Post Term: BIOBASE4SME

Report on needs and challenges of SME companies in the bioeconomy in NW Europe

Posted on by LIFT Team

Lack of policies related to investment and demand in the bio-based products remain large barriers to small and medium-sized enterprises working in the bioeconomy in North-West Europe. This is the conclusion of a survey carried out as part of the BioBase4SME project in 2018. The project, co-financed by InterregNWE, aimed to support SMEs in the bioeconomy with funded technical and business services, as well as training.
For the survey, bioeconomy SMEs in six countries of North-West Europe were presented with a list of barriers and asked to rate them on how they impact their business development. The SMEs were asked to rate the barrier from 1 to 5, with 5 being a barrier actively preventing business development. The questions were the same as in a survey carried out in 2014 as part of a previous project, Bio Base NWE, also co-financed by InterregNWE. This allows the two surveys to be compared and offers an insight into the progress of the bioeconomy as well as the impact of
bioeconomy policy in NW Europe.

Training Guide Social Acceptance – Developing dialogue with your stakeholders. Applying social acceptance tools to avoid barriers in bio-based projects

Posted on by LIFT Team

Many companies implementing emerging technologies encounter barriers or objections from consumers or local stakeholders. “Social acceptance” is the result of a process where stakeholders and project leaders work together to find solutions to these barriers and objections. It is important to be aware that the stakeholders affected by a new product or process go way beyond the SME’s customer base. Involving stakeholders in a series of activities to establish relationships is essential – there are tools for this. Tools will enable SMEs to achieve legitimacy and credibility regarding the stakeholder, form a strong and well-communicated company mission statement and clear long-term vision and set up long-term connections with their stakeholders, resulting in trust. This guide takes you through the context and the theory behind the social acceptance concept. It addresses SME managers and business support organisations, presenting a number of tools which can be useful for those launching new products or services in the bio-based economy, and beyond.

Brochure about Social Acceptance: Developing a dialogue with your stakeholders

Posted on by LIFT Team

Many companies implementing emerging technologies encounter barriers or objections from consumers or local stakeholders. “Social acceptance” is the result of a process where stakeholders and project leaders work together to find solutions to these barriers and objections. It is important to be aware that the stakeholders affected by a new product or process go way beyond the SME’s customer base. Involving stakeholders in a series of activities to establish relationships is essential – there are tools for this. Tools will enable SMEs to achieve legitimacy and credibility regarding the stakeholder, form a strong and well-communicated company mission statement and clear long-term vision and set up long-term connections with their stakeholders, resulting in trust.

This guide takes you through the context and the theory behind the social acceptance concept. It addresses SME managers and business support organisations, presenting a number of tools which can be useful for those launching new products or services in the bio-based economy, and beyond.

The tools can be applied by SME managers in North West Europe, but there are the property of their authors (see references).

BIOBASE4SME – Bio-Innovation Support for Entrepreneurs throughout NWE Regions

BIOBASE4SME – Bio-Innovation Support for Entrepreneurs throughout NWE Regions

Posted on by LIFT Team

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

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.

“BioBase4SME” expects to bring at least 20 promising innovations closer to the market, resulting in new investments and job creation, and provide training to about 200 entrepreneurs active in the biobased economy, thus boosting their innovation capacity. Other main outputs are a strong, interregional network to guide entrepreneurs towards successful innovation, improved regional support for the biobased economy in terms of innovation and investment climate, legal framework and public approval.”

PROJECT CONTENTS

Brochure about Social Acceptance: Developing a dialogue with your stakeholders
Many companies implementing emerging technologies encounter barriers or objections from consumers or local stakeholders. “Social acceptance” is the result of
Read more
Report on needs and challenges of SME companies in the bioeconomy in NW Europe
Lack of policies related to investment and demand in the bio-based products remain large barriers to small and medium-sized enterprises
Read more
Short introduction to BioBase4SME prject
BioBase4SME offers Workshops, Training, Innovation Biocamps and Services to Entrepreneurs throughout North-West Europe. Watch the video and find out what
Read more
Training Guide Social Acceptance – Developing dialogue with your stakeholders. Applying social acceptance tools to avoid barriers in bio-based projects
Many companies implementing emerging technologies encounter barriers or objections from consumers or local stakeholders. “Social acceptance” is the result of
Read more