Post Term: Project deliverable

Preliminary report on European, National and Regional MML events

This deliverable (D6.1) is the Preliminary Report on the European, National and Regional MML events carried out in this reporting period by BIOVOICES. This document therefore offers the ‘preliminary insights’ collated from and based on Mobilisation and Mutual Learning approach applied in the MML events carried out until November 2019

Guide of best practices for cooperation between academia and industry based on success cases

Recommendations of good practices included in each chapter are briefly explain and record in cards showing examples of specific known cases where particular recommendation has been put in practice and also visual information about expected impact of the recommendation on the enhancement of University & Industry Cooperation, difficulty, costs, as well as personnel needs for its implementation and, estimated time for executing each practice. Agents necessary for its implementation are also indicated, in order provide easy access to companies, research groups and other innovation stakeholders a potential tailored action plan of implementation for designing a path of collaboration between the Industry and the scientific world.

Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Bioeconomy Products and Processes

This document provides an overview of the structure and content of the product and process environmental factsheets available on the Bioeconomy Observatory web pages. These factsheets are divided into three groups that reflect the three pillars of the bioeconomy: (1) food & feed, (2) industrial bioproducts and (3) bioenergy. Compiled based on publicly available data/information collected from studies using life cycle assessment (LCA), they describe different bioeconomy value chains and their environmental performance.

Guidebook on engagement and co-creation methodologies.

This guidebook starts with an introduction on the concept of outreach and engagement methodologies and activities. Besides, giving this general overview it presents three exemplary engagement models, outlines how BLOOM’s engagement activities can be aligned to the Grand Societal Challenge of Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, or marine and maritime and inland water research, and highlights activities that are considered to be both engaging and relevant to BLOOM’s approach of empowering citizens and raising awareness for bioeconomy.

Co-creation processes will be at the heart of BLOOM’s five regional hub activities because co-creation follows an approach of involving different perspectives and collaboratively designing tools, materials, processes, activities or strategies. A variety of targeted creative methods and creative tools feed into this guideline support the hub leaders designing the most appropriate suitable workshops and to choose most fitting methodologies to reach their goals. Therefore, besides background information on co-creation, its potential and general information about organising such workshops, this section provides also as practical support a selection of co-creation methods and an example of a co-creation workshop moderation sheet, to be adapted and used by the BLOOM hubs.

All in all this guidebook is set up to encourage the BLOOM partners and hubs to structure, plan, and implement an engagement model tailored to the specific needs, drivers and barriers of each hub and thus should serve as a pool of engagement methods, activities and background information and offers assistance with planning the BLOOM co-creation workshops.

The Macro-environment Surrounding BE-Rural’s Open Innovation Platforms

With the recent update of its Bioeconomy Strategy, the guidance of its advisory bodies and the engagement of regional groups and representatives, Europe has found a new track towards a sustainable bioeconomy, building on the notion that regions are the most appropriate territorial level at which to implement bioeconomy strategies. The BE-Rural project incorporates this regional focus into its core vision, putting its regional Open Innovation Platforms (OIPs) front and centre in the process of studying the potential for regional bioeconomies, and articulating and implementing strategies to make them a reality.

In providing an outline of the macro-environment at each of the OIP regions, this task has also served to shed light on key points of collaboration between them, confirming previous notions of potential synergies and revealing new areas where the regional bioeconomies of BE-Rural could complement each other and contribute to the vision of a sustainable EU-wide bioeconomy.

Sustainability and Participation in the Bioeconomy: A Conceptual Framework for BE-Rural

This report outlines the conceptual framework of BE-Rural and provides practical guidance to the design and implementation of the five regional Open Innovation Platforms (OIPs) within BE-Rural. This conceptual framework aims to provide guidance regarding the overall ambition of BE-Rural, and the foundations by which the project will operate throughout its duration. The first part of this document describes the context, objectives and regional focus to be taken within the project. The second part outlines key concepts and founding principles that lay at the heart of the project. Following this, the conceptual framework of BE-Rural is presented and discussed.

Overall, the founding principles that lay at the heart of BE-Rural include the principles of co-creation, openness and inclusiveness, sustainability and transparency. These are incorporated into the key concept of the Quintuple Helix Approach, in which knowledge and innovation generated by key stakeholders from policy, business, academia and civil society are placed within the larger frame of the environment. Supporting this, the Action Research Approach ensures that reflection is integrated throughout all stages of project work.

Bioeconomy Research & Innovation Policy Landscape in Europe: A Review

The overall objective of CASA was to help set a consolidated common agricultural and wider bioeconomy research agenda within the European Research Area. CASA achieved this by bringing the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR) to the next level of performance as a research policy think tank.  It collaborated with the SCAR ) Bioeconomy Strategic Working Group (BSW), and supported a series of workshops aiming to facilitate development of national bioeconomy strategies in 11 Central European countries, Greece and Portugal.

Bioeconomy Research & Innovation Policy Landscape in Europe: A Review aims to review some of the principal research and innovation (R&I) policy frameworks existing and adopted at the EU level to support the bioeconomy, and in particular across the Directorate-General (DG) network including DG Research and Innovation (DG R&I), DG Agriculture and Rural Development (DG Agri) and DG for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG Grow). These three DGs were chosen given their high relevance and close connection to bioeconomy development from perspectives of securing biomass inputs, improving processing technologies, creating industries and appropriate business models and forming and informing market demand. While the policies and supports of many other DGs inevitably also contribute to the European bioeconomy (e.g. DG Environment, DG Climate Action, DG Competition and DG Energy), the aim of this focused assessment is to review principal R&I policy interactions and identify any gaps in the system.

Overview of studies commissioned by CASA

The overall objective of CASA was to help set a consolidated common agricultural and wider bioeconomy research agenda within the European Research Area. CASA achieved this by bringing the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR) to the next level of performance as a research policy think tank.  It collaborated with the SCAR Bioeconomy Strategic Working Group (BSW), and supported a series of workshops aiming to facilitate development of national bioeconomy strategies in 11 Central European countries, Greece and Portugal.

This report briefly introduces the scope and main outcomes and outputs of 17  external studies that were commissioned by the CASA project.

STAR4BBI Regulation action plan

Standards play a crucial role in supporting the growth of the bio-based products market. They can help to increase market transparency by providing common reference methods and requirements that enable the verification of claims and certification regarding the bio-based content, biodegradability or environmental sustainability of different products. However, inadequate standards can also act as barriers for certain products. So, what are the current EU standards or other related issues that hamper the growth of bio-based products? STAR4BBI (“Developing standards for bio-based industries”) analysed these barriers and proposed actions towards overcoming these.

The STAR4BBI document Regulation action plan (D4.4) contains specific proposals for regulations that are most in need of revision or demonstrate a high likelihood of adaptation with the ultimate objective of accelerating the transition to a bioeconomy. The report discusses solutions to overcome existing regulatory hurdles across sectors. The aim is to stimulate investments into existing and new value chains, products and applications as well as establish a level playing field for bio-based products. Solutions covered concern respectively:

  • Introduce a fossil carbon tax levied on the fossil carbon of fossil resources
  • Update of the Compostability standard
  • Develop a new policy specific for bio-based materials
  • Develop an effective End of Life (EOL) scheme

STAR4BBI Report on implementation for creation of new or revised standards

Standards play a crucial role in supporting the growth of the bio-based products market. They can help to increase market transparency by providing common reference methods and requirements that enable the verification of claims and certification regarding the bio-based content, biodegradability or environmental sustainability of different products. However, inadequate standards can also act as barriers for certain products. So, what are the current EU standards or other related issues that hamper the growth of bio-based products? STAR4BBI (“Developing standards for bio-based industries”) analysed these barriers and proposed actions towards overcoming these.

The STAR4BBI Report on implementation for creation of new or revised standards (D4.3) aims to identify standards or other initiatives that hamper the growth of bio-based producers in the market. The goal is to remove these identified and shortlisted barriers preferably before the end of the project. The main barriers include:

  • Non-functional specifications
  • Biodegradability
  • Compostability
  • Multiple certificates in the market
  • Double testing