The BIOEAST Open Innovation Challenge (OIC), an initiative from the BOOST4BIOEAST project, has reached an important milestone with the selection of eight innovative solutions nominated by national BIOEAST HUBs and BIOEAST Thematic Working Groups (TWGs). This marks an important step in this collaborative initiative to accelerate bioeconomy transformation across Central and Eastern Europe.
The OIC received 36 eligible applications of great diversity from all BIOEAST countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Following a rigorous selection process, eight solutions have been chosen for their strong potential to address concrete needs across the key priority themes of the BIOEAST OIC. The selected innovators represent a strong cross-section of researchers, SMEs, start-ups, and associations, showcasing the macro-region’s growing capacity to co-create innovations tailored to local context.
OIC awarded solutions:
Theme 1: Resilient small and medium-sized farms
- Autonomous weeding robot, light-weight and solar powered, with revolutionary contactless weeding method providing an effective and affordable alternative to manual labor, herbicides and tilling. The weeding robot is suitable for challenging terrains and hard/dry soils and by harnessing the power of AI combined with off-the-shelf sensors, it is affordable even to small and medium farmers who can become more competitive, profitable and resilient to climate change by reducing chemical use, manual labor dependency, while fostering soil and plant health.
Solution Provider: Smart Farm Robotix, Bulgaria - POMARIS – Mycelium-Bound Nutrient Pellets for Regenerative Farming is an innovative, biodegradable, mycelium- and biochar-based nutrient system designed to improve soil health and farm resilience through slow nutrient release, soil regeneration, and carbon retention.
Solution Provider: MycoNest (Hungary), with advisory input from researchers affiliated with the SLU and Aarhus University
Theme 2: Biomass logistics
- Smart BIOHUB Network for Efficient Biomass Collection and Logistics in Banská Bystrica Region (BBSK) introduces a regional network of BIOHUBs across the BBSK to optimise the collection, pre-processing, and logistics of biodegradable waste and biomass.
Solution Provider: BioPark Slovakia, Slovakia
Theme 3: Biowaste reduction and valorization
- Future-shaping fats and oils, sustainably made is a start-up that develops environmentally friendly fats and oils through fermentation, using a proprietary yeast platform to convert low-value industrial side-streams, such as sawdust, food waste, and agricultural residues, into high-performance lipid ingredients to replace palm, coconut, and animal fats.
Solution provider: ÄIO, Estonia
Theme 5: Innovative wood technologies
- KNOFmowa is a modular, free-standing partition wall that can be assembled and disassembled multiple times, without screwing. Materials for KNOFmowa are made from locally collected surplus materials (old furniture, industrial waste wood and plastic).
Solution provider: KNOF, Slovenia
Theme 6: Monitoring agricultural and forestry systems
- HAWK EYE is a novel, technology-driven approach to monitoring and controlling pesticide residues in agricultural production with multispectral and hyperspectral drone imaging and accompanying software that determines the presence of illegal plant protection products in organic farming and prohibited ones in conventional production.
Solution provider: DIGITAL AGRO / AGRIGENTUM d.o.o; ALGO EKO d.o.o; and SPARTIUM CONSULTING d.o.o., Croatia
Theme 7: Stakeholder engagement and collaboration
- Stakeholder Collaboration for Ecosystem Service Valuation – Regionalwert Leistungen CZ introduces a multi-stakeholder approach and digital platform that quantifies and monetises farms’ ecosystem services and uses the results to structure dialogue, collaboration and decision-making among farmers, value-chain actors, policymakers and citizens.
Solution provider: Czech Organics s.r.o., Czech Republic
Theme 8: Raising awareness of the circular bioeconomy
- Digital Platform for Circular Economy Training, Stakeholder Collaboration, and Sustainable Energy Design is a multi-faceted initiative designed to accelerate the adoption of the circular bioeconomy.
Solution provider: The University of Life Sciences “King Mihai I” (ULST), Romania
As part of the prize, the winners will be invited to pitch their solutions at upcoming BIOEAST pitching events taking place this year, where they will connect with investors, key bioeconomy actors, and potential development partners. At the same time, the winners will also benefit from theme-specific support offered by BIOEAST HUBs and TWGs. Depending on the theme, this may involve expert mentoring, access to specialised networks, or targeted capacity-building.
By connecting regional challenges with new ideas and emerging talent, the BIOEAST OIC strengthens the foundations of a more resilient and resource-efficient bioeconomy across BIOEAST macro-region.
Congratulations to the winners and a big applause for all the applicants for participating with original ideas!
Stay in touch with BOOST4BIOEAST
If you have questions about the BIOEAST Open Innovation Challenge, please contact bioeastoic@efi.int.
For regular updates on the BOOST4BIOEAST project sign up for the BIOEAST Newsletter here.
Follow us on social media: X, LinkedIn, Facebook, and BlueSky.
OIC coordinators
