c4b-project.eu/

RBRF project

RBRF project

This project ends on: 30/09/2028

Small-scale Circular Green Biorefineries for increasing farmer sustainability and competitiveness and building resilient rural areas

Rural BioReFarmeries brings together farmers, industries and other partners across Europe, to demonstrate a farmer-centred bioeconomy model aimed at maximizing the potential of Europe’s vast grasslands. The project will demonstrate a novel small-scale, decentralized, rural green biorefinery value chain, which addresses the limitations of existing green biorefineries. This small-scale decentralized model places farmers at the centre of the biomass value creation close to their farms, allowing them to co-produce inputs for their farms, with additional high value-added intermediates and products, which will be further developed in collaboration with centralized facilities and downstream industry partners. The model provides a practical implementation of the bioeconomy among a large farmer cohort and builds on the existing farm enterprises and cooperative structures of our partners, enabling collaboration, scale-up, market access, and building synergies across primary and industrial sectors. The project advances state-of-the-art for green biorefinery in terms of operational model, logistics, processing, product development and assessment methods, which collectively deliver a more sustainable and profitable model for farmers and rural communities. The model will serve as a blueprint for farmers to sustainably diversify into the bioeconomy, reducing their farm emissions while creating new products which displace unsustainable alternatives in a range of agri-food markets. Rural BioReFarmeries model will be replicated to diverse regions of Europe, supported by the development of inclusive business models and hands-on training among multi-actor groups and communities in regions of high potential. The project represents a highly replicable model for Europe’s abundant grasslands, helping farmers to deal with sustainability and profitability challenges while helping rural communities to become more resilient while realizing the potential of their local bioresources.

Contact:

Giulia Pastor: refarm@australo.org

website: https://ruralbiorefarmeries.eu/

LAB Biofine project

LAB Biofine project

This project ends on: 31/05/2027

LAB Biofine

LAB Biofine is a bold innovation and development platform for the bioeconomy. We help companies turn bio-based ideas into sustainable business through agile piloting, cutting-edge research, and international collaboration. Our activities are centred around a pilot plant based on pressurised hot water extraction and deep eutectic solvents, with advanced separation capabilities.

Contact:

Dr. Antti Kapanen, Specialist for International Networks: antti.kapanen@lab.fi

website: http://www.biofine.fi/

CIRCULAR BIOCARBON project

CIRCULAR BIOCARBON project

This project ends on: 31/05/2027

Turning urban waste streams into added-value products

CIRCULAR BIOCARBON presents a first-of-a-kind flagship biorefinery designed to valorise the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) and Sewage Sludge (SS) into high-added-value end and intermediate products, including coating of direct consumer products, coating of mechanical moving parts, coating of plastic moulding tools, biodegradable and compostable waste bags, green graphene-based devices and products, biodegradable soil mulch films, solid organomineral fertiliser with biostimulant properties and liquid biobased biostimulant.

Contact:

Cristina Garcia-Vera (Project Coordinator): info@circularbiocarbon.eu

website: https://circularbiocarbon.eu/

BEAMING project

BEAMING project

This project ends on: 31/12/2027

Bioeconomy excellence alliance for stimulating innovative and inclusive green transition

BEAMING is a Horizon Europe project under the WIDERA work programme which seeks to promote innovation and valorization of knowledge in the field of bioeconomy through cooperation between higher education institutions, with a special focus on widening countries in Central-Eastern Europe, South-Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans.

Contact:

Balázs Imre (Project Coordinator): imre.balazs@edu.bme.hu

website: https://beamingproject.eu/

Brilian project

Brilian project

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

Project concluded

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

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/

PRIMED project

PRIMED project

This project ends on: 31/12/2026

Redesigning the Primary Sector for Maximizing Bioeconomy Development

The PRIMED Project PRIMED will co-create innovative forms of cooperation to integrate primary producers in novel bioeconomy value chains with a multi-actor approach. To do so, PRIMED will develop novel CBMB to produce high-value bio-based products through advanced biorefineries and will demonstrate them in five Living Labs (LLab) where end users can access to finance through open calls. PRIMED will also empower multi-actors to co-design a collaborative ecosystem to accelerate the bioeconomy, with an Open Access knowledge hub and toolkit (PRIMED digital toolbox).

Peuker Steinhäuser Vivian: vivian.peukersteinhaeuser@ruhr-uni-bochum.de

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

BIO2REG project

BIO2REG project

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/