Over the last two months, the BIOEAST countries have gathered their research and innovation theme suggestions on bioeconomy related issues to contribute to the two-year 2021-2022 Work Programme of the EU’s Horizon Europe (HE) Framework Program.
The methodology of collecting the topics has been adapted to the work of the BIOEAST Thematic Working Groups (TWGs). So the theme suggestions not only serve as input to the HE Work Programme, but also provide a framework for the common BIOEAST Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA). The suggestions are in line with the thematic areas of the BIOEAST working groups, thus covering agroecology, food, water, biotechnology and forestry related areas. Themes relevant to several BIOEAST member states have been crosschecked and elaborated in detail so that the BIOEAST countries can mobilize their stakeholders together to solve a common problem/challenge.
In some Member States thematic national mirror groups were set up to assess national and macro-regional needs. The results show that the 11 member states involved approximately 200 researchers, industry actors and policy makers. Therefore, the proposed themes authentically represent the research and innovation needs of these 11 countries.
The theme suggestions will be submitted to the Commission services, and also introduced during the PC meeting.