The initiative aims to boost bioeconomy in central and eastern Europe by developing national action plans and platforms as well as fostering collaboration among different stakeholders.
Sustainable INNOVATIONS will lead part of the project coordination responsibilities such as the management of the administrative, financial and legal tasks.
Madrid, February 8, 2024 –BOOST4BIOEAST, a project that seeks a better understanding of the bioeconomy in Central and Eastern Europe, has just started. For 36 months, the BOOST4BIOEAST project will drive bioeconomy deployment in Central Eastern European and Baltic countries by enhancing national stakeholder participation, creating BIOEAST HUBs for collaboration, conducting bioeconomy competency mapping, establishing a BIOEAST Knowledge Platform, and fostering innovation and education through partnerships and activities across academia, private, and public sectors.
Sustainable Innovations, as experts in leading transversal tasks in other European initiatives, will take part in the project coordination leading the management of the administrative, financial, contractual, and legal tasks. “Supporting and executing the project coordination of a consortium with 31 partners from 17 countries is a great opportunity for us.” – states Jesús Serrano, Deputy General Manager at Sustainable Innovations. “We are proud to keep contributing to foster new bioeconomy solutions as we did previously in other European projects such as BIObec, BIO4AFRICA or ALFA, among others”.
The BOOST4BIOEAST project will bring significant impacts and benefits to Europe. Focused on deploying the bioeconomy in Central and Eastern European countries, the project will advance sustainable economic models, modernise the European industrial base, and safeguard biodiversity and the environment. By fostering cross-border collaboration through BIOEAST HUBs and connecting key stakeholders, the initiative will promote research and innovation alignment, addressing gaps in bioeconomic strategy implementation in Central and Eastern Europe. The project includes the development of national action plans, competency mapping, and a BIOEAST Knowledge Platform, contributing to a comprehensive bioeconomic transition and enhancing stakeholder engagement. Ultimately, the project will strengthen capacities, competitiveness, and cooperation across European countries, fostering a harmonised approach to the bioeconomy and delivering long-term benefits for Europe.
The challenges of bioeconomy in the Eastern Countries
Bioeconomy is crucial for Europe because it offers sustainable ways to grow the economy by using natural resources smartly, improving the local industry while caring for the environment and wildlife. For this reason, it has been one of the focus topics for the European Commission in the last decades. However, Central and Eastern European countries still have a lack of social awareness, technical knowledge and development, and, overall, cooperation between actors in bioeconomy. For this reason, it is necessary to start setting some basis for improving those three crucial aspects in the following years, by taking specific actions. BOOST4BIOEAST main aim goes in this line, as the project will work for 36 months on boosting the participation of national stakeholder networks in the development of national bioeconomy action plans, as well as strengthening the networking and cooperation opportunities. Nowadays, only one country in the region, Latvia, has developed a national bioeconomy action plan. And only five (Croatia, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia) are working on having one.
About BOOST4BIOEAST
Led by ÖMKi Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, the BOOST4BIOEAST project is formed by BIOEAST HUB CR, z.u., the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Research Centre for Natural Sciences, the Research Institute of Agricultural Economics of Hungary, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland, the Estonian University of Life Science, the Agricultural Academy of Bulgaria, the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, the Energy Institute Hrvoje Požar of Croatia, Circular Change, the National Forest Centre of Slovakia, the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Trust-IT SRL, COMMpla srl (affiliated entity to Trust-IT SRL), THE Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy, the German Biomass Research Center, 4CF Sp. z o.o., the Agency for the Promotion of European Research, the European Forest Institute, Sustainable Innovations Europe, the Research Institute for the Economy of Agriculture and Rural Development, the National Institute of Research and Development for Biological Sciences, the Irish Bioeconomy Foundation, the National Agricultural and Food Center of Slovakia, the Republic of Slovenia Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic, the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics of Poland, the Bio-based Industries Consortium, and the Croatian Chamber of Agriculture. The project has received €3 499 535.02 million in funding from the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme of the European Union under grant agreement number 101133398. On the other hand, SUSTAINABLE INNOVATIONS has received 93 750.00 euros.
About SUSTAINABLE INNOVATIONS
SUSTAINABLE INNOVATIONS is a Spanish consultancy firm providing innovative services to a wide range of sectors across Europe: bio-based industry, renewable energies and advanced materials, among others. The capabilities offered by SUSTAINABLE INNOVATIONS are structured around three main pillars that serve as a bridge between the conception of innovative ideas and the market: Innovation Management, Business Development Services and Training. Our main asset is the highly qualified team of engineers, environmentalists, communicators and business development experts that work with us.
More information at www.sustainableinnovations.eu
Contact: Pablo Morales, Communications manager | pablomorales@sustainableinnovations.eu | +34 910 06 34 20