The overall objectives of the BIOBoost project are to increase the latent potential of the participating innovation agencies, to learn from leading innovator regions, and to cement this knowledge and experience in the organisations, building and expanding networks, expanding the cooperation and enlarging the participation of more diverse innovation stakeholders and territories to existing successful initiatives in the bioeconomy, including agri-food, forestry, bio-based chemicals, materials and products, and bioenergy.
The partnership will implement a range of activities via peer-to-peer learning, including study visits and staff exchanges, to develop closer relationships within the partnership, and with the wider regional innovation ecosystems, as well as to learn improved innovation support measures. These will be cemented via operational work to build and develop innovation ecosystems and SMEs via hackathons and challenges (160 organisations involved), by providing direct
SME support on innovation management (24 cross-border KAM cases), and helping widening country SMEs towards financing of innovation projects (50+ cases). Over 450 SMEs will be engaged with during the implementation of the project, which will include active cooperation with 20 other innovation ecosystems.
BIOBoost connects 7 homogenous EU regions in terms of similarities of RIS3 and S3 Platform synergies related to bioeconomy and digitalisation. The multidisciplinary partnership has been strategically selected, to work in an inclusive and interactive bottom-up process, to discover potential new activities, and identify new opportunities that emerge from this interaction. Despite the homogeneity in terms of regional smart specialisation, the consortium consists of partners with a wide variety of complementary skills and experience, covering a wide geographical area and with considerable economic, social and environmental differences.
The expected impact of the BIOBoost project is to encourage the inclusion of stakeholders from across the quadruple helix (industry, academia, civil society and public authorities) in project activities, designing and implementing actions such as the challenge events, where stakeholders can be actively involved, expanding the cooperation model to new regions and sectors, and encouraging the participation of these organisations in existing, successful initiatives.
In particular, BIOBoost will create links between key innovation stakeholders within the partner networks, helping to develop improved services towards SMEs, and start-ups within innovation support services and particularly access to finance.
