Bridging the Gap

Workshop on the role of research infrastructure and Living Labs

For regions transitioning to a bio-based economy, research infrastructure and living labs can foster collaboration and bridge the gap between innovation and commercialisation. This pivotal role was highlighted during BIO2REG’s concluding expert workshop in Reykjavík, Iceland.

The BIO2REG workshop on the role of research infrastructure and living labs in regional bioeconomy transitions brought together 26 research, business and rural development experts in Reykjavík, Iceland. Living labs and research infrastructure are key to developing bioeconomy model regions, acting as hubs for demonstrating, testing, scaling, and implementing new technologies and business models. They encourage collaboration between researchers, industry, and communities to address challenges like climate change, resource scarcity, and rural development. Workshop participants explored regions’ challenges in shifting to bio-based economies and discussed how research infrastructure and living labs can facilitate this transition. The workshop underscored these resources’ vital role in fostering collaboration, promoting knowledge transfer, and driving sustainable development across diverse industries. The discussions were complemented by site visits to leading local bioeconomy practitioners, such as microalgae-culturing VAXA, Brim Seafood, and state-of-the-art Matís Aquaculture Research Station.

A Benchmark for Facility Sharing Excellence

The transition to bioeconomy is challenging, particularly in regions bound by conventional business practices and fragmented governance. Consequently, shared facilities, such as living labs, are often at the heart of bioeconomic transitions in rural areas, bringing like-minded people together. The success of such efforts was demonstrated by Sveinn Aðalsteinsson from Orkídea. This nano-organisation from South Iceland promotes eco-industrial parks that operate on circular economy principles, where waste from one company becomes a resource for another, creating innovation hubs in rural areas. The BIO2REG expert workshop participants observed this concept at the VAXA microalgae-culturing facility. The facility is integrated with a geothermal plant and uses its clean energy and natural carbon emissions to power microalgae production. Eco-industrial parks like this build regional resilience and drive bioeconomic transformations by bringing together entrepreneurs and investors to address local environmental challenges while creating economic value.

Infrastructure and competencies for SMEs

Another insightful outlook at the shared facilities spotlit testbeds and pilot halls that de-risk innovation processes and help Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) scale up bio-based solutions. Per Tomani and Matthias Drotz from Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) demonstrated the power of mobile teaching platforms that allow industries to visualise technology before adopting it into their processes. An excellent example is LignoCity in Bäckhammer, Sweden, a demonstration facility for commercialising kraft lignin products. By participating in the test environments, SMEs can validate the real-world conditions before large-scale commercialisation. This kind of infrastructure is a vital stepping stone for SMEs in transitioning towards cutting-edge bio-based products, as it is rare for a single SME to have all the infrastructure and competencies needed.

Finally, workshop participants exchanged on best practices and lessons learnt for new technologies and research infrastructures, particularly in more traditional industries such as fishing and farming. Presentations from experts, including Guðmundur Stefánson from Matís, Roland Pieruschka from Forschungszentrum Jülich, and Ola Pettersson from RISE , emphasised how transitioning to fossil-free, resilient systems is achievable by integrating accessible infrastructure, new tools and practices (e.g. PHENET, Microbes4Climate and the European Plant Phenotyping Network to name just a few) and collaborations between communities, industry, farmers and researchers. Large-scale investments often support testing, scaling, and early adoption of the practices. However, it is the undeniable benefits—such as improved product quality and increased profits—that truly drive market competition. A prime example of this is the Icelandic seafood sector, where export values have tripled over the last forty years, thanks to fish processing optimisation, specialisation, and automation.

The potential for scaling up bio-based solutions is immense, and the role of research infrastructure and living labs in bridging the gap between innovation and commercialisation is crucial. By fostering collaboration, building eco-industrial parks, and creating opportunities for adopting bio-based solutions, these platforms provide regions with the tools needed for a sustainable and resilient future. Stay tuned to read the complete guide on the best practices collected from the BIO2REG experts on the regional transition towards bio-based economies!

The organisers

More about Matís
More about Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE)

More information

Matís Aquaculture Research Station
Orkídea
VAXA
Brim Seafood
LignoCity

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Key driver: Workshop focuses on bioeconomy education

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Experts share best practices to educate children, scientists, and everyone in between, aiming to align regional priorities and industry needs.

Forty-one bioeconomy education experts from 18 countries gathered at the BIO2REG workshop to discuss best practices, emphasising the need for engaging diverse stakeholders and providing practical training.

The BIOEAST HUB CZ team, led by George Sakellaris, organised a workshop to compile European bioeconomy education initiatives into practical guides for regional bioeconomy transitions. Key messages from the speakers included the importance of engaging decision-makers and citizens at various levels, enabling regional network exchange, and offering beginner training courses to reach a broader audience. Bioeconomy education focuses on sustainable practices and the use of renewable biological resources, aiming to create a new generation of experts capable of managing the challenges and complexities of the domain.

“Regional priorities, industry needs, and current education offers are still misaligned”, stated Susanna Albertini from the European Bioeconomy Network (EuBioNet). Susanna presented EuBioNet projects that address this mismatch, such as the GenB project, which provides bioeconomy toolkits for children, including educational videos, hands-on labs, and a multilingual book. She emphasised that ready-to-implement packages like these are the most effective bioeconomy education tools for all stakeholders.

A regional perspective was provided by Prof. Dr Ingar Janzik, an education coordinator at the Bioeconomy Science Center (BioSC), Forschungszentrum Jülich. Since its establishment in 2013 by the German state of North Rhine Westphalia, BioSC focused on – among others – educating scientists about the bioeconomy through initiatives like summer schools for doctoral students, excellence awards for student supervision, and funding for interinstitutional mini-projects in bioeconomy. BioSC also facilitates exchange between regional educators, local industry partners, students, and community members.

Continuing the topic of higher education, Bernhard Koch (Centre of Bioeconomy, BOKU University) represented European Bioeconomy University, an alliance of the eight leading European universities. He emphasised the critical need for combining business theory with practical skills for bioeconomy beginners. For example, cultural exchange between students at the Fostering Entrepreneurship for the Bioeconomy (FOEBE) project helped to find parallels between regions and bring out unique features. “Find your co-fighters!” advised Bernhard.

In summarising the workshop, George presented the success story of BIOEAST UNInet, a  macroregional network initiated in 2020 to unite Central and Eastern European countries for a knowledge-based bioeconomy transition. During the final session, participants discussed the challenges and gaps in bioeconomy education in their regions, focusing on industrial needs, vocational training, and geographical aspects. “The workshop proceedings will be summarised and shared very soon,” promised Sakellaris.

The practical guides developed from this and other workshops address the unique challenges of regions and leverage identified success factors. We highly encourage you to participate in our upcoming BIO2REG expert workshops, as your contribution is invaluable. Check our Events page for more details.

 

“Fair and just”: Workshop explores social aspects of bioeconomy transition

Bioeconomy researchers, practitioners, and members of civil society organisations brainstorm courses of actions for regional stakeholders to overcome the key social challenges.

“For a bioeconomy transition to be ultimately successful, it needs to be fair and just to all involved”, explains Aran Blanco, Senior Research Development Innovation Consultant and Environmental Researcher at Kveloce. In BIO2REG, Kveloce is the responsible partner for the BIO2REG network and the main partner ensuring stakeholder engagement and co-creation. Kveloce, hosted an online workshop on the social aspects of bioeconomy transitions to ensure a fair and just bioeconomy transition. The event on 14 June 2024 explored ways to create and assess a more inclusive and equitable shift to the bioeconomy, starting with insights from invited speakers and engaging the participants in interactive discussions on the potential fields of actions on a regional level. Through this expert workshop, BIO2REG continued to identify best practices as a foundation for practical guides aimed at assisting regional stakeholders with concrete steps for fostering their regional bioeconomy.

Aran started the workshop by introducing the Kveloce team and the BIO2REG project, emphasising BIO2REG’s holistic approach to the social aspects of bioeconomy transitions and surveying the participants’ overwhelmingly positive opinions about the bioeconomy outcomes. The first speaker, Dr. Elisa Oteros Rozas shared the strategies of the Inspira Territorio project, an initiative implemented in the Sierra the Aracena region, Spain, framed within the Agroecology-TRANSECT project. Inspira Territorio unites a diverse community to reconnect people and the environment,  addressing social challenges for the viability of bio-based entrepreneurship, such as the high dependency on subsidies, the limited culture for entrepreneurship, the lack of generational turnover and the lack of public infrastructure and local and regional policies committed to promoting bioeconomy that result in land abandonment and loss of cultural heritage. Collective reflections, recovery of local knowledge, and promotion of cultural change through art are only a few selected practices mentioned by Dr. Oteros Rozas.

Afterwards, Holger Gerdes (Ecologic Institute, Germany) shared lessons from three bioeconomy projects: BioSTEP, BE-Rural, and SCALE-UP. Holger highlighted the importance of looking beyond the benefits of the bioeconomy transition and assessing the potential adverse impacts it might have on the local people and environment. He stressed the urgent need for the co-production of knowledge involving groups usually marginalised from decision-making activities to close the existing gap between the needs and priorities of local stakeholders and the goals tackled by EU policies and projects in the field of bioeconomy.

The last presentation from Anastasios Galatsopoulos (White Research, Greece,-MainstreamBIO project) addressed the uneven bioeconomy development and awareness between countries, as well as the public acceptance among stakeholders, which can be related to the inequalities in price perceptions from the different sectors involved in the value chains, the lack of trust in the certification systems that ensures the biobased origin of the products. Anastasios agreed with Elisa Oteros on the market accessibility for local producers as a barrier to be overcome in the bioeconomy transition. These challenges will require analysing the specific socioeconomic context of the targeted regions, along with the potential value chains, improving the knowledge on available biomass, waste and residue streams, and identifying best practices regarding business models and social innovations to foster regional-based solutions.

In the second part of the workshop, participants collaborated on the potential benefits and challenges of adopting bioeconomy practices and ways to measure success in achieving social fairness. During this session, the participants were divided into three groups (researchers, practitioners, and representatives of civil society organisations) to ensure a wider engagement by considering different points of view and experiences. Digital participation tools were used in the different groups to analyse the challenges and potential measures to tackle them. The measures proposed by all groups highlighted the following aspects:

  • Sharing best practices and knowledge from regions more advanced in bioeconomy transition so they could be used as success cases.
  • More inclusive allocation of resources that prioritises the returns to the local populations, such as tailored investment funds, prizes and other tools, and assistance to ensure their accessibility by the targeted groups.
  • Education and capacity building tailored for the different actors, including retraining programmes and professional training programmes to awareness-raising campaigns aimed at consumers.
  • Developing consistent policies in participative ways to better respond to the needs of each specific region, fostering transparency and inclusion through engagement platforms and open dialogue.

At the end of the workshop, all 23 participants engaged in a joint discussion in which initiatives to monitor and assess the fairness of bioeconomy transitions were proposed. The friendly and participative mood of the participants played a key role in learning from different perspectives and experiences and in proposing initiatives addressing the challenges perceived in the previous session. “We received a lot of insights from the workshop”, concludes Blanco. “These will be very useful when developing the practical guides for regional stakeholders.” The practical guides created based on this and other workshops will address the unique challenges of regions and leverage success factors identified in the workshops.

Check our Events page to find out about the upcoming BIO2REG expert workshops!

 

 

 

BIO2REG workshop on funding bioeconomy transitions

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Experts identify the main challenges and success factors in developing practical funding guides for regional stakeholders.

On 4 June 2024, Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ), its BioökonomieREVIER initiative, and the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) co-organised the first BIO2REG expert workshop. The BIO2REG workshop series highlights best practices in bioeconomy model regions, emphasising the following prerequisites for successful transition: climate-neutral bio-based value chains and business models, research infrastructure and living labs, social sustainability aspects of the transition, education and funding.

The workshop engaged up to 39 participants, including funding experts, regional representatives or bioeconomy practitioners. The workshop’s primary objectives were to share success stories, identify gaps, and explore effective funding strategies for bioeconomy transitions on a regional level. Through this workshop, BIO2REG has initiated a critical discussion on developing practical guides for regions, offering concrete steps on how to fund and advance bioeconomy transitions.

Denise Gider, FZJ and the BIO2REG coordination team, along with Marco Rupp from BIC, kicked off the workshop by introducing the BIO2REG project and its consortium partner, BIC. BIC is a non-profit organisation representing the private sector in a Public-Private Partnership with the European Commission. The partnership Circular Bio-Based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) focused on strengthening the bio-based industries sector in Europe. BIC further cooperates and connects with regions in various ways, given the importance of regions to foster the bioeconomy.

The first invited speaker, Jorge Molina Villanueva (DG Research and Innovation), provided a critical funder perspective, focusing primarily on the Regional Innovation Valleys for Bioeconomy and Food Systems (RIV4BFS), which will contribute to the New European Innovation Agenda by building regional deep-tech innovation valleys, accelerating the deployment of regional bioeconomy and addressing the innovation divide within the EU. The BIO2REG project is specifically referred to as an opportunity under Horizon Europe to unlock RIV4BFSs.

The workshop then delved into the funding insights of bioeconomy model regions that foster bioeconomy transition on a regional level. Ulrich Schurr, FZJ, and the BIO2REG coordination team highlighted learnings from the initiative BioökonomieREVIER in the Rhenish mining region, Germany, initiated to compensate for the consequences of the region’s coal phase-out in 2030 and the associated job losses. An insightful account from one of the oldest European bioeconomy clusters came from Christophe Luguel (Bioeconomy For Change, B4C). B4C is a reference network for bioeconomy in France, representing more than 500 members. It was based on initiatives of farmer cooperatives in 2005 and is now funded by the French regions Grand-Est, Hauts de France and Normandie. In the last spotlight presentation, Paul Nemes shared the journey of the Swedish Paper Province, which is a business cluster within the forest bioeconomy and has been utilising its forests to shift to a fossil-free economy since 1999.

The workshop identified several main challenges in bioeconomy model regions:

  • Tailoring funding strategies and activities to diverse regional conditions
  • Securing long-term funding, continuity, and scalability
  • Navigating complex funding sources that rely on a mix of regional, national, and European funds, both public and private
  • Building trust and fostering collaboration among diverse stakeholders

Key success factors in bioeconomy model regions were also highlighted:

  • Maintaining an optimistic mindset and comfort with uncertainty
  • Keeping a long-term vision while taking quick action
  • Developing a strong regional innovation ecosystem and encouraging long-term commitment from diverse stakeholders
  • Utilising unique regional strengths and prioritising specific bioeconomy sectors
  • Combining public funding with private investment

The workshop continued into an interactive joint discussion about building trust among the stakeholders, the challenges of growing a network across Europe, and the availability of funding opportunities. The insights from this and the following BIO2REG workshops will be developed into practical guides for regional stakeholders. These guides will address the unique challenges of regions and leverage success factors identified in the workshops.

Check our Events page to explore the following BIO2REG expert workshops!

 

Kicking off BIO2REG!

The new Horizon Europe project initiates and accompanies the transition of carbon-intensive economies towards systemic and circular bioeconomy model regions

Brussels, Feb 06-07, 2024 – Nine partners from eight European countries came together to officially kick-off the Horizon Europe project, BIO2REG, led by model region initiative BioökonomieREVIER at Forschungszentrum Jülich. BIO2REG’s main objective is to assist regions facing challenges to transition towards model regions in circular bioeconomy.

Acting as a catalyst for systemic change, the project places bioeconomy model regions at the centre of the needed transformation to a more sustainable Europe and to successfully implement the EU Green Deal. The project seeks to:

  • Anchor the bioeconomy as a pillar of regional development and transformation in industry and society.
  • Equip regional stakeholders with practical knowledge and tools to design and implement a region-specific bioeconomy transition.
  • Improve exchange and cooperation among European regions focussing on bioeconomy.

Bioeconomy model regions address existing transition challenges by concretization of concepts through tangible action measures. In model regions, bioeconomy is broadly integrated in society, economy, the education sectors and policies while ensuring healthy ecosystems within planetary boundaries.

BIO2REG will provide concrete tools for regional stakeholders including:

  • Concept to develop and implement regionally adapted bioeconomy transition paths.
  • Mapping of best practices in bioeconomy model regions.
  • Guidelines for evaluating bioeconomy potential.
  • Mentoring and training services for regions.
  • Partnerships to facilitate the transition.
  • Tailored policy recommendations to optimise strategies and funding.

In doing so, BIO2REG’s project activities contribute to structural changes in regions. These include adapting economy and society towards climate change by e.g. implementing new value chains in agriculture, forestry, fisheries or peat production, (post)qualification of professionals and trainees or developing bioeconomy profile sites.

Over the course of two days, BIO2REG partners presented and elaborated their roadmaps for the project implementation and workshopped initial frameworks for bioeconomy model regions.

Adrian Leip, Head of Bioeconomy, DG Research and Innovation, European Commission, provided in his keynote an overview of the policy context surrounding national and regional bioeconomy development and the variability of regions in Europe. Leip emphasised that the deployment of the sustainable circular bioeconomy needs to take the regional context into account, including the high variability of biological resources and existing fundings instruments.

Ulrich Schurr, FZJ, coordination team BIO2REG and BioökonomieREVIER, presented the conceptual underpinning of the regionalisation of the bioeconomy. Schurr emphasised the need to “act regional in a global context” by leveraging regional potentials for sustainable global bioeconomy.