Between the teams of the Agricultural Academy BIOEAST HUB and the CEE2ACT BIOEAST HUB (part of Executive Forest Agency) created under project CEE2ACT both are funded by the Horizon Europe program. There is a partnership formed based on the theme of bioeconomy and its development in Bulgaria.
We have held several meetings throughout the collaboration to foster synergy between the hubs. Our team actively participated in two CEE2ACT HUB stakeholder meetings, presenting their hub’s initiatives and knowledge (which are focused mostly on forestry biomass). They shared with us their good bioeconomy practices and some tools they have developed during the project (an online inventory of good practices, an interactive e-learning platform designed to enhance bioeconomy education, a self-assessment tool that enables stakeholders to evaluate their regional bioeconomic environment, and a platform facilitating partnerships among bioeconomy enterprises and experts).
Moreover, our team benefited from two specialized training sessions hosted by Wageningen University in May 2024 and January 2025. These sessions were tailored to enhance knowledge transfer skills within the bioeconomy sector.
A pivotal meeting occurred in July at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, focusing on the Agricultural Academy BIOEAST HUB’s specific activities. Both parties recognized that our project goals to support and develop the bioeconomy for Central and Eastern European countries align with the BIOEAST initiative, but our approaches differ significantly in terms of target stakeholders and focal areas.The BOOST4BIOEAST project has a wider scope, targeting not only established players within the Bulgarian bioeconomy but also emerging start-ups and venture capital firms. During this meeting, we presented a comprehensive plan for the establishment of the Agricultural Academy BIOEAST HUB. This plan leverages a broad network of scientific institutions within the Agricultural Academy and capitalizes on the expertise accumulated from previous bioeconomy projects. We outlined our key groups of stakeholders and detailed the schedule of activities planned through the end of the year. We continued the cooperation after the meeting as representatives of CEE2ACT BIOEAST HUB participated in our Kick-off meeting in December 2024.
This ongoing exchange of knowledge and resources has been instrumental. We are committed to continuing our collaborative efforts in the next years to advance the bioeconomy across the region.