About the project

BOOST4BIOEAST: Boosting the bioeconomy transformation for the BIOEAST macro-region

Funding: Horizon Europe, European Commission

Type of Action: Coordination and Support Action

Coordinator: Hungarian Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (ÖMKi) supported by Sustainable Innovations (SIE) in financial & admin matters

Duration: January 2024 – December 2026

Consortium partners: The consortium is composed of 30 partners from 17 EU countries (11 BIOEAST countries and Belgium, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain). Check all partners here

The BOOST4BIOEAST (B4B) project was developed to support the BIOEAST Initiative and aims to empower national stakeholders in the Central Eastern European and Baltic countries for the development of national bioeconomy action plans and to build long-lasting structures and spaces of dialogue for national and macro-regional cooperation.

The project follows the footsteps of its predecessor, the BIOEASTsUP H2020 project, building upon its outcomes that laid the foundation for macro-regional networking among bioeconomy experts and policymakers through the development of its Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (BIOEAST SRIA) and 11 Bioeconomy Concept Papers of 2022.

THE BIOEAST HUBS AND THEIR ROLE IN BOOSTING BIOECONOMY

At the core of the project, there is the need to establish or improve national bioeconomy expert communities (BIOEAST HUBs) as focal points of capacity building and catalyst for stakeholder engagement at national level for decision-making through participatory processes. In the next three years, the HUBs will be engaged in the development of national bioeconomy action plans, and in fostering national bioeconomy innovation ecosystems through cross-sectoral collaboration, capacity building and facilitating access to knowledge and networks to all bioeconomy stakeholders. Furthermore, at macro-regional level, they will contribute to the BIOEAST Thematic Working Groups’s (TWGs) specific strategic areas (Agroecology, Bioenergy and New Value Added Materials, Food Systems, Forestry Value Chains, Freshwater Bioeconomy, Bio-based Materials and Education) in updating the BIOEAST SRIA from 2022 to influence national and European research & innovation programmes.

ENRICHING KNOWLEDGE ON BIOECONOMY WITH A MULTIDIMENSIONAL ASSESSMENT AND THE KNOWLEDGE PLATFORM

B4B will undertake a wide mapping of biomass availability, usage, bioeconomy competences, educational needs, and innovation systems with the goal of promoting knowledge on bioeconomy in the macro-region. Moreover, a BIOEAST Knowledge Platform will be set up to act as a central point to find knowledge materials and relevant information on bioeconomy. The Platform will be open and tailor-made to the needs of BIOEAST countries, allowing wide range of its bioeconomy actors to access, share and store materials on national languages, therefore, stimulating active contributions and knowledge sharing in and across each member states.

STIMULATING BIOECONOMY RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

Given the great importance that innovation and education have in promoting and reinforcing bioeconomy activities, the project also sets the ambitious objective to bring together public and private funders with entrepreneurs and young professionals to provide exposure to business opportunities through a macro-regional Open Innovation Challenge (OIC) and pitching events. The project will also expand activities of the Network of Bioeconomy Universities in the BIOEAST (BIOEAST UniNet) to support stronger collaboration between universities and educational institutions of the macro-region to integrate bioeconomy into their educational profile.

OBJECTIVES

The six main objectives of the project:

EXPECTED OUTCOMES