Category: Stakeholders engagment and co-creation

 FASTER project

 FASTER project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

Objective

FASTER – Farmers’ Adaptation and Sustainability in Tunisia through Excellence in Research will reinforce research and knowledge transfer capacity of INRGREF related to innovative land and water management in view of climate change and its implementation through the use of Farm Advisory Systems (FAS). To achieve this, we will develop a sustainable framework for research capacity building, international networking and FAS practice. Strengthening of researchers and technicians of INRGREF and associated centres (IRESA) will be developed by EU partners of established scientific excellence in the topic (CREAF, LU) and demonstrated experience in economic impact and awareness raising (EFB, Vision), and integration into national policies (AVFA). The proposal is structured into 5 work packages, during 3 years and amounting 1million €, including: coordination; capacity building through training and staff exchanges; living lab stablishing through summer schools, e-learning and stakeholder involvement; project sustainability by monitoring, networking and governmental support; and communication through awareness raising and knowledge co-creation. Expected impacts to INRGREF and Tunisian partners are increased number of publications in peer review journals, mobility and international co-funding, increased international reputation, awareness and engagement, new skills and competencies, new services and employment related to FAS, and new research avenues.

Contacts:

Dr Sihem Jebari, FASTER Project Coordinator:sihem.jebari@gmail.com
Chiara Colalelli (Communication and Dissemination): chiara@vision-communication.org

Website

 ENABLING project

 ENABLING project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

ENABLING is the initiative of 16 partners in 13 EU and associated (IL, NO) countries. The main goal is to support the spreading of best practices and innovation in the provision (production, pre-processing) of biomass for the BBI (Bio-Based Industry).

In particular, ENABLING aims at creating appropriate conditions for the development of efficient biomass to BBPs (Bio-Based Products and Processes) value chains.

The consortium’s vision is that Europe bears a huge potential for optimising the supply of biomass into innovative bio-based processes and products.

Upscaling biomass production and pre-processing, and combining streams towards the BBPs with those of more traditional bioenergy chains would enhance at least three interlinked types of impact. a) biomass production gains scale to meet higher demand in both sectors (bioenergy and the BBI); b) the reinforcement of biomass supply for the BBI benefits smaller BBI players, helping them diversify and consolidate biomass input sources; c) reinforcing the biomass and BBPs linkages may contribute to job-creation, due to the increased need for specialised workers.

To realise such potential, ENABLING also anticipates its longer term exploitation pathways. In the intention of the consortium, the project should aggregate and engage partners for the establishment of a permanent innovation brokerage platform, likely to become in the future, one of the main marketplaces and innovation transfer accelerators at European level.

In this sense, the project organises its work around two building blocks: one relates to animating the stakeholders (on the farming and BBPs sides), identifying best practices, turning them into easy to access content (in the EIP format) for their potential users and providing stakeholders with coaching and guidance on innovation. The other one looks at future developments, with the consolidation, in a self-sustainable way, of the innovation brokerage platforms after the end of the EU funded initiative.

Contacts: Zusepe Elias Zidda: zusepe.zidda@euknow.eu

Website

 Danube S3 Cluster

 Danube S3 Cluster

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

The Danube Transnational Programme is a financing instrument of the European Territorial Cooperation (ETC), better known as Interreg. ETC is one of the goals of the European Union cohesion policy and provides a framework for the implementation of joint actions and policy exchanges between national, regional and local actors from different Member States.

The Danube Transnational Programme (DTP) promotes economic, social and territorial cohesion in the Danube Region through policy integration in selected fields.

In order to achieve a higher degree of territorial integration of the very heterogeneous Danube region, the transnational cooperation programme acts as a policy driver and pioneer to tackle common challenges and needs in specific policy fields where transnational cooperation is expected to deliver tangible results.

Considering its geographical coverage, this highly complex programme provides a political dimension to transnational cooperation which is unique in Europe, successfully facing challenges such as ensuring good mechanisms to contract partners who receive funding from different EU instruments.

The Danube Transnational Programme finances projects for the development and practical implementation of policy frameworks, tools and services and concrete small-scale pilot investments. Strong complementarities with the broader EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) are sought.

Contacts: Gilda Niculescu: programe@adrmuntenia.ro

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

 BIOVOICES project

 BIOVOICES project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

BIOVOICES is a 40 months project aiming at engaging all relevant stakeholder groups “voices” (policy makers, researchers, the business community and the civil society) in order to address societal, environmental and economic challenges related to bio-based products and applications.
The platform developed by BIOVoices builds on the concept the concept of Mobilisation & Mutual Learning Platforms (MML) and methods developed previously in European projects with the ultimate objective of delivering an Action Plan addressing the challenges of raising awareness of and engaging with the citizens on the bio-based products.

1) Define a framework for MML by reviewing barriers and opportunities for the development of bio-based value chains, identifying stakeholders and expected benefits from mutual learning and mapping bio-based products based on stakeholders’ interests.

2) Launch the BIOVoices multi-stakeholders community and social platform to support and enable discussion, workshops, mobilization and mutual learning events.

4) Improve framework conditions for new bio-based market opportunities including action plans and processes, by involving in more than 70 co-creation events, at European, National and Regional level more than 4.000 experts.

5) Transform the experience of the BIOVoices community in Actionable Knowledge for the different stakeholders, publishing recommendations and policy briefs (at least four) to address the challenges related to bioeconomy.

6) Ensure that the BIOVoices outcomes will have an impact on the different stakeholders, though and early impact, dissemination, communication and exploitation strategy.

The BIOVoices Consortium merges a variety of complementary expertise, aiming to build a consistent multi-actor approach integrating 12 partners from 10 EU Member States from Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean area to central and eastern European countries.

Contacts: Chiara Pocaterra: pocaterra@apre.it

Website

 BIOSWITCH project

 BIOSWITCH project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

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

Website

 BioSTEP project

 BioSTEP project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

The bioeconomy holds potential solutions to important challenges of the future.

The social, economic and environmental impacts associated with its products and processes, however, will require extensive dialogue processes on the future development of the bioeconomy.

For this purpose, BioSTEP will apply a three-tier approach which aims at reaching all relevant actors in the bioeconomy domain, particularly policy makers, various stakeholder groups (scientists, business, non-governmental organisations, etc.), and citizens.

Tailored communication tools, including workshops, conferences and exhibitions, will be developed for each target group in order to maximize outreach and to facilitate active engagement in public debates on the bioeconomy.

At a regional level, a ‘living lab’ approach will be applied and tested, which facilitates the involvement of public-private networks of stakeholders in bioeconomy-based innovation and business model development processes.

Contacts:

Laura Griestop: l.griestop@biocom.de
Holger Gerdes: holger.gerdes@ecologic.eu
Zoritza Kiresiewa: zoritza.kiresiewa@ecologic.eu

Website

 BIOREGIO project

 BIOREGIO project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

BIOREGIO boosts bio-based circular economy through transfer of expertise about best available technologies and cooperation models.
AIMS

  • improving knowledge related to circular economy of biological streams i.e. bio-based circular economy
  • increasing recycling rates of biological materials e.g. food waste/biowaste, municipal and industrial sludge and agricultural residues
  • transferring expertise about: a) cooperation models, e.g. ecosystems, networks, administrative cooperation,
    b) best available technologies, e.g. bio refinery, biogas production

ACTIVITIES

  • joint development of policy instruments
  • defining best practices of bio-based circular economy: cooperation models and best available technologies

ACTIONS

  • regional stakeholder group meetings
  • interregional events: roundtable discussions, seminars and site visits
  • policy briefs, expert papers
  • regional dissemination events

RESULTS

  • six improved policy instruments
  • regions will be better equipped to implement new technologies and cooperation models in order to move towards bio-based circular economy
  • increasing professional capacity among stakeholders
  • raising public awareness of bio-based circular economy

Contacts: Susanna Vanhamäki: susanna.vanhamaki@lab.fi

Website

 BioLinX project

 BioLinX project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

BioLinX will bridge research and innovation efforts in the bioeconomy by building three large clusters in Europe and initiating within them a range of powerful linking and innovation acceleration processes. The BioLinX partners have leading roles in the bioeconomies of South West Netherlands and Flanders, the Nordic Countries and Northern Italy and in the lignocellulose, agro- and agro-waste feedstock sectors.

The partners are all pioneers of systematic innovation management and cluster acceleration practices and between them have leading roles in over 45 current or recent collaborative bioeconomy projects. From this strong starting point they will select sixty or more FP7 and Horizon 2020 biobased projects from all stages of the value chain, form the BioLinX clusters and develop among them brokerage, collaborative innovation and business acceleration dynamics.

Specific objectives are:

  1. Selecting and scouting more than 60 high potential bio-economy projects,
  2. Developing a network of key regional bioeconomy clusters (i.e. RIS3 regions or equivalent) covering 3 geographical regions (north, central, south),
  3. Analysing, clustering and focusing selected FP7 and H2020 projects as well as the network of RIS3 bio-economy regions,
  4. Implementing the Innovation Linking & Support Programme consisting of activities focusing on Brokerage and Innovation incubation, Business development, finance and funding, Identifying and sharing good practices and Advocacy, communication and dissemination.

Contacts: Dennis van der Pas: d.vanderpas@rewin.nl

Website

 BioHorizon project

 BioHorizon project

Posted on by Louis Ferrini
Project concluded

BioHorizon is a network of specialised NCPs (National Contact Points) for Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, within the scope of the Societal Challenge 2 (SC2) “Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research and the bioeconomy” and the Key Enabling Technology (KET) “Biotechnology” (KET-B). The network consists of officially appointed Food Security National Contact Points (NCPs) and Contact Points in International Cooperation Partner Countries (ICPC CPs), coordinated by the Instytut Podstawowych Problemów Techniki Polskiej Akademii Nauk (IPPT PAN) in Poland.

The mission of BioHorizon is to facilitate transnational cooperation within the network of BIO NCPs with a view to identifing and sharing good practices in order to improve general standard of support to programme applicants taking into full consideration the diversity of stakeholders and actors involved in SC2 and KET Biotechnology.

Contacts: Bożena Podlaska info@ncp-biohorizon.net

Website