Final Report Summary - STAR-AGROENERGY (Scientific & Technological Advancement in Research on Agro-Energy: an integrated approach to renewable energy generation according to sustainability criteria)
Executive Summary:
A. Project objectives
STAR*AgroEnergy is a project funded by the European Commission, carried out under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) within the “Research Potential” programme, led by the University of Foggia (UFG), in the South of Italy, during a three and a half year period, from September 2011 to February 2015.
The EU Commission’s “Research Potential” programme was intended to help unlock and develop existing or emerging excellence in the EU’s “Convergence and Outermost” regions. The core aim of the STAR*project was to significantly improve the research capacity of UFG and its ability to act as a regional “hub” in promoting bioenergy and bioeconomy, which implied strengthening UFG’s research power, bolstering the links with stakeholders and fostering capacity building activities.
The STAR*Unit is made up of professors, researchers, technicians, post-docs and PhD students that are collaborating together in several research projects and innovation activities originally promoted by the STAR*AgroEnergy project thus allowing the long-term follow up of the supporting action by the EU Commission. STAR is now a very active research unit; thanks to the strategy put in place, the research team is achieving excellent results and is improving progressively in its scientific and technological performance.
B. Covered topic
STAR aimed at an integrated approach to renewable energy generation derived from agriculture and agro-food industries and to a knowledge-based bio-economy, according to sustainability criteria. “Agro-Energy” and “Bio-Economy” therefore form the unifying research field addressed by STAR: obtaining renewable energy and biomaterials through productive activities complementary to farming and agro-food processing.
C. A European research unit interlinked with the regional economy
One major strength of the overall action implemented with STAR is the high level of integration between the two most important innovation drivers: “Research Community” and “Local Stakeholders”, respectively. The improvement of local entrepreneurial capacity to start-up agro-energy and bio-economy value chains is growing, at local and regional level. The contribution of the project initiatives and the technological expertise gained by the STAR Unit through the project increased the chances of new economic investments by local entrepreneurs.
D. Project objectives achieved
Relevant objectives of STAR are in line with the following activities:
• Create a strong interdisciplinary research group out of the existing cadre of researchers present at the University.
• Consolidate the research team by recruiting experienced researchers.
• Promote the expansion of the research network through large and qualified scientific collaborations.
• Organize workshops and seminars to bring researchers and scientists from academia together with industrial managers and government staff.
• Enhance the participation of UFG in the EU funded research projects together with other allied research entities.
• Support the R&D potential by upgrading the research equipment. Setting up a “Facility Centre” focused on bio-energy and bio-based materials, biomass characterisation, energy conversion (anaerobic digestion and pyro-gasification), microalgae production and the setup of three small-scale pilot plants.
• Planning a university spin-off company in the bioenergy sector.
• Reinforce links with the socio-economic environment through the organization of an Agro-Energy Forum that brings together stakeholders and economic players.
• Provide UFG with an intellectual property policy encouraging an open and collaborative research, the development of inventions and other intellectual creations for the best interest of society, the creator and the research sponsor, if any.
Project Context and Objectives:
At the beginning of the STAR project, a SWOT analysis was conducted with the participation of a large part of UFG colleagues together with external panelists and representatives of stakeholders. The same SWOT was also carried out at the end of the STAR project as part of an evaluation exercise and in order to aim at new targets beyond the project, to assure a long-lasting continuation and further improvement of the project achievements.
In order to take advantage of the performed initial SWOT analysis - particularly reducing the weaknesses and increasing the strengths, grasping the opportunities and avoiding the threats - an “Action Plan” was developed. This “Action Plan” is to be considered as the guiding strategic document we carefully followed in the course of the project activities in order to reach and fulfil the project objectives according to a well defined “roadmap”.
In parallel with the project activities, an additional document has gradually taken shape as the result of a collective collaboration inside and outside the STAR Research Unit, which aims to guide the development of UFG starting from the end of the project period. This document was named “Research & Development Agenda”, the last version of it is one of the main project deliverables, receiving strong contribution from the Advisory Board, the Steering Committee, the external panel of STAR evaluators.
This specific and dedicated Action Plan was applied in order to achieve the main STAR project objective, i.e. to create a cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary research unit and significantly increase the research capacity of this new born unit. The Action Plan included increasing research potentials, promoting researchers mobility, improving publication standards and reinforcing the links with the “outer world”. By this term, we mean other research centres, regional economic players and sector associations in the region as a whole and outside. The creation of a scientific network at regional scale, with strong connections at European level, acts as a solid base from which to organize and coordinate the activities of SMEs, driving investments and promote the circulation of technology knowledge and expertise.
An approach of eleven steps was developed to achieve and maintain a full research capacity, connect and integrate the STAR Research Unit into the ERA (European Research Area), diffuse innovation through stakeholders’ involvement thus reinforce links with the socio-economic milieu, promoting technological transfer and innovation at regional and national scale. This strategy was applied and its goals successfully accomplished.
A. Strengthen the research potential forming a critical mass of researchers
1. Establishment of an Integrated Research Team at UFG
2. Consolidate the Integrated Research Team with experienced researchers
3. Implement research evaluation procedures and evaluation exercises
B. Reinforce the integration into the ERA by promoting the expansion of the research network through large and qualified scientific collaborations
4. Research collaborations and networking
5. Organization of workshops and seminars
6. Participation in the EU funded research projects
C. Support the R&D potential by upgrading the research facilities
7. A dedicated biomass “Facility Centre”
8. Set-up a spin-off company
D. Improve the research impact, research visibility and acknowledgment from stakeholders
9. Links with the socio-economic environment and partnership with economic players
10. Professional meetings and “open days”
11. Partnerships and promotional activities
The sustainable production of agro-energy and biomaterials was identified as a unifying subject for the development of a strategy aimed at unlocking the full potential of research. Therefore, the general research goal of the STAR Research Unit is to explore any possible solution for the achievement of a sustainable exploitation of local available biomass and its production potential based on a holistic and comprehensive analysis of the agroenergy domain.
With respect to specific research and technological objectives, relative to the concept of knowledge-based bio-economy (KBBE), a large array of research fields have been identified and followed:
• Bioresource assessment: use of spatial analysis and land planning tools to assess biomass potential production and current biomass availability; design sustainable bioenergy supply chains; develop and apply biomass sustainability criteria considering soil carbon balances and soil fertility; adopt new crop species for biomass production; offer new environmental services associated to biomass crops.
• Biorefineries: a number of biomass processing pathways were investigated, either separately or according to technological integrated schemes, with focus on the following:
(1) Anaerobic digestion, with emphasis on feedstock pre-treatment to enhance efficiency and enlarge the spectrum of substrates to be digested.
(2) Thermochemical conversion, i.e. biomass pyrolysis and gasification, focusing on biochar, a semi-carbonised biofuel and a soil carbon-sequestering agent.
(3) Microalgae cultivation, combined with waste treatment, and integrated with anaerobic digestion for biofuels and fine chemicals production.
• Biobased carbon mitigation: specific interest is addressed on the study of the potential for soil carbon capture or sequestration; modelling the soil carbon balance in bioenergy cropping system; biochar use as a strategy to sequester carbon and contribute to climate change mitigation.
• Biosystems management: systematic activities in the following critical fields:
(1) Methods, tools and databases to support decision-making processes in the domain of agro-energy; identification of best practices aimed at favoring sustainability, as well as promoting social acceptance of biomass plants at community level.
(2) Analysis of key drivers and barriers for local, regional and rural “green” development with respect to bioenergy value chains; the financial system is also considered as a possible driver of bioenergy innovation.
The strategy to unlock research capacity was developed in terms of social capital; three parallel and interconnected pathways in unlocking and developing research potentials have been identified and consequently applied. This strategy is based on the concept of “social capital”, i.e. the expected collective benefits derived from the cooperation between individuals, groups, and institutions considering the core idea that “social networks have value”. Social capital is a concept that describes the extent and nature of relationships people have with others, with their communities, institutions and systems. Social capital theory distinguishes between 'bonding', 'bridging' and 'linking' forms of social capital.
A. The first path is “bonding social capital” and it refers to trust-based, co-operative relations among members (researchers and administrative staff) inside the same organization. This means to gain stronger ties in multidisciplinary collaborations within the team and the research unit in order to get a better organization and innovative approaches, thus reaching a higher research capacity. Improve and qualify management activities also pertains to “bonding”, targeting a better organization of the management staff.
B. The second path is “bridging social capital” and it comprises to establish mutual relations between researchers from different European Countries and research Institutions. This kind of connections within a multifarious “research milieu” is specifically related to “mobility” and the aim is to push ahead the research team by means of international collaborations.
C. Finally, the third path is “linking social capital” that comprises relationships among people who are interacting across explicit, formal or institutionalized authority in society. In other terms, this means connections with public and private institutions, organizations, enterprises, in order to generate a proper impact of research.
Project Results:
This Section is going to report the STAR outcomes with respect to the actions from 1 to 8 of the STAR Action Plan (see the list of targets in the previous Section 2), while the remaining actions, from 8 to 11, will be discussed in the following Section 4.
Target A Strengthen the research potential forming a critical mass of researchers
This set of activities was aimed at overcoming the initial dispersion of researchers and the fragmentation of research topics within the UFG Departments. At the same time, a better and synergetic interdisciplinary research collaboration within the Unit was promoted.
Action 1 - Establishment of an Integrated Research Unit inside UFG
A strong interdisciplinary research group out of the former research cadre present at the UFG was created. This can be considered the first relevant outcome of the project. Therefore, the establishment and progressive reinforcement of the STAR Integrated Research Unit, focusing on “renewable energy from biomass and biomaterials”, was accomplished.
A quite large number of researchers at UFG is carrying out studies and analyses on renewable energy sources, biomass, and bio-based products, showing particular interest in the sustainability criteria to be adopted for the effective implementation of these technologies. Different disciplinary specializations previously acting independently or in small research units have resulted in a new and unusual aggregation, which is increasingly characterized by strong collaborative bonds, supporting a remarkable interdisciplinary approach, highly responsive to the needs of a complex research activity, characterized by wide-ranging technical, environmental and social connections.
We need to stress the relevance of this achievement. Inversely from other Regpot projects, this is not the case of simply reinforcing or strengthening an already existing Department or Research Centre. Differently from usual, in this case, the “ex-novo” foundation of a completely new interdisciplinary research unit was attained; quite a rare and still contrasted experience, at least in the Italian universities. It must be recognized that the conventional groups or sectors of scientific disciplines are still very effective in controlling the advancements in career of the academic researchers or professors; consequently the hierarchical dependency within each scientific sector is, nevertheless, still strongly conditioning.
In particular, it can be said that the UFG is traditionally well known and distinguished, at national scale, by relevant researches conducted in the sector of “food science”. In this research area, therefore, is operating the majority of researchers, dealing with problems related to economy, law, medicine, and, of course, agriculture.
What the STAR project tried to achieve was to attract researchers in a new, different but still contiguous scientific domain, just highlighting the very positive perspectives that this new and wide research sector (that of “bioeconomy”) could represent for several UFG colleagues.
Starting from a quite limited number of “founders” or “beginners”, we were able to aggregate an increasing number of colleagues, despite the strong antagonism in attractiveness represented by the competitive research basin, namely that related to “food science”.
The STAR Integrated Research Unit, as a whole, is made up today of approximately 20 permanent people, both professors and researchers, plus 16 contract researchers, post-docs and doctorate students. A good balance between male and female is also observed.
The University Departments involved in the unit are:
• Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment;
• Department of Economics;
• Department of Medical and Surgery Sciences.
The researchers operating in the STAR*Unit are divided in three main Research Teams (RT):
RT.1: Addressing topics related to farming systems, energy-chain logistics, energy conversion technologies & land planning in agro-energy, green chemistry and bio-based active molecules (pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, animal feed, platform compounds, etc.). It includes experts on:
• Agronomy and crop ecology; Agricultural engineering; Chemistry; Biochemistry and microbiology; Pharmacology.
RT.2: Addressing topics on the assessment of environmental sustainability of bio-energy/ bio-materials value chains. It includes researchers on:
• Commodity science; Economic geography.
RT.3: Addressing topics on rural development policy and economics in agro-energy & bio-based sectors. Colleagues from the Department of Economics and the Department of Agriculture, but with a strong background in economics, are involved in this broad category of topics:
• Agricultural economics; Political economics; Rural development policy.
For further information and a bio-profile of the researchers involved, please see the following page of the STAR project website:
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/about/research-team.html
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/research-agenda/research-units.html
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/research-agenda/conceptual-map.html
Considering the structure of the Research teams and their particular kind of aggregation, the following specific research topics have been selected:
1) Agronomy & Ecology: energy crops and feedstock availability (agro-food by-products, crop residues and wastes); farming system design; energy-chain logistics; land planning and landscape evaluation; agro-sustainability criteria and indicators applied to bio-energy production, complementary to farming.
Areas of research include: energy crop management; agricultural management practices and sustainable resource use; energy balance, soil organic carbon balance, GHG emission due to crop fertilization, direct and indirect land use changes, improvement or worsening of agricultural management; water and energy savings through specific agro-techniques; innovative cropping systems and energy chain-supply; effects of arable and perennial energy crops on soil organic matter, biodiversity, soil conservation, etc.; logistic integration of collection, transportation and storage of biomass; modelling scenario on bio-energy deployment; land planning with GIS applications.
2) Green Chemistry & Engineering: physic-chemical characterization of biomass; biomass to biofuels conversion technologies; system analysis and design; biomass valorisation by means of bio-refinery approach.
Areas of research include: chemical and energetic characterization of biomass, including agricultural feedstocks, vegetable residues and algae biomass; setting up of advanced methodologies for development of biomass traceability and certification systems (UNI-EN); chemical and biochemical processes to convert biomass into biofuels; biochemical pathway (anaerobic digestion); thermochemical pathway (pyrolysis); analysis of the energy conversion efficiency; application of nanomaterials for biofuels production; extraction from biomass and transformations of platform molecules to biofuels, biomaterials and fine chemicals; application of "bio-refinery" concept aimed to biomass valorisation.
3) Commodity Sciences: technical-economic, social and environmental sustainability of commodities; evaluation of natural resources availability; sustainability criteria and indicators; Material Flow Analysis (MFA); Substance Flow Analysis (SFA); Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
Areas of research include: assessment of technical-economic, social and environmental sustainability of energy from animal and vegetable residual biomass, algae, etc.; energy balance: Net Energy Balance (EROEI; FER; PRR, etc.); LCA with software applications, in particular on bioenergy; SFA of GHG emission in bio-energy process.
4) Agricultural Economics: economic evaluation of non-marketable agricultural goods and services, decision making modelling, econometrics, environmental and technical efficiency analysis, agricultural policy analysis.
Areas of research include: the impact of large investments on rural development. In addition, economics assessment of regional plans and programmes, environmental impact assessment of large projects in rural areas, and social acceptance issues; supply and demand analysis of biomass feedstock; scenario simulation of agricultural structure, such as farm size, cropping patterns, employment, economic profitability; vertical and horizontal integration.
5) Complex Environmental Systems: environmental economics; evolutionary economics; agent based modelling; econometrics; computational general equilibrium (CGE) models.
Areas of research include: renewable energy, analysis of complex systems, technological changes, modelling socio-technical transition patterns and pathways; strategic niche management, social simulation, energy policy modelling and analysis, policy design to foster large investment in rural areas.
For further information on research units and areas, please see the following page of the STAR project website:
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/research-agenda/research-disciplines.html
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/research-agenda/conceptual-map.html
where is also possible to download the following documents: “The STAR Integrated Research team”
Action 2 - Consolidate the Integrated Research Unit with experienced researchers
Attract experienced researchers into the project and allow highly-qualified scientists from European countries to spend periods of research at the University of Foggia was a very useful way to enlarge and consolidate the research team, to establish new collaboration links, to introduce the team into the hottest research topics at European level. Two different tools have been employed to this scope: recruitment and secondment. While recruitment is to be considered a temporary research employment into the UFG staff through an annual contract, secondment should be interpreted as a visiting stage at UFG, generally a short staying lasting from 15 days up to 3 months, involving researchers coming from other Institutions. Parallel to this, also researchers from UFG have been hosted for stages by other research institutions.
While recruiting have been successful, secondment was constrained to just a few experiences and a limited number of people involved.
Recruitment of researchers
Researchers were employed by UFG with contracts covering a 12-month period. The contract, in general, was renewed for other 12 months.
Approximately 600 e-mail invitation letters to researchers and research institutions were sent all over Europe and even in the U.S.A. Canada, Australia, and other faraway countries. We have set up a large database considering the list of participants to the previous editions of the European Biomass Conference. We can conclude that we have put in place the best conditions to facilitate and enhance the rate of participation in the selection.
The STAR Management Committee has identified three different levels of salary corresponding to three different levels of research experience showed by the researchers to be recruited. This is a reasonable measure because the salary level should correspond to the scientific and professional qualification of researchers and no arbitrary level of funding should be allowed.
Great attention was paid to cover the whole interdisciplinary research topics, to equally spread the benefit offered by the recruited researchers and share their contribution of scientific knowledge among the different research teams. Specific care was given in the reinforcement of “Green chemistry & Engineering” scientific disciplines not originally present inside the IRU.
After the selection procedure, two different kinds of researcher were recruited and joined the STAR*Unit:
- Experienced research fellow (13 post-doc first level research grants)
- Experienced academic professors (3 highest level sabbatical leaves)
The recruited researchers were, therefore, 16 as a total number, displaying their activity for a total period of 250 person/month, thus showing an average of approximately 7 person/month over the whole project period. After the end of the STAR project, seven recruited researchers are still working within the team, while very fruitful collaborative relationships have been established with all the others in their new position.
Considering recruitment, some difficulties have been faced. The following should be considered the most relevant:
1. To attract very experienced researchers (even with a relatively good pay) is a hard task because this people has generally reached already a top position in the Research Institutions to which they belong. For this reason, they are generally not favourably oriented to join another research team for a long period. In our case, we succeeded in the recruitment of two full professors from Athens and Thessaloniki, respectively, just considering the critical economic condition that today afflict Greece. The third recruited full professor was just retired from the Polytechnic of Turin and so free by any other type of engagement. On the other hand, less experienced but younger researchers are actively seeking new jobs and might be interested in a continuation of the work, even at the end of the STAR Project. They are generally more free and available because without family links or other kind of constraints.
2. It should be highlighted the complexity and the bureaucratic burden of the selective procedure that the Italian legislation asks for candidates who apply for a position in the public administration. The huge number of forms, declarations to be filled and original documents to be delivered are, generally speaking, not in tune with the EU customs and against our need to speed up the procedure and attract researchers. Less bureaucracy and more benefits are the two factors we have learned from our experience.
3. The lack of expertise of the UFG administrative staff into managing international calls for research fellow positions was another constraint. Unfortunately, very few UFG staff members are able to speak fluent English and such limitation has created a number of problems when they had to talk with foreign applicants to provide them information about the call. For the same reasons, some problems came from the translation in English of the Italian format employed for this kind of applications.
4. The geographical, social and economic context within which the UFG is located has to be considered a very influential factor. Foggia is a small town in Southern Italy, Apulia region, which offers few social and cultural opportunities to its inhabitants. The renown of the region and the quality of services that are locally available (international school for children, easy flight connections, university reputation, a good standard of living and the availability of cultural services, etc.) are very relevant in attracting researchers. On this respect, the Foggia area has several limitations and constraints that should be overcome only considering the relevance of our research activity. This probably has influenced the choice of some candidates to give up their position after being selected.
5. The recruitment of “green chemists” was negatively affected because of the delay in the setting-up of the lab equipment and of the dedicated “facility centre”. This could be considered a relevant limitation since the availability of a lab and pilot plants to perform experiments is the fundamental requisite to conduct research and to publish research papers in high standard scientific journals.
6. An important strategy to strengthen and consolidate the research potential within a new research Unit is through PhD students. The involvement of this kind of people was not allowed in Regpot, considering they are not researchers yet but still students under training. In our opinion, this decision should be deeply reconsidered. The most effective way to form a new generation of young researchers, able to reinforce the team, is to train PhD students that very soon (in the course of the project time line) will become young researchers. To think about the near future and to create your own research “nursery” should be one of the first strategy to be applied in capacity building.
Final considerations on recruitment:
Most of the recruited researchers (9) has left the STAR*Unit by the end of the STAR project for other job opportunities in other European Universities or Research Centres. They were able to obtain a significant improvement in their academic position, generally establishing a longer contract than with STAR. A large part of the former recruited researchers (7) is still working in the STAR*Unit and probably they will remain for a prolonged period, long after the project end.
This is largely a favourable condition to the STAR*Unit reinforcement. The remaining team is strong enough to carry on the planned activities and, at the same time, the leaving researchers take the role of STAR “ambassador” next to their new research Institutions for possible scientific collaborations, partnership of EU research proposals as well as in the preparation of joined education programmes.
Secondment of researchers
Along with recruitment, also secondment was a strategic pathway to enhance research capacity of the UFG. Establishing and consolidating two-way relationships between UFG and other research Institutions by exchanging staff is an effective tool in capacity building. Incoming secondment allowed visiting professors for a stage at UFG, generally a short staying lasting from 15 days up to 3 months. With outgoing secondment, researchers from UFG were hosted for stages by other research institutions.
Secondment activity contributed to exchange the know-how through lectures and seminars of partners’ seconded staff; share technical experiences gained by conducting common research activities; training of UFG seconded staff in the host institutions; seminars of UFG seconded staff; lab-training in view of the operation of the new acquired equipment in the “facility centre”.
Incoming seconded were:
1. Prof. Gary Thompson, from the University of Arizona (USA), hosted in the period 9-20 Sep 2013.
2. Dr. Kelali Adhana Tekle, from the Science and Technology Institute (Ethiopia), hosted in the period 1-15 Oct 2013.
Outgoing seconded were:
1. Prof. Emilio De Meo (Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment) who was hosted by the University of Cordoba (Spain) from 30 Jun to 30 Jul 2013.
2. Dr. Margherita Ciervo (Department of Economics) who was hosted by the University of Liege (Belgium) in the period 11-25 Sep 2012 and 22-26 Oct 2012.
3. Prof. Roberta Sisto (Department of Economics) who was hosted by the Wageningen University (The Netherlands) from 20 Mar to 3 May 2014.
4. Prof. Maurizio Quinto (Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment) who was hosted by the College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Beijing (China) in the period 14-28 Apr 2014.
All the outgoing experiences were very interesting. A significant improvement in both the collaboration network and the scientific productivity was clearly observed.
Results achieved by secondment lagged behind considerably with respect to the expected goals, both considering incoming and outgoing secondment. The total number of academic staff involved in secondment was far below the planned amount. It is a pity to remark that this important activity encountered difficulties to be carried out and was only partially fulfilled.
There are several reasons that could explain this problematic condition; the followings can be considered the most relevant:
1. Permanent staff is generally not motivated to move away from its own research institute. More likely, this would be easier to temporary researchers that are generally more open minded and willing to such an experience. This condition, regrettably, is a very critical aspect, often associated with a poor knowledge of a foreign language (generally English). It was believed that the STAR project could overcome this bad habit, at least a little bit, but it should be noted that this is a process that requires more time to show notable improvements.
2. In our University, also researchers, beside full and associate professors, usually have institutional lectures in the bachelor and master university degrees. The relevant role of teaching, during both the two semesters, generally prevents to plan long visiting stays in other Universities or research institutes.
3. The collaboration in the form of recruitment has played a competitive role with respect to secondment. Generally speaking, experienced researchers and very renowned scholars expressed a preference in having a research contract from UFG instead of spending a secondment period to join our research unit.
4. Experienced researchers from other research entities are generally very engaged in their institutional work and play a role of great responsibility in their own research staff and labs. They have a limited amount of time to be dedicated in extra-working and collaboration activities that do not explicitly provide funding (as in the case of STAR).
Action 3. Implement research evaluation procedures and evaluation exercises
The Italian Ministry of University have established evaluation procedures for both teaching and research activities. UFG has created a specific “Evaluation Team” to coordinate such efforts. Their guidelines and criteria have been applied in order to routinely evaluate the research activities of the STAR research Unit.
Evaluating the research potential using indicators on scientific publications
The STAR project started in September 2011 and ended in February 2015. In order to perform an evaluation of the effect the project determined on the scientific productivity of the STAR*Unit, specific indicators were considered at the turn of the project period. A comparison was carried out considering three-year period previous the start of the project (2008-2010), the pivotal year 2011, and the subsequent three-year period (2012-2014), the latter as the time of full deployment of the STAR project.
We considered all the scientific publications produced, distinguishing between original scientific papers (score 4), reviews and contributions as book chapters (score 3), scientific treaties or monographs (score 2), conference proceedings (score 1).
The scientific productivity of the IRU seems to be quite stable in the first three-year period (actually with a good performance in 2009) and significantly increased during the project period. An impressive increase was observed in the last project year. The “pushing” effect showed by the STAR project was gradual but gradual but continuous and very powerful. A clear and understandable “lag-time” has to be considered in the strong display of the project momentum. There are several possible causes to explain this:
1) Researchers of the STAR*Unit spent a relevant time to reconvert partially their research interests towards agroenergy and bioeconomy.
2) An evident investment in terms of internationalization process took place. Consequent to the more intensive collaboration with foreign institution, there was an evident increase of articles with foreign co-authors.
3) Researchers try to publish their articles in journals with greater impact factor and this usually entail longer publication time.
Other interesting observations can be made with regard to the evolutionary trends of scientific productivity of the STAR*Unit:
1) The average number of co-authorship within the STAR*Unit was usually less than 2, while in the last project year this value exceeded this limited threshold. It means that a greater openness and predisposition to work as a team has been finally observed.
2) The average quality of publications increased significantly in the last project year. As was said already, this trend means that this research conversion (exploring new and unprecedented issues than before) needed some time of adjustment in order to become successful.
3) Both the “quality” of the publications (score) and the “number of author per paper” (co-authorship) increased significantly, although their respective ratio (i.e. the quality of publications per singe author) remained quite stable or slightly decreased, especially in the last year.
A detailed description of the indicators used to evaluate the scientific performance of the STAR*Unit in terms of scientific publications is available in the following project deliverable:
STAR Deliverable 2.6: “Final Self-Evaluation Report on the STAR Interdisciplinary Research Unit (Research Assessment)” (pages 19-20).
Target B Reinforce the integration into the ERA by promoting the expansion of the research network through large and qualified scientific collaborations
STAR developed an effective action to enlarge the network of scientific collaborations and partnerships among academics as well as between academia and the agro-energy productive sector. These activities provided a driver for research and facilitated the translation of research into industrial application.
Action 4 – Research collaboration and networking
Collaboration with leading institutions has been considered a key factor to obtain a fast development, through which our research capacity could gain momentum. The STAR Integrated Research Unit grown progressively and experienced an increasing number of research involvements and partnerships at regional, national and European level. Innovative solutions, interpreting the requirements of farmers, energy companies and public agencies, were actively proposed thus serving the social and economic development of the region.
Here is a list of formal and informal collaborations with other research entities or public agencies, as well as regional and national project proposals submitted in the course of the overall STAR activities.
National project calls
• PRIN (Research Projects of High National Relevance, programme of the Italian Ministry of University). Reduction of anthropic carbon dioxide through its capture and utilization to generate economic value. Project proposal under the coordination of the University of Foggia.
• Joint Research Projects within the Executive Programme of Scientific and Technological Cooperation between the Italian Republic and the People's Republic of China: Significant Bilateral Projects. 2012. Perennial Grasses as Alternative Sources of Feedstock for Sustainable Bioenergy Production and Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration: Regional Planning of A Biomass Value-Chain. Project jointly proposed by the University of Foggia and the Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Science.
• National Operational Programme (PON) for Research and Competitiveness. Art. 13, 2012. Recovery of "Biochar" for the Competitive Strengthening of a Local Agro-Energy Chain. University of Foggia, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, STAR Research Unit.
• National Operational Programme (PON) for Research and Competitiveness. Art. 13, 2012. Production, Extraction and Purification of Phytosterols from Microalgae by means Supercritical Fluid Extraction” (2013-2015). University of Foggia, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, STAR Research Unit.
• MADLENA - Macroalgae of Lesina Lagoon: potential source of natural compounds for pharmaceutics and foods (2011-2012).
Regional research projects
• PROBIO - Department of Agriculture, Apulia Region (Italy), 2013. Regional Biofuels Programme, Guidelines for Regional Initiatives in the programming period 2014-2020.
• BIOREF. 2013. Potential Development of Economic, Social and Environmental Sustainability in the Biorefinery Sector (Foggia Province) Research funded by the Foundation “Cassa di Risparmio di Puglia”.
• Development and Performance of Biogas in the Province of Foggia. Research funded by the Foundation “Banca del Monte - Domenico Siniscalco Ceci”, 2012.
• CATAPULTA “Composting” Alliance for the Technology Advancement & Transfer in the Apulia region. Call 2014: SOSTEGNO AI CLUSTER TECNOLOGICI REGIONALI PER L’INNOVAZIONE – Apulia Region.
• “OPEN LABS”, Pre-commercial Public Procurement on “Reuse of sludge in the processes of of urban wastewater treatment”.
Regional collaboration and consultancy with public administration
• Energy and Environmental Plan of the Apulia Region (PEAR, from 2014 up today);
• Energy Plan of the Province of Foggia (2012-2013) - Energy use of biomass and dedicated energy crops in the "Capitanata" district;
• Biomass Potential from the Agroforestry Sector in the Province of Foggia - Sector analysis funded by the Italian Industrial Association (branch of Foggia) and the Chamber of Commerce of Foggia.
• Agroenergy potential in the "Nord-Barese / Ofantino" Area.
• Energy sources from agro-biomass. A study applied in the territory of the L.A.G. Piana del Tavoliere" project funded by the Local Action Group "Piana del Tavoliere", LEADER + Programme.
• Contribution to the Local Development Plan of the Local Action Group "MeriDaunia". The agroenrgy sector: best practices and benchmark models. LEADER + Programme.
• Contribution to the Local Development Plan of the Local Action Group "Daunia Rurale". The agroenrgy sector: best practices and benchmark models. LEADER + Programme.
• Contribution to the Local Development Plan of the Local Action Group "DaunOfantino". The agroenrgy sector: best practices and benchmark models. LEADER + Programme.
• Integrated Territorial Plan (PIT Tavoliere + PIT SubAppennino) - Energy savings, Energy Efficiency, Energy from Renewable Sources. Biomass potentials and new productive value chains.
• Covenant of Majors – Sustainable Energy Action Plan – Municipalities of the Foggia Province: Stornarella, San Severo, Roseto Valfortore, Ortanova, Motta Montecorvino, Torremaggiore Sant’Agata di Puglia, Ordona, Volturara, S. Paolo di Civitate, S. Marco in Lamis, Pietra Montecorvino, Troia, Stornara, S. Marco Lacatola, Rocchetta S. Antonio, Orsara di Puglia, Monteleone di Puglia, Accadia, Faeto, Celenza Val Fortore, Mattinata, Lesina, Deliceto, Cerignola, Celle di S. Vito, Monte S. Angelo, Castelvecchio di Puglia, Castelnuovo della Daunia, Casalnuovo Monte Rotaro, Castelluccio Valmaggiore, Carlantino, Carapelle, Biccari, Alberona.
International agreement for research collaborations
• Joint Research Centre, 2013. Evaluation of direct and indirect effects caused by the use of biomass residues for energy. Research study commissioned to the STAR AgroEnergyTeam (UFG) by the Institute for Energy and Transport, Cleaner Energy Unit, Westerduinweg 3, Petten - The Netherlands.
COST Action initiatives.
• COST Action TD1203 “Food Waste Valorisation for Sustainable Chemicals, Materials & Fuels”, (EUBIS), coordinated by the University of York, and at present including partners from 27 countries. The strategy of the consortium is to capture the interest of large multinational firms, as well as EU and national institutions, in order to create strong proposals for the Horizon 2020 research grants, starting from 2014.
• COST Action FP1306 “Valorisation of lignocellulosic biomass side streams for sustainable production of chemicals, materials & fuels using low environmental impact technologies”. Dr. Matteo Francavilla is the deputy of the Work Group Leader (WG1: Pretreatment of Lignocellulosics). The Action is running from May 2014 to May 2017.
“Linking” initiatives with single research institutions
• Danish Technical Institute (DTI), Denmark. Prof Anne Belinda Bjerre (Macroalgae Biorefinery)
• University of Cordoba (Spain), Organic Chemistry Department. Prof Rafael Luque (Green Chemistry)
• University of Thessaloniki (Greece), Organic Chemistry Department. Prof Konstantinos Triantafyllidis (Green Chemistry)
• Lulea University of Technology (Sweden), Professor Ulrika Rova (Biomass - Chemical Engineering)
• Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland), Institute of Physical Chemistry. Dr Juan Carlos Colmenares Quintero (Green - Photocatalysis).
• Technical University of Denmark, Department of Organic Chemistry. Dr Eduardo J. Garcìa-Suàrez (Green Chemistry).
• University College Cork (Ireland), Environmental Research Institute. Prof Jerry D Murphy (Bioenergy and Biofuels).
• Dublin City University (Ireland), School of Mechanical and Engineering. Dr Silvia Tedesco (Chemical Engineering).
• Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Science (BAAFS), prof. WU Juying Beijing Research Center for Grass and Environment.
• University of Almeria (Spain), Biotechnology of Marine Microalgae. Prof. Emilio Molina-Grima.
• Free University of Bolzano/Bozen (Italy).
• Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft (HTW) of Berlin (Germany) - University of Applied Sciences FB1. Umwelttechnik-Regenerative Energien: prof. Mitra Kami Delivand.
• National Technological University of Athens (NUTA) (Greece): prof. Emmanuel Koukios.
• Universitatea Ovidius – Constanza (Romania): prof. Eden Mamut.
STAR*Facility Centre Collaboration Network
• SFAX Research Laboratoire des Bioprocédés Environnementaux, Pôle d’Excellence Régional (PER, AUF), Centre de Biotechnologie de Sfax (Tunisia). PhD and post doc researchers will come to the STAR*Facility Centre for carrying out a research program on chemical valorisation of African seaweeds.
• MARIE SKŁODOWSKA-CURIE ACTIONS. Individual Fellowships (IF) submitted by a researcher of the Dublin City University (Ireland). The University of Foggia, STAR*Facility Centre will be the hosting Institutio.
• Royal Irish Academy Grant. Submitted by a researcher of Dublin City University (Ireland). The University of Foggia, STAR*Facility Centre will be the hosting Institution.
• PhD joint research program on “Microalgae valorisation in Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture Systems” will be carried out with the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, BarcelonaTech (UPC) and the International Marine Centre Foundation (Oristano).
Education & training
• Erasmus Intensive Programme in the years 2011 and 2012. Energy Production from biomass in the European Union. University of Foggia.
• Erasmus Intensive Programme. Approved for the year 2014. Efficiency and Equity trade-off in European Agro-Energy Districts. University of Foggia.
• Master Course in “Expert in Design and Management of Biomass Agroenergy Systems”. University of Foggia. 2015.
• ERASMUS Plus 2015– Cooperation and Innovation for Good Practices - Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education (Key Action 2). MULTIBIO (Multidisciplinary Education for a Systemic Approach To Bioeconomy). Partners: 1. Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft (HTW) of Berlin (Germany) - University of Applied Sciences FB1. Umwelttechnik-Regenerative Energien: prof. Mitra Kami Delivand. 2. National Technological University of Athens (NUTA) (Greece): prof. Emmanuel Koukios. 3. Universitatea Ovidius – Constanza (Romania): prof. Eden Mamut. 4. Universidad de Córdoba - Department of Organic Chemistry, Cordoba – (Spain): prof. Rafael Luque.
Action 5 – Organization of workshops and seminars
Workshops aims to bring researchers and scientists from academia together with industrial managers and government staff, to present current research results, new perspectives and proposals, discuss applied experiences and identify future research directions in the bio-energy and bio-economy sectors.
An intensive workshop programme was carried out in the frame of the STAR project. These events were, in general, very useful and gave the opportunity to exchange information, diffuse the knowledge accrued in the course of the work, meet relevant researchers from the European scene.
Organizing and conducting a workshop was the best opportunity to start new collaborations with research teams from other universities or research institutions, or the occasion to strength former partnerships and address new challenges, such as an EU project proposal or experimental activities in cooperation.
The number and quality of the workshops was strictly in accordance with the planned activity. The only significant difference with respect to the initial “Description of the Work” (DoW) was that the final international conference was not on scientific topics, but it was decided to have a relevant event in Brussels discussing a very strategic and hot “political” topic, strictly connected to the follow-up of the STAR project. The title of the final conference was “Bridging research innovation with regional development: the Star*AgroEnergy experience”. This decision was warmly supported by the project “Steering Committee”.
We can consider this specific task of the project very successful and influential.
For further information, please see the STAR project website (dissemination page):
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/project/dissemination-promotion.html
For further information on the Final Conference:
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/news/373/bridging-research-innovation-with-regional-development-the-staragroenergy-experience.html
Workshop List
• 1° WORKSHOP (in English) April 2012.
Title: Biomass, Bioenergy, Bioeconomy.
Speakers: 7; Attenders: 40
• 2° WORKSHOP (in English) December 2012.
Title: Paradigm Lost and Paradigm Regained: the Transition to a Biobased Society
Speakers: 5; Attenders: 62
• 3° WORKSHOP (in Italian) February 2013.
Title: Intellectual property and technological transfer: an operative model for research
Speakers: 3; Attenders: 30
• 4° WORKSHOP (in English) March 2014.
Title: Innovation for Development: Research Capacity in Bioeconomy
Speakers: 6; Attenders: 55.
• 5° WORKSHOP (in Italian) February 2015.
Title: Social innovation and technological integration in the bioeconomy: the Star*Agroenergy experience.
Speakers: 8; Attenders: 45
• Final Conference (in English) February 2015
Title: Bridging research innovation with regional development: the Star*AgroEnergy experience.
Speakers: 6; Attenders: 53
Detailed information, programmes, interview, press releases and outcomes or comments about the workshops can be found on the dedicated STAR dissemination space of the project website:
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/project/dissemination-promotion.html
Besides the workshops, the STAR activities have planned the organization of a very intensive cycle of seminars, in 2013 and 2014, mainly involving the STAR integrated research Unit of UFG as well as the new recruited and seconded staff.
Seminars should be interpreted as a useful training to acquire more familiarity with public presentations, improve speaking skills, increase the ability to effectively report data and technical concepts, face questions from a specialized audience. A relevant objective performed by the seminars was to allow a better interdisciplinary approach and find a common ground to share information, knowledge and expertise among the various “souls” of the STAR*Unit, trying to find interesting convergences in the work of the integrated team.
List of the 16 seminars organized under the STAR project in 2013
1. Social acceptance of biomass combustion plants (6 February)
2. Innovation niches stability with a short term policy intervention (13 February)
3. The STAR Integrated Research Unit: a Trans-disciplinary challenge (27 February)
4. Optimal plant size and feedstock supply radius: minimize the production costs or maximize the profits? (6 March)
5. Assessment of potential availability and environmental impact of biogas production (13 March)
6. ECO CLUSTER MANAGER DAY event that took place in Candela (FG) in view of the setting up of EDEN (Energy Demonstration and Education Network) (27 March)
7. The fate of “tar” from biomass pyrolysis: a microbiological point of view (5 April)
8. How costly is the Social Opposition on the Development of Biomass Plants? (17 April)
9. Land Use Impacts for Biomass Production and Agricultural Prices (24 April)
10. Assessment of energy balance and energy optimization in wheat cropping system (8 May)
11. Algae biorefinery approach: what we have done, what we are going to do (5 May)
12. Workshop organized as intermediate event of the project funded by the Caripuglia Foundation (22 May)
13. AgroEnergy: Multiscalar Geographical Analysis of Conflic Dynamics and Definition of a Territorial Model of Production-Distribution-Consumption (12 June)
14. A) Assessing uncertainty in sustainability transitions: the case of integrated valorisation of bio-waste towards bio-based economy; B) A metamodel-based approach to model sustainability transitions in bio-energy systems. (2 October)
15. From green chemistry and engineering to green economy: Pathways, driving forces and barriers (23 October)
16. Introducing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (11 December)
List of 12 seminars organized under the STAR project in 2014
1. Waste-2-2014 .A) systems approach for the reduction, recycling and reuse of food waste; B) Waste-6-2015 Promoting eco-innovative waste management and prevention as part of sustainable urban development (15 January)
2. Microbial ecology of anaerobic digesters (22 January)
3. Application of pretreatments for the conversion of biomass into biofuels (35 February)
4. Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Biomass-Based Energy - Methodological & Technological considerations (12 February)
5. Planning towards sustainability: the backcasting approach (5 March)
6. Experiences in sustainability assessment of agroenergy systems (12 March)
7. How to write competitive horizon2020 proposals (2 April)
8. Analytical Chemistry and Agroenergy: together for a sustainable approach (9 April)
9. LCA for the environmental assessment of a local agro-biogas chain: “Inventory Flows Analysis” (16 April)
10. Economic crisis and sociotechnical transitions: the case of the Italian biofuel industry (14 May)
11. The effects of biofuel use on agricultural sectors in Turkey (21 May )
12. Pianificazione territoriale e termodinamica: nuova declinazione della sostenibilità (28 May)
The slide presentations of the weekly seminars are available to download at the following link of the STAR website:
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/news/299/staragroenergy-wednesdays-seminars.html;
Action 6 – Participation in EU funded research proposals and projects
Great efforts have been displayed to significantly incrementing the number of research project submissions and the success rate. The strong networking with partnering organization greatly support this activity and made this effort larger in number and quality.
Considering the very high competition rate actually observed with respect to the H2020 calls, it was decided not only to increase the partnerships with upstanding EU research teams, in view of the creation of research consortiums submitting project proposals, but also to diversify our participation to EU calls. It was considered, indeed, that H2020 calls requiring actions in “Research and Innovation” should be much more competitive (i.e. with the highest risk of failure) compared to calls addressing “Coordination and Supporting” or other kind of actions. This considered, it should be an advantage to submit project proposals on several types of action.
T0 diversify our project proposals and increase the chance of success, another opportunity could be to submit proposals under the “SMEs Instruments” or “Fast Track to Innovation” kind of H2020 calls. In this case, the STAR*Unit is not the direct beneficiary of the EU grant but is involved in the project as a business consultant.
Different EU calls, not in the H2020 frame, could be also very interesting, offering other possibilities to establish research collaborations and getting funds for research, such as ERA-NET ARIMNet2 (Agricultural Research In the Mediterranean Network), IPA Adriatic Cross-border Cooperation Programme, Intelligent Energy – Europe (IEE), unfortunately now closed).
A comprehensive list of the research proposals submitted by the STAR*Unit during the project time frame is reported below.
Research proposals submitted by the STAR*IRU and collaboration network
FP7 and H2020 project proposals
• KBBE (Knowledge Based Bio-Economy), 2012. A Decision and Polity-Support Framework of Tools for the Sustainable Deployment of EU Bioeconomy (Biovision Toolbox). Project proposal under the coordination of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).
• KBBE (Knowledge Based Bio-Economy) 2013-7. New microscale design biorefinery: integrated 2nd and 3rd generation to maximize the efficiency of the process (M-AlgaeFinery). Project proposal under the coordination of the Plataforma para o Desenvolvimento da Região Interior Centro (Portugal).
• SEAVALUE (Cultivated macroalgae as a resource for pipeline production of sea derived added-value biomolecules and products). Horizon 2020 Call: BG-3-2014: Novel marine derived biomolecules and industrial biomaterial. Leader: Danish Technical Institute (Denmark).
• FORWARD (FOod Residues and Waste: Advancement through Research and Development). Horizon 2020 Call: WASTE 2 -2014. Leader: University York (UK).
• SEAPLAGAS (Seaweed Integrated Biorefinery to Produce Bioplastics and Biogas). MARIE SKŁODOWSKA-CURIE ACTIONS Individual Fellowships (IF) Call: H2020-MSCA-IF-2014. Proponent from Dublin City University (Ireland).
• W3G “Water to Wheel study of Water sourced Gas. Horizon 202 Call: LCE 11 – 2014/2015: Developing next generation technologies for biofuels and sustainable alternative fuels. Leader: University College CorK (Ireland).
• M-ALGAEFINERY (New microscale design biorefinery: integrated 2nd and 3rd generation to maximize the efficiency of the process. Horizon 2020 - SPIRE-2014 Topic: SPIRE-02-2014. Leader Plataforma para o Desenvolvimento da Região Interior Centro – BLC3 (Portugal).
• RUMPELSTILSKIN – Waste 7- 2015. Recycling soilid waste from the olive oil industry: converting liabilities into assets. Coordinated by Democritus University of Thrace – Laboratory of Ecologycal Engeneering & Technology (Greece).
• AGRICARB – Waste 7 – 2015. Agricultural Waste for Green Carbon Products. Coordinated by University of York (GB).
• DARTS – Waste 7 – 2015. Development in Agricultural Refinery Technologies. Coordinated by the University of York (GB).
• UP-RUNNING – LCE 14 – 2015. Market uptake of existing and emerging sustainable bioenergy. Coordinated by CIRCE Foundation (Zaragoza, Spain).
• PHOENICS (Pyrolytic and Photocatalitic Environmentally Sustainable and Innovative Zero Waste Conception Sewage Sludge Treatment Plant). WATER INNOVATION: BOOSTING ITS VALUE FOR EUROPE 2015.
Other European project calls
• Intelligent Energy Europe, 2011. Upgrading the Market for Soilid Biofuels in European Regions (SolBi). Project proposal under the coordination of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).
• ENPI/CBC-Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme, 2012. Promotion of renewable energy use and improvement of energy efficiency contributing to addressing climate change mitigation. Project proposal under the coordination of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).
• An integrated approach for the treatment of emerging pollutants: solar photochemistry, membrane technologies and new adsorbing materials. Water JPI Pilot Call 01.11.2013 - 19.12.2013 13:00. Leader Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica UPV-CSIC (Spain)(Consortium Integraqua).
Target C Support the R&D potential by upgrading the research facilities
A relevant project activity was to enrich the UFG research equipment. This target, it is worth to highlight, is not related to an equipment improvement but to the creation (“ex novo”) of an entire and very new “Facility Centre” on biomass, bio-energy and biomaterials. It was one of the greatest achievements of the STAR project, largely contrasted by a long series of bureaucratic procedures and time-consuming administrative “routines”. Notwithstanding this huge amount of constraints and difficulties, the STAR Unit succeeded in completing the target, although with approximately one year of delay. Starting from the end of 2013 the full and comprehensive availability of all the installed equipment was gained and the Centre was opened.
The “Facility Centre” is a well specialized lab and a technological platform (made of three different pilot plants) located in the industrial area of Foggia and is able to effectively support research as well as external consultancy services.
As far as we know, we can objectively report that, nowadays, the STAR Facility Centre is one of the best-equipped laboratories in Italy focused on the characterization of biomass. We have the chance, in this way, to compete effectively with the few renowned labs having a strong tradition and accreditation. The not negligible advantage is the availability of a completely new and upgraded equipment that offers the best opportunity for a comprehensive set of analysis.
It was very clear, just from the beginning of the Facility functioning, that the equipment greatly enhance the scientific capacity of the research team and its attraction with respect to other research teams, specifically considering the partnerships into scientific consortium and project proposals.
Action 7 – A dedicated biomass and biomaterial “Facility Centre”
The STAR*Unit has one laboratory (130 sq. m) and an open space technological platform (380 sq. m), situated in the Industrial Area of Foggia (“Incoronata” S.S: 16, km 687), inside an industrial infrastructure that belongs to the company “Bonassisa Lab”.
A contract provides the availability of the premises for a period of ten years. A very good collaboration was established with “Bonassisa Lab”, the owner of the building, that is hosting the STAR*Facility Centre. Considering that Bonassisa is a well-known laboratory specialized in food analysis and certification, a sort of complementarity with STAR was established, with respect to both the supply of services and research activities. No competition and a strong collaboration is the perfect outcome of this complementarity.
The following pilot plants are permanently allocated “en plain air” to constitute the ”STAR*Technological Platform”:
• An Anaerobic Digester Plant. The plant is able to treat mixtures from different feedstock and organic matrices. The total solid content of the material to be treated can be higher than 20%. In particular the plant is able to treat, for instance: slurry from zoo-technical use, organic fraction of municipal solid waste, agro-industrial wastes and sewage sludge as well as dedicated biomass.
• A Pyrolysis/Gasification Plant. The plant is able to use ligno-cellulosic biomasses such as pellet, chopped material or wood chips; the feedstock to be supplied to the plant should be homogenous in size and volume, not lower than 1 cm3. The minimum biomass flow rate must be 10 kg/h; the moisture content should not exceed 20% and the ashes content 15%. The structure of the installed equipment allows carrying out pyro gasification tests from biomass samples that will be treated inside a combustion chamber in order to obtain both syngas (the main energy product) and biochar (a co-product) which will be recovered. The plant is set up for an outdoor use and is equipped with at least the following items: Loading System, Pyrolysis Reactor, Syngas Combustion Boiler, Stirling or thermoelectric Engine, Unloading System, Heat Recovery System, Emergency Heat Sink, Control Board.
• A Photobioreactors Plant for microalgae cultivation. The microalgae pilot plant includes three different kinds of photobioreactors in order to test three different technologies for microalgae cultivation: a column photobioreactor (or inoculum columns), a tubular photobioreactor and a “race-way” reactor.
The STAR*Lab is specifically aimed to characterize biomass and biomaterials, organic waste and sludge, residues and agro-food by-products. It is a completely equipped laboratory with the mains instruments as follows:
• Gas Chromatograph coupled with a Mass Spectrometer (GC-MSn);
• High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) coupled with an auto-sampling and two detectors (Diode Array and Refractive Index Detector).
• Micro Gas Chromatograph (μGC). It will be used for quali/quantitative analysis of syngas and biogas produced by pyrolysis/gasification pilot plants and anaeorobic digestion pilot plant.
• Sulfur Module will implement a CHN Analyzer
• Ash Melting Analyzer
• Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIR).
• Spectrophotometer UV-VIS coupled with an optic fiber.
• MicroWave Extractor.
• Set of anaerobic fermenters (test batch):
• Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA).
• Fiber Analyzer.
• Soxtec.
• Calorimeter.
• Inductively coupled plasma (ICP).
The lab equipment is now complete, fully adapted for biomass characterization and functioning. All the instruments and pilot plants are new and in very good conditions. Other instruments and small demonstration plants can be installed to enlarge the potential research and consulting activities and to significantly enrich the STAR*Facility Centre in the following years. Such investments might result from future research and development projects and, for the most part, have been planned already. Some of the planned equipment is related to new and innovative technologies that we would like to test and calibrate (such as hydro-thermal carbonization; microwave and ultrasound systems; etc.). Differently, other equipment is mostly useful in permitting the technical integration (or industrial “hybridization” or “symbiosis”) among the different kind of technologies already available in the open platform of the STAR*Facility Centre. This objective of technical integration is the most relevant technological advancement we are trying to transfer to our industrial partners and will significantly contribute to the characterization of our research activities in the following years. Specific equipment to establish an effective interchange of material and energy flows from one plant to another is needed, and a large part of innovative research is “hidden” in this kind of devises that should be properly tuned according to the typology of feedstock used, the pre-treatments applied and the specific characteristics of the end-product is expected to be obtained.
Action 8 – Planning a “spin-off” company
The “STAR*Facility Centre” is completely devoted to bio-energy and bio-based productive processes. One qualifying task of the Centre is to offer demonstration and advisory service to those entrepreneurs in need of designing feedstock supply and conversion systems for bioenergy and/or biomaterial production, giving consultancy for economically optimizing the design of the production/conversion systems and the logistics of the agro-energy value chain. This kind of initiative is considered of great relevance in the opinion of industrial and farmer unions as well as bank and credit institutions.
The set-up of a “facility centre” allows performing research evaluations and scientific trials, technology transfers, services to companies and acts as a two-way tool for development. On one hand, it enhances the STAR*Unit research potential in connection with the European Research Area (ERA) and, on the other hand, it offers advice and consultancy to farmers, entrepreneurs, public officers, policy makers, nature conservationists.
The STAR*Research Unit intends to use the “Facility Centre” as an enterprise incubator, whose activity may be targeted to assist start-up businesses while part of it will be dedicated to biomass characterization and quality certification.
Technology transfer and consultancy
The STAR*Facility Centre is now able to extend its services from research to technological innovation and industrial development. The Centre's activities are covering a wide range of services, focusing on the characterization of biomass and biomaterials for the purpose of identify the best techniques to enhance their productive value. The STAR*lab performs the most comprehensive analytical determinations: chemical and physical analysis on biofuels (solid, liquid and gaseous), biochemical and biological analysis of biomass or residual waste, up to the molecular characterization of high-added value compounds extractable from biomass and by-products. On the other hand, the STAR*technology platform allows the realization of pilot productive models able to evaluate and calibrate technological systems equivalent to biorefineries.
The large number of researchers, their highly qualified technical and scientific skill, the systemic approach assigned to complex tasks and, as a whole, the capacity to intercept companies’ innovation needs, are factors able to strengthen the links with industrial companies, farms, associations, productive and technological districts, to promote a balanced socio-economic development and stimulate the regional expansion of bioeconomy.
The STAR*Unit proved to be an effective multidisciplinary research group favouring conditions to test different integration models of productive processes. Through this multidisciplinary research approach STAR offers technological services and consultancy to companies, training activities on issues generally referred to bioeconomy and, in particular:
• Biological processes of anaerobic digestion; characterization of organic matrices from waste, by-products or dedicated crops; assessment of the methane potentials; yields optimization in biogas and biomethane; analysis of the digestate, agronomic plans of digestate utilization; recycle and reuse of wastes, residues and digestate by composting.
• Processes of cultivation of micro and macro-algae and industrial utilization of their extracts; technological cultivation solutions, characterization and optimization of their growth conditions according to environmental constraints and required inputs; evaluation of potential yield through pilot plants; algae strains collection and screening.
• Thermochemical processes of biomass conversion (pyrolysis and gasification), syngas and biochar production; agronomic use of biochar in interaction with soil properties and carbon sequestration.
• “Green chemistry", biomass fractionation, high added value compounds extraction, purification and characterization (to be used in industry, in food, in animal feed, agriculture, according to the biorefinery approach); processes of industrial symbiosis ("cascading") and productive integration to improve the resource use efficiency.
• Environmental performance of agro-energy supply chains through "life cycle assessment", "carbon footprint", sustainability criteria applied to agro-ecological and environmental performance of agro-biorefinery supply chains.
• Cultivation of alternative biomass crops according to models of "low fossil carbon agriculture"; energy balance and greenhouse gases accounting procedures; agricultural management to save energy and mitigate climate change; analysis of agricultural systems and performances through simulation models.
• GIS procedures applied to land use planning, with special reference to changes in land use; the transforming dynamics of agricultural landscape; agricultural ecology and landscape ecology; energy and energy-environmental planning, biomass supply plans, logistic plan to collect, transport and storage agricultural dispersed biomass; agrorefinery platform designing.
The STAR*Facility Centre is economically independent and completely financed through two different sources: one is money allocated by running research projects; the other is funding supplied by the sales of services, such as analytical tests and consulting activities.
During the initial part of STAR project (2012-2013) the STAR*Facility Centre was still under construction and no external services to companies were possible; on the contrary, today and in the forthcoming years (2015-2017) these kind of activities will increase significantly and a good fraction of the total STAR budget could be diverted from it. In the medium term (2018-2020), hopefully, the majority of the budget should be expected to come from the lab analysis, plant testing and consultancy. If this will be the case, a real “start-up” company could be set up, which will exist as a separate entity from the University.
To target the long term sustainability of STAR initiatives, far beyond the project end, the idea is to found a “spin-off” company, stirred by UFG, able to promptly answer to specific needs of companies and farmers, for example in order to characterize feedstock types, certifying their origins and their fuel category or calibrate the technical operation of different conversion pathways. The STAR Research Unit intends to promote the “Facility Centre” as an enterprise, whose activity may be targeted to assist small firms (SMEs) while part of it will be dedicated to “biomass characterization and quality certification”.
The development of a University "spin off" company, although particularly attractive, has been postponed for a couple of years. This decision follows the need to strengthen the financial status and assets related to the STAR counselling and technological transfer activities, in order to be strong enough and well prepared for a process of gradual separation from the University of Foggia, getting an autonomous legal entity.
Potential Impact:
Target D Improve the research impact, research visibility and acknowledgment from stakeholders
The present target was associated with stakeholders' relationships and the need to contribute to socio-economic development, at local and regional level, through well-directed research activities and technology transfer.
Discussion about the economic development based on small firms (exactly the case of the Apulia region) has showed that the success of an industrial district is mainly based on the capability of firms to operate as a system and to generate a “network” or a “cluster”. A primary network is the one between small innovative firms and local sources of scientific knowledge, as Universities and research centres. This relationship allows small firms to build up the technological ambience that sustains their innovative capability and to renew their own skills.
We strongly believe that the creation of a company Consortium, chaired by the University together with a variety of private entities specialized in different kind of business but homogeneous in vision and complementary in their missions, can deploy a very effective strength in promoting social development.
On this respect, the STAR strategic choice can be synthetized into two different initiatives:
1. Creation of an university spin-off to boost technological transfer and share scientific know-how. As it was previously discussed (Action 7 and 8), the establishment of a “STAR Biomass and Biomaterials Facility Centre” should function as a specialized laboratory on biomass characterization and an experimental station to operate with small pilot plants on energy conversion processes.
2. Creation of a Company Consortium (EDEN) in order to promote and facilitate technological implementation among the associated firms and to function as “business incubator” with respect to the local district where the university operates.
Action 9 – Links with socio-economic environment and partnership with economic players
Considering the previous point 2, STAR has created the EDEN Consortium (acronym that stands for: Energy Demonstration and Education Network). The EDEN Consortium (chaired by STAR-UFG) has developed an Exhibition and Demonstration Centre on “Renewable Energy” that is funded by a regional budget. The Centre is placed within a “business incubator” that is managed by the Local Action Group ”Meridaunia” based in a large building in Candela, close to Foggia. The idea is to promote an “Eco-Industrial & Energy Cluster”. A “cluster” can be interpreted as a geographic concentration of interconnected companies in a specialized field that cooperate with each other and with local community to efficiently share resources (materials, energy, water, infrastructure, information, finance, etc.) leading to improved environmental quality, economic gains, and equitable enhancement of human resources for both the business and local community.
STAR has promoted EDEN as a long-lasting structures to support technology transfer and the implementation of know-how into business.
According to this overall vision, two different but complementary initiatives have been launched: the creation of a university spin-off (“Biomass and Biomaterials Facility Centre”) and the foundation of a company consortium (EDEN).
1. The “STAR*Facility Centre”, as a University spin-off, is mainly finalized to “technology transfer”, considering the close relationships with the European research community via the good position and credibility reached by the STAR Interdisciplinary Research Unit.
2. On the other side, but in a very complementary fashion, the EDEN Consortium is promoting business with the direct involvement of the University, in order to stimulate directly the economic growth, to favour new job placement, enlarging the possibility to capture public funding and generate opportunity for sustainable development. In this frame, training and higher professional education cover a very relevant role, considering the strong links with local companies.
In conclusion, one major strength of the overall action implemented with STAR is the high level of integration between the two most important drivers of S&T innovation: “Research Community” and “Local Stakeholders”, respectively. The set-up of an “Interdisciplinary Research Team” within UFG, open to collaborations and able to disseminate knowhow and expertise, could act as a gear mechanism to promote local development.
Action 10 – Professional meetings and “open days”
The type of event organized within this specific action is the Forum. A Forum is a large meeting aimed to inform stakeholders and to improve the mutual understanding and interaction between academicians and the societal and economic actors. A forum is mainly focused on specific topics related to biomass production, energy conversion processes, biomass technological pathways, biomass supply and logistics. The participation of national and international experts was relevant and assigned to these events large consensus and participation. This action should be considered highly positive.
“Fora” organized in the frame of the STAR project
• 1° FORUM - December 2011
Title: Launching of the EDEN Consortium.
Speakers: 6. Attenders: 54
• 2° FORUM - December 2012.
Title: Territorial Policies and AgroEnergy Districts: possible and reliable model
Speakers: 11; Attenders: 140
• 3° FORUM - May 2013
Title: Biogas and Biomethane for the agricultural areas of Mediterranean
Speakers: 7; Attenders: 300
• 4° FORUM - December 2013
Title: Local Agroenergy Districts: from Theory to Practice
Speakers: 5; Attenders: 170
• 5° FORUM - May 2014
Title: Valorization of agro-forestry residues for the Mediterranean areas
Speakers: 6; Attenders: 70
• 6° FORUM - December 2014
Title: Green jobs: tuning the educational needs
Speakers: 5; Attenders: 110
For further information about the “Fora”, please see the STAR project website (dissemination page):
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/project/dissemination-promotion.html
Action 11 – Partnerships and promotional activities
A very crucial goal, largely influential for the success of the project, was to establish a long-term university/industry partnership based on mutual interest and trust. Such links was progressively translated into collaborative and contract research on jointly agreed subjects.
On this respect, the setup of the so-called "Stakeholders’ Network", proved to be a very useful tool, an extremely effective approach to get in tune with almost the whole players of the bioenergy and bioeconomy sector.
The following text is extracted from the “Memorandum of Understanding” signed by the main organizations, companies and local institutions participating to the Second STAR Forum in Foggia, on 5 December 20212.
<< The reason of a Forum and for what it might be useful. The Forum organization is not a sporadic event; through the creation of a " stakeholders' network", we would like to accompany the debate on biomass, favourably orient the development of this bioenergy sector, facilitate the unravelling of specific issues considered crucial, critically judging obstacles, limitations and weaknesses. In this way, a virtuous circle is generated and a useful approach is promoted, to share solution to urgent and relevant problems, having full awareness of the complexity of the issues under confrontation. A participatory approach is needed to take these decisions (for example, similarly to the Agenda 21 process), to reach the common vision, overcome the dependence on fossil fuels and establish a new energy system based on energy saving and renewable sources. A rigorous scientific and technological track is also essential in order to discriminate efficient and useful solutions>>.
[...]
The Forum activities (“Stakeholders’ Network”)
The Forum exerts a useful function on many different issues; some of them have been listed below:
• Spreading culture and awareness about the structure of agroenergy supply chains, its technologies and territorial organization, as well as the resulting socio-economic impacts.
• Promoting a progressive convergence on criteria of environmental assessment and technical optimization of agroenergy, taking into serious consideration the criticisms raised by a part of the public opinion, and working according to a transparent and inclusive approach, which aims to encourage dialogue and participation.
• Dealing with criteria of regional energy planning, to define energy basins with a specific agroenergy vocation (based on the nature, density, suitability for conversion of locally supplied biomass) and, correspondingly, to identify agroenergy districts with proper infrastructures serving energy and biomaterials production, and promoting the development of bioeconomy.
• Contributing to overcome "non-technical" constraints that hinder investments in the sector. Very often, these constraints can be related to cumbersome administrative procedures, permitting authorizations to construct and operate the plants. Frequently it happens in small towns, with small size companies, cooperatives or associations, primarily concerned with the construction of small capacity plants.
• Spreading knowledge and technological innovation, identifying new and more reliable processes of energy conversion and biomass valorisation for the benefit of the industry.
• Jointly assess the positions that the Forum should assume with respect to regulations and norms, standards and best practices, showing ability to dialogue with all stakeholders, especially with the institutions upon which the government of the sector depends.
For further information about the “Stakeholders’ Network”, please see the STAR project website:
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/territorial-policies-and-agroenergy-districts.html
STAR is currently working with approximately 15 different companies, carrying out consultancy activity under contract. The companies that asked for the scientific and technical support of the STAR Unit belongs to the following categories:
• Large farms or farmers organizations.
• Private companies operating in the integrated waste management sector.
• Private companies producing “compost”.
• Regional administrations (District of Agriculture, District of Environmental Policy).
• Companies involved in the construction or management of biomass power plants.
• Companies producing and selling plant materials (seeds, seedlings, cuttings) useful to cultivate dedicated energy crops.
• Mechanical company that build biomass plants, installations or systems; company building specific machines to harvest, collect crop residues, pruning or other by-products; equipment for biomass pre-treatment, conditioning, drying, pulping, pelleting, etc.
SWOT Analysis on STAR future development
In order to obtain a complementary view of the research potential of the STAR*Integrated Research Unit, a SWOT analysis has been conducted with three groups of people, having different degrees of involvement:
- Group A: researchers directly involved in the project, either permanent staff or recruited;
- Group B: researchers of the University of Foggia who are not directly involved in the project, but are informed and aware of the activities undertaken by the STAR*AgroEnergy group;
- Group C: non-academic people, participating to public fora organized by the STAR*Unit (attending at least 3 events).
The survey was conducted by inviting all people to fill-in a check-boxes questionnaire available online. The questionnaire was anonymous. A series of options were provided to the respondents, and they were asked to select up to 5 of them. The results are based on the number of preferences registered for each item.
Strengths
A great degree of convergence has been attracted by three items:
• Multi- and inter-disciplinary team composition;
• Coupling technical research with socio-economic/sustainability;
• Working on innovative research topics.
“Interdisciplinarity” and “innovation” are the two relevant keywords which summarize the strengths of the initiative. Interdisciplinary provides the ability to deal with the complexity of problems and the capacity to deal either with technical issues (i.e. efficiency of conversion processes) and sustainability (i.e. reduction of exhaustible resources, CO2 emissions, social acceptance). The interdisciplinarity should guarantee a positive environment to develop innovative solutions to real problems. In particular, the strengths seem to suggest a high propensity to challenge real problems affecting SMEs (mostly from the technological perspective) and public administration (mostly for the assistance in the settings of regulations and policies).
Weaknesses
The majority of respondents selected three items:
• Team’s employment time horizon limited by the project;
• Public administration bureaucratic effects delaying actions;
• End of the three-year project affecting research financing.
These items are characterized by the low self-confidence in facing the uncertainty related with the procurement of new funding sources and the obstacles in the public administration.
Both of them could be strongly related with the current financial crisis, acting in two different ways. On the one hand, the curtailment of national funds for research (e.g. PRIN and FIRB no longer financed by the Italian Ministry of Education and University) limiting the collaboration with other national research groups to whom the University of Foggia always had a close relationship (e.g. University of Bari, and National Research Council). On the other hand, the reorganization of several administration bodies (including the internal administration of the University of Foggia) might cause a dramatic loss of competences, experience and expertise, which had been accumulated in the last years. It seems that everything should be rebuild from the beginning. This is also related with the end of the 7th EU Framework programme, and the enforcement of the Horizon 2020 programme.
Opportunities
A comparison among the perception between academic and non-academic people was performed, in order to get a more objective perception of new challenges for the near future.
In this case, respondents mostly preferred three items:
• Favorable development at EU level, e.g. new regional and innovation policies;
• Further growth of environmental concerns, with attention to “green” solutions;
• Symbiotic effects from education and training, e.g. new Master and Erasmus actions.
The first is related to an optimistic view of the EU role in the promotion of initiatives aimed at research and innovation. The second is related to the positive trend of business dealing with the creation of more eco-friendly goods that could be coherent with the bio-economy. The third seems more related to the role of the University, in the creation of human capital, which could be employed in the biobased economy.
Threats
The following 4 items have attracted the highest consensus:
• Financial difficulties for supporting research and innovation;
• Weak or negative social acceptance by stakeholders and society;
• Unfavorable development at national level, i.e. prolongation of present crisis;
• Unfavorable development at the local level, e.g. lack of related initiatives by actors.
As expected, there is a strong concern towards the difficulties derived from the financial crisis. However, there are other fears related to the lack of participation and cooperation among stakeholders. The local communities may obstruct the innovation process, since they are afraid of new possible sources of pollution or environmental burdens, but also the lack of cooperation among stakeholders may impede the development of innovative niches.
Future perspective
To conclude the SWOT analysis, a final question was made to all respondents, regarding their expectations towards the STAR*AgroEnergy Research Unit. Here, some evident differences emerged among the three groups. In fact, academic members (groups A and B) foresee an active role of the group “To strengthen research in order to offer technical solutions for local and EU challenges”; in other words, an active role to promote research and innovation in the EU context.
However, members of groups B and C emphasized the role of the research group “To create a strong network at international level, to promote research and business opportunities”, that is, a more emphasis on the role to facilitate the internationalization process, either for academic and firms.
General conclusions from the independent expert evaluation appointed by the EU Commission
The project has demonstrated strengths such as the building of the STAR Facility which is quite unique in the multidisciplinary approach as well as in the integration of different technologies. The research team has excellent capability on the interaction and mobilization of industry and local stakeholders. The credibility and performance of the STAR Unit team is demonstrated through the success of the REGPOT project.
As established now, there is a high potential to contribute to innovation and job creation using the regional resources and turn them in to innovative products in terms of energy, CO2 balance or bioremediation, improving local bio-economy.
The main concern of the reviewers at this point is related to the sustainability of the achievements especially for the STAR Facility personnel and maintenance. Activities have been done to solve this bottleneck, by project applications, setting up a master’s programme and the supply of the external services, whose price has already been defined in accordance with the current market. In terms of personnel and qualified output the ideal situation of maximum 20 researchers and 3 to 5 technicians should be achieved. Half of the funds should be coming from permanent sources. Outreach activities are also excellent as shown by participating in local fairs as well as through collaboration with high schools through the EDEN initiative. Dissemination in terms of promoting the STAR Facility as an excellent opportunity for local development and job creation is needed as well as keeping the international lobbying to be considered as excellent partners for EU projects.
The next coming year is absolutely critical for the future development of the STAR Unit, a big EU investment has been done in infrastructure, but funds are needed for sustainability and launching of the STAR Facility potential at full speed. It is suggested that the guarantee funds retained by the Commission from the original project budget should be fully dedicated to Research activities linked with the STAR Unit. It is expected that the UFG would create a dedicated research fund accordingly to guarantee the sustainability and long term success and return of the investment. The potential for impact in local development and permanent job creations is very high.
List of Websites:
Public website address:
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/
WP Leaders' mail addresses:
WP1: massimo.monteleone@unifg.it
WP2: edgardo.sica@unifg.it
WP3: matteo.francavilla@unifg.it
WP4: mariarosaria.lombardi@unifg.it
WP5: maurizio.prosperi@unifg.it
A. Project objectives
STAR*AgroEnergy is a project funded by the European Commission, carried out under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) within the “Research Potential” programme, led by the University of Foggia (UFG), in the South of Italy, during a three and a half year period, from September 2011 to February 2015.
The EU Commission’s “Research Potential” programme was intended to help unlock and develop existing or emerging excellence in the EU’s “Convergence and Outermost” regions. The core aim of the STAR*project was to significantly improve the research capacity of UFG and its ability to act as a regional “hub” in promoting bioenergy and bioeconomy, which implied strengthening UFG’s research power, bolstering the links with stakeholders and fostering capacity building activities.
The STAR*Unit is made up of professors, researchers, technicians, post-docs and PhD students that are collaborating together in several research projects and innovation activities originally promoted by the STAR*AgroEnergy project thus allowing the long-term follow up of the supporting action by the EU Commission. STAR is now a very active research unit; thanks to the strategy put in place, the research team is achieving excellent results and is improving progressively in its scientific and technological performance.
B. Covered topic
STAR aimed at an integrated approach to renewable energy generation derived from agriculture and agro-food industries and to a knowledge-based bio-economy, according to sustainability criteria. “Agro-Energy” and “Bio-Economy” therefore form the unifying research field addressed by STAR: obtaining renewable energy and biomaterials through productive activities complementary to farming and agro-food processing.
C. A European research unit interlinked with the regional economy
One major strength of the overall action implemented with STAR is the high level of integration between the two most important innovation drivers: “Research Community” and “Local Stakeholders”, respectively. The improvement of local entrepreneurial capacity to start-up agro-energy and bio-economy value chains is growing, at local and regional level. The contribution of the project initiatives and the technological expertise gained by the STAR Unit through the project increased the chances of new economic investments by local entrepreneurs.
D. Project objectives achieved
Relevant objectives of STAR are in line with the following activities:
• Create a strong interdisciplinary research group out of the existing cadre of researchers present at the University.
• Consolidate the research team by recruiting experienced researchers.
• Promote the expansion of the research network through large and qualified scientific collaborations.
• Organize workshops and seminars to bring researchers and scientists from academia together with industrial managers and government staff.
• Enhance the participation of UFG in the EU funded research projects together with other allied research entities.
• Support the R&D potential by upgrading the research equipment. Setting up a “Facility Centre” focused on bio-energy and bio-based materials, biomass characterisation, energy conversion (anaerobic digestion and pyro-gasification), microalgae production and the setup of three small-scale pilot plants.
• Planning a university spin-off company in the bioenergy sector.
• Reinforce links with the socio-economic environment through the organization of an Agro-Energy Forum that brings together stakeholders and economic players.
• Provide UFG with an intellectual property policy encouraging an open and collaborative research, the development of inventions and other intellectual creations for the best interest of society, the creator and the research sponsor, if any.
Project Context and Objectives:
At the beginning of the STAR project, a SWOT analysis was conducted with the participation of a large part of UFG colleagues together with external panelists and representatives of stakeholders. The same SWOT was also carried out at the end of the STAR project as part of an evaluation exercise and in order to aim at new targets beyond the project, to assure a long-lasting continuation and further improvement of the project achievements.
In order to take advantage of the performed initial SWOT analysis - particularly reducing the weaknesses and increasing the strengths, grasping the opportunities and avoiding the threats - an “Action Plan” was developed. This “Action Plan” is to be considered as the guiding strategic document we carefully followed in the course of the project activities in order to reach and fulfil the project objectives according to a well defined “roadmap”.
In parallel with the project activities, an additional document has gradually taken shape as the result of a collective collaboration inside and outside the STAR Research Unit, which aims to guide the development of UFG starting from the end of the project period. This document was named “Research & Development Agenda”, the last version of it is one of the main project deliverables, receiving strong contribution from the Advisory Board, the Steering Committee, the external panel of STAR evaluators.
This specific and dedicated Action Plan was applied in order to achieve the main STAR project objective, i.e. to create a cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary research unit and significantly increase the research capacity of this new born unit. The Action Plan included increasing research potentials, promoting researchers mobility, improving publication standards and reinforcing the links with the “outer world”. By this term, we mean other research centres, regional economic players and sector associations in the region as a whole and outside. The creation of a scientific network at regional scale, with strong connections at European level, acts as a solid base from which to organize and coordinate the activities of SMEs, driving investments and promote the circulation of technology knowledge and expertise.
An approach of eleven steps was developed to achieve and maintain a full research capacity, connect and integrate the STAR Research Unit into the ERA (European Research Area), diffuse innovation through stakeholders’ involvement thus reinforce links with the socio-economic milieu, promoting technological transfer and innovation at regional and national scale. This strategy was applied and its goals successfully accomplished.
A. Strengthen the research potential forming a critical mass of researchers
1. Establishment of an Integrated Research Team at UFG
2. Consolidate the Integrated Research Team with experienced researchers
3. Implement research evaluation procedures and evaluation exercises
B. Reinforce the integration into the ERA by promoting the expansion of the research network through large and qualified scientific collaborations
4. Research collaborations and networking
5. Organization of workshops and seminars
6. Participation in the EU funded research projects
C. Support the R&D potential by upgrading the research facilities
7. A dedicated biomass “Facility Centre”
8. Set-up a spin-off company
D. Improve the research impact, research visibility and acknowledgment from stakeholders
9. Links with the socio-economic environment and partnership with economic players
10. Professional meetings and “open days”
11. Partnerships and promotional activities
The sustainable production of agro-energy and biomaterials was identified as a unifying subject for the development of a strategy aimed at unlocking the full potential of research. Therefore, the general research goal of the STAR Research Unit is to explore any possible solution for the achievement of a sustainable exploitation of local available biomass and its production potential based on a holistic and comprehensive analysis of the agroenergy domain.
With respect to specific research and technological objectives, relative to the concept of knowledge-based bio-economy (KBBE), a large array of research fields have been identified and followed:
• Bioresource assessment: use of spatial analysis and land planning tools to assess biomass potential production and current biomass availability; design sustainable bioenergy supply chains; develop and apply biomass sustainability criteria considering soil carbon balances and soil fertility; adopt new crop species for biomass production; offer new environmental services associated to biomass crops.
• Biorefineries: a number of biomass processing pathways were investigated, either separately or according to technological integrated schemes, with focus on the following:
(1) Anaerobic digestion, with emphasis on feedstock pre-treatment to enhance efficiency and enlarge the spectrum of substrates to be digested.
(2) Thermochemical conversion, i.e. biomass pyrolysis and gasification, focusing on biochar, a semi-carbonised biofuel and a soil carbon-sequestering agent.
(3) Microalgae cultivation, combined with waste treatment, and integrated with anaerobic digestion for biofuels and fine chemicals production.
• Biobased carbon mitigation: specific interest is addressed on the study of the potential for soil carbon capture or sequestration; modelling the soil carbon balance in bioenergy cropping system; biochar use as a strategy to sequester carbon and contribute to climate change mitigation.
• Biosystems management: systematic activities in the following critical fields:
(1) Methods, tools and databases to support decision-making processes in the domain of agro-energy; identification of best practices aimed at favoring sustainability, as well as promoting social acceptance of biomass plants at community level.
(2) Analysis of key drivers and barriers for local, regional and rural “green” development with respect to bioenergy value chains; the financial system is also considered as a possible driver of bioenergy innovation.
The strategy to unlock research capacity was developed in terms of social capital; three parallel and interconnected pathways in unlocking and developing research potentials have been identified and consequently applied. This strategy is based on the concept of “social capital”, i.e. the expected collective benefits derived from the cooperation between individuals, groups, and institutions considering the core idea that “social networks have value”. Social capital is a concept that describes the extent and nature of relationships people have with others, with their communities, institutions and systems. Social capital theory distinguishes between 'bonding', 'bridging' and 'linking' forms of social capital.
A. The first path is “bonding social capital” and it refers to trust-based, co-operative relations among members (researchers and administrative staff) inside the same organization. This means to gain stronger ties in multidisciplinary collaborations within the team and the research unit in order to get a better organization and innovative approaches, thus reaching a higher research capacity. Improve and qualify management activities also pertains to “bonding”, targeting a better organization of the management staff.
B. The second path is “bridging social capital” and it comprises to establish mutual relations between researchers from different European Countries and research Institutions. This kind of connections within a multifarious “research milieu” is specifically related to “mobility” and the aim is to push ahead the research team by means of international collaborations.
C. Finally, the third path is “linking social capital” that comprises relationships among people who are interacting across explicit, formal or institutionalized authority in society. In other terms, this means connections with public and private institutions, organizations, enterprises, in order to generate a proper impact of research.
Project Results:
This Section is going to report the STAR outcomes with respect to the actions from 1 to 8 of the STAR Action Plan (see the list of targets in the previous Section 2), while the remaining actions, from 8 to 11, will be discussed in the following Section 4.
Target A Strengthen the research potential forming a critical mass of researchers
This set of activities was aimed at overcoming the initial dispersion of researchers and the fragmentation of research topics within the UFG Departments. At the same time, a better and synergetic interdisciplinary research collaboration within the Unit was promoted.
Action 1 - Establishment of an Integrated Research Unit inside UFG
A strong interdisciplinary research group out of the former research cadre present at the UFG was created. This can be considered the first relevant outcome of the project. Therefore, the establishment and progressive reinforcement of the STAR Integrated Research Unit, focusing on “renewable energy from biomass and biomaterials”, was accomplished.
A quite large number of researchers at UFG is carrying out studies and analyses on renewable energy sources, biomass, and bio-based products, showing particular interest in the sustainability criteria to be adopted for the effective implementation of these technologies. Different disciplinary specializations previously acting independently or in small research units have resulted in a new and unusual aggregation, which is increasingly characterized by strong collaborative bonds, supporting a remarkable interdisciplinary approach, highly responsive to the needs of a complex research activity, characterized by wide-ranging technical, environmental and social connections.
We need to stress the relevance of this achievement. Inversely from other Regpot projects, this is not the case of simply reinforcing or strengthening an already existing Department or Research Centre. Differently from usual, in this case, the “ex-novo” foundation of a completely new interdisciplinary research unit was attained; quite a rare and still contrasted experience, at least in the Italian universities. It must be recognized that the conventional groups or sectors of scientific disciplines are still very effective in controlling the advancements in career of the academic researchers or professors; consequently the hierarchical dependency within each scientific sector is, nevertheless, still strongly conditioning.
In particular, it can be said that the UFG is traditionally well known and distinguished, at national scale, by relevant researches conducted in the sector of “food science”. In this research area, therefore, is operating the majority of researchers, dealing with problems related to economy, law, medicine, and, of course, agriculture.
What the STAR project tried to achieve was to attract researchers in a new, different but still contiguous scientific domain, just highlighting the very positive perspectives that this new and wide research sector (that of “bioeconomy”) could represent for several UFG colleagues.
Starting from a quite limited number of “founders” or “beginners”, we were able to aggregate an increasing number of colleagues, despite the strong antagonism in attractiveness represented by the competitive research basin, namely that related to “food science”.
The STAR Integrated Research Unit, as a whole, is made up today of approximately 20 permanent people, both professors and researchers, plus 16 contract researchers, post-docs and doctorate students. A good balance between male and female is also observed.
The University Departments involved in the unit are:
• Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment;
• Department of Economics;
• Department of Medical and Surgery Sciences.
The researchers operating in the STAR*Unit are divided in three main Research Teams (RT):
RT.1: Addressing topics related to farming systems, energy-chain logistics, energy conversion technologies & land planning in agro-energy, green chemistry and bio-based active molecules (pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, animal feed, platform compounds, etc.). It includes experts on:
• Agronomy and crop ecology; Agricultural engineering; Chemistry; Biochemistry and microbiology; Pharmacology.
RT.2: Addressing topics on the assessment of environmental sustainability of bio-energy/ bio-materials value chains. It includes researchers on:
• Commodity science; Economic geography.
RT.3: Addressing topics on rural development policy and economics in agro-energy & bio-based sectors. Colleagues from the Department of Economics and the Department of Agriculture, but with a strong background in economics, are involved in this broad category of topics:
• Agricultural economics; Political economics; Rural development policy.
For further information and a bio-profile of the researchers involved, please see the following page of the STAR project website:
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/about/research-team.html
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/research-agenda/research-units.html
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/research-agenda/conceptual-map.html
Considering the structure of the Research teams and their particular kind of aggregation, the following specific research topics have been selected:
1) Agronomy & Ecology: energy crops and feedstock availability (agro-food by-products, crop residues and wastes); farming system design; energy-chain logistics; land planning and landscape evaluation; agro-sustainability criteria and indicators applied to bio-energy production, complementary to farming.
Areas of research include: energy crop management; agricultural management practices and sustainable resource use; energy balance, soil organic carbon balance, GHG emission due to crop fertilization, direct and indirect land use changes, improvement or worsening of agricultural management; water and energy savings through specific agro-techniques; innovative cropping systems and energy chain-supply; effects of arable and perennial energy crops on soil organic matter, biodiversity, soil conservation, etc.; logistic integration of collection, transportation and storage of biomass; modelling scenario on bio-energy deployment; land planning with GIS applications.
2) Green Chemistry & Engineering: physic-chemical characterization of biomass; biomass to biofuels conversion technologies; system analysis and design; biomass valorisation by means of bio-refinery approach.
Areas of research include: chemical and energetic characterization of biomass, including agricultural feedstocks, vegetable residues and algae biomass; setting up of advanced methodologies for development of biomass traceability and certification systems (UNI-EN); chemical and biochemical processes to convert biomass into biofuels; biochemical pathway (anaerobic digestion); thermochemical pathway (pyrolysis); analysis of the energy conversion efficiency; application of nanomaterials for biofuels production; extraction from biomass and transformations of platform molecules to biofuels, biomaterials and fine chemicals; application of "bio-refinery" concept aimed to biomass valorisation.
3) Commodity Sciences: technical-economic, social and environmental sustainability of commodities; evaluation of natural resources availability; sustainability criteria and indicators; Material Flow Analysis (MFA); Substance Flow Analysis (SFA); Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
Areas of research include: assessment of technical-economic, social and environmental sustainability of energy from animal and vegetable residual biomass, algae, etc.; energy balance: Net Energy Balance (EROEI; FER; PRR, etc.); LCA with software applications, in particular on bioenergy; SFA of GHG emission in bio-energy process.
4) Agricultural Economics: economic evaluation of non-marketable agricultural goods and services, decision making modelling, econometrics, environmental and technical efficiency analysis, agricultural policy analysis.
Areas of research include: the impact of large investments on rural development. In addition, economics assessment of regional plans and programmes, environmental impact assessment of large projects in rural areas, and social acceptance issues; supply and demand analysis of biomass feedstock; scenario simulation of agricultural structure, such as farm size, cropping patterns, employment, economic profitability; vertical and horizontal integration.
5) Complex Environmental Systems: environmental economics; evolutionary economics; agent based modelling; econometrics; computational general equilibrium (CGE) models.
Areas of research include: renewable energy, analysis of complex systems, technological changes, modelling socio-technical transition patterns and pathways; strategic niche management, social simulation, energy policy modelling and analysis, policy design to foster large investment in rural areas.
For further information on research units and areas, please see the following page of the STAR project website:
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/research-agenda/research-disciplines.html
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/research-agenda/conceptual-map.html
where is also possible to download the following documents: “The STAR Integrated Research team”
Action 2 - Consolidate the Integrated Research Unit with experienced researchers
Attract experienced researchers into the project and allow highly-qualified scientists from European countries to spend periods of research at the University of Foggia was a very useful way to enlarge and consolidate the research team, to establish new collaboration links, to introduce the team into the hottest research topics at European level. Two different tools have been employed to this scope: recruitment and secondment. While recruitment is to be considered a temporary research employment into the UFG staff through an annual contract, secondment should be interpreted as a visiting stage at UFG, generally a short staying lasting from 15 days up to 3 months, involving researchers coming from other Institutions. Parallel to this, also researchers from UFG have been hosted for stages by other research institutions.
While recruiting have been successful, secondment was constrained to just a few experiences and a limited number of people involved.
Recruitment of researchers
Researchers were employed by UFG with contracts covering a 12-month period. The contract, in general, was renewed for other 12 months.
Approximately 600 e-mail invitation letters to researchers and research institutions were sent all over Europe and even in the U.S.A. Canada, Australia, and other faraway countries. We have set up a large database considering the list of participants to the previous editions of the European Biomass Conference. We can conclude that we have put in place the best conditions to facilitate and enhance the rate of participation in the selection.
The STAR Management Committee has identified three different levels of salary corresponding to three different levels of research experience showed by the researchers to be recruited. This is a reasonable measure because the salary level should correspond to the scientific and professional qualification of researchers and no arbitrary level of funding should be allowed.
Great attention was paid to cover the whole interdisciplinary research topics, to equally spread the benefit offered by the recruited researchers and share their contribution of scientific knowledge among the different research teams. Specific care was given in the reinforcement of “Green chemistry & Engineering” scientific disciplines not originally present inside the IRU.
After the selection procedure, two different kinds of researcher were recruited and joined the STAR*Unit:
- Experienced research fellow (13 post-doc first level research grants)
- Experienced academic professors (3 highest level sabbatical leaves)
The recruited researchers were, therefore, 16 as a total number, displaying their activity for a total period of 250 person/month, thus showing an average of approximately 7 person/month over the whole project period. After the end of the STAR project, seven recruited researchers are still working within the team, while very fruitful collaborative relationships have been established with all the others in their new position.
Considering recruitment, some difficulties have been faced. The following should be considered the most relevant:
1. To attract very experienced researchers (even with a relatively good pay) is a hard task because this people has generally reached already a top position in the Research Institutions to which they belong. For this reason, they are generally not favourably oriented to join another research team for a long period. In our case, we succeeded in the recruitment of two full professors from Athens and Thessaloniki, respectively, just considering the critical economic condition that today afflict Greece. The third recruited full professor was just retired from the Polytechnic of Turin and so free by any other type of engagement. On the other hand, less experienced but younger researchers are actively seeking new jobs and might be interested in a continuation of the work, even at the end of the STAR Project. They are generally more free and available because without family links or other kind of constraints.
2. It should be highlighted the complexity and the bureaucratic burden of the selective procedure that the Italian legislation asks for candidates who apply for a position in the public administration. The huge number of forms, declarations to be filled and original documents to be delivered are, generally speaking, not in tune with the EU customs and against our need to speed up the procedure and attract researchers. Less bureaucracy and more benefits are the two factors we have learned from our experience.
3. The lack of expertise of the UFG administrative staff into managing international calls for research fellow positions was another constraint. Unfortunately, very few UFG staff members are able to speak fluent English and such limitation has created a number of problems when they had to talk with foreign applicants to provide them information about the call. For the same reasons, some problems came from the translation in English of the Italian format employed for this kind of applications.
4. The geographical, social and economic context within which the UFG is located has to be considered a very influential factor. Foggia is a small town in Southern Italy, Apulia region, which offers few social and cultural opportunities to its inhabitants. The renown of the region and the quality of services that are locally available (international school for children, easy flight connections, university reputation, a good standard of living and the availability of cultural services, etc.) are very relevant in attracting researchers. On this respect, the Foggia area has several limitations and constraints that should be overcome only considering the relevance of our research activity. This probably has influenced the choice of some candidates to give up their position after being selected.
5. The recruitment of “green chemists” was negatively affected because of the delay in the setting-up of the lab equipment and of the dedicated “facility centre”. This could be considered a relevant limitation since the availability of a lab and pilot plants to perform experiments is the fundamental requisite to conduct research and to publish research papers in high standard scientific journals.
6. An important strategy to strengthen and consolidate the research potential within a new research Unit is through PhD students. The involvement of this kind of people was not allowed in Regpot, considering they are not researchers yet but still students under training. In our opinion, this decision should be deeply reconsidered. The most effective way to form a new generation of young researchers, able to reinforce the team, is to train PhD students that very soon (in the course of the project time line) will become young researchers. To think about the near future and to create your own research “nursery” should be one of the first strategy to be applied in capacity building.
Final considerations on recruitment:
Most of the recruited researchers (9) has left the STAR*Unit by the end of the STAR project for other job opportunities in other European Universities or Research Centres. They were able to obtain a significant improvement in their academic position, generally establishing a longer contract than with STAR. A large part of the former recruited researchers (7) is still working in the STAR*Unit and probably they will remain for a prolonged period, long after the project end.
This is largely a favourable condition to the STAR*Unit reinforcement. The remaining team is strong enough to carry on the planned activities and, at the same time, the leaving researchers take the role of STAR “ambassador” next to their new research Institutions for possible scientific collaborations, partnership of EU research proposals as well as in the preparation of joined education programmes.
Secondment of researchers
Along with recruitment, also secondment was a strategic pathway to enhance research capacity of the UFG. Establishing and consolidating two-way relationships between UFG and other research Institutions by exchanging staff is an effective tool in capacity building. Incoming secondment allowed visiting professors for a stage at UFG, generally a short staying lasting from 15 days up to 3 months. With outgoing secondment, researchers from UFG were hosted for stages by other research institutions.
Secondment activity contributed to exchange the know-how through lectures and seminars of partners’ seconded staff; share technical experiences gained by conducting common research activities; training of UFG seconded staff in the host institutions; seminars of UFG seconded staff; lab-training in view of the operation of the new acquired equipment in the “facility centre”.
Incoming seconded were:
1. Prof. Gary Thompson, from the University of Arizona (USA), hosted in the period 9-20 Sep 2013.
2. Dr. Kelali Adhana Tekle, from the Science and Technology Institute (Ethiopia), hosted in the period 1-15 Oct 2013.
Outgoing seconded were:
1. Prof. Emilio De Meo (Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment) who was hosted by the University of Cordoba (Spain) from 30 Jun to 30 Jul 2013.
2. Dr. Margherita Ciervo (Department of Economics) who was hosted by the University of Liege (Belgium) in the period 11-25 Sep 2012 and 22-26 Oct 2012.
3. Prof. Roberta Sisto (Department of Economics) who was hosted by the Wageningen University (The Netherlands) from 20 Mar to 3 May 2014.
4. Prof. Maurizio Quinto (Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment) who was hosted by the College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Beijing (China) in the period 14-28 Apr 2014.
All the outgoing experiences were very interesting. A significant improvement in both the collaboration network and the scientific productivity was clearly observed.
Results achieved by secondment lagged behind considerably with respect to the expected goals, both considering incoming and outgoing secondment. The total number of academic staff involved in secondment was far below the planned amount. It is a pity to remark that this important activity encountered difficulties to be carried out and was only partially fulfilled.
There are several reasons that could explain this problematic condition; the followings can be considered the most relevant:
1. Permanent staff is generally not motivated to move away from its own research institute. More likely, this would be easier to temporary researchers that are generally more open minded and willing to such an experience. This condition, regrettably, is a very critical aspect, often associated with a poor knowledge of a foreign language (generally English). It was believed that the STAR project could overcome this bad habit, at least a little bit, but it should be noted that this is a process that requires more time to show notable improvements.
2. In our University, also researchers, beside full and associate professors, usually have institutional lectures in the bachelor and master university degrees. The relevant role of teaching, during both the two semesters, generally prevents to plan long visiting stays in other Universities or research institutes.
3. The collaboration in the form of recruitment has played a competitive role with respect to secondment. Generally speaking, experienced researchers and very renowned scholars expressed a preference in having a research contract from UFG instead of spending a secondment period to join our research unit.
4. Experienced researchers from other research entities are generally very engaged in their institutional work and play a role of great responsibility in their own research staff and labs. They have a limited amount of time to be dedicated in extra-working and collaboration activities that do not explicitly provide funding (as in the case of STAR).
Action 3. Implement research evaluation procedures and evaluation exercises
The Italian Ministry of University have established evaluation procedures for both teaching and research activities. UFG has created a specific “Evaluation Team” to coordinate such efforts. Their guidelines and criteria have been applied in order to routinely evaluate the research activities of the STAR research Unit.
Evaluating the research potential using indicators on scientific publications
The STAR project started in September 2011 and ended in February 2015. In order to perform an evaluation of the effect the project determined on the scientific productivity of the STAR*Unit, specific indicators were considered at the turn of the project period. A comparison was carried out considering three-year period previous the start of the project (2008-2010), the pivotal year 2011, and the subsequent three-year period (2012-2014), the latter as the time of full deployment of the STAR project.
We considered all the scientific publications produced, distinguishing between original scientific papers (score 4), reviews and contributions as book chapters (score 3), scientific treaties or monographs (score 2), conference proceedings (score 1).
The scientific productivity of the IRU seems to be quite stable in the first three-year period (actually with a good performance in 2009) and significantly increased during the project period. An impressive increase was observed in the last project year. The “pushing” effect showed by the STAR project was gradual but gradual but continuous and very powerful. A clear and understandable “lag-time” has to be considered in the strong display of the project momentum. There are several possible causes to explain this:
1) Researchers of the STAR*Unit spent a relevant time to reconvert partially their research interests towards agroenergy and bioeconomy.
2) An evident investment in terms of internationalization process took place. Consequent to the more intensive collaboration with foreign institution, there was an evident increase of articles with foreign co-authors.
3) Researchers try to publish their articles in journals with greater impact factor and this usually entail longer publication time.
Other interesting observations can be made with regard to the evolutionary trends of scientific productivity of the STAR*Unit:
1) The average number of co-authorship within the STAR*Unit was usually less than 2, while in the last project year this value exceeded this limited threshold. It means that a greater openness and predisposition to work as a team has been finally observed.
2) The average quality of publications increased significantly in the last project year. As was said already, this trend means that this research conversion (exploring new and unprecedented issues than before) needed some time of adjustment in order to become successful.
3) Both the “quality” of the publications (score) and the “number of author per paper” (co-authorship) increased significantly, although their respective ratio (i.e. the quality of publications per singe author) remained quite stable or slightly decreased, especially in the last year.
A detailed description of the indicators used to evaluate the scientific performance of the STAR*Unit in terms of scientific publications is available in the following project deliverable:
STAR Deliverable 2.6: “Final Self-Evaluation Report on the STAR Interdisciplinary Research Unit (Research Assessment)” (pages 19-20).
Target B Reinforce the integration into the ERA by promoting the expansion of the research network through large and qualified scientific collaborations
STAR developed an effective action to enlarge the network of scientific collaborations and partnerships among academics as well as between academia and the agro-energy productive sector. These activities provided a driver for research and facilitated the translation of research into industrial application.
Action 4 – Research collaboration and networking
Collaboration with leading institutions has been considered a key factor to obtain a fast development, through which our research capacity could gain momentum. The STAR Integrated Research Unit grown progressively and experienced an increasing number of research involvements and partnerships at regional, national and European level. Innovative solutions, interpreting the requirements of farmers, energy companies and public agencies, were actively proposed thus serving the social and economic development of the region.
Here is a list of formal and informal collaborations with other research entities or public agencies, as well as regional and national project proposals submitted in the course of the overall STAR activities.
National project calls
• PRIN (Research Projects of High National Relevance, programme of the Italian Ministry of University). Reduction of anthropic carbon dioxide through its capture and utilization to generate economic value. Project proposal under the coordination of the University of Foggia.
• Joint Research Projects within the Executive Programme of Scientific and Technological Cooperation between the Italian Republic and the People's Republic of China: Significant Bilateral Projects. 2012. Perennial Grasses as Alternative Sources of Feedstock for Sustainable Bioenergy Production and Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration: Regional Planning of A Biomass Value-Chain. Project jointly proposed by the University of Foggia and the Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Science.
• National Operational Programme (PON) for Research and Competitiveness. Art. 13, 2012. Recovery of "Biochar" for the Competitive Strengthening of a Local Agro-Energy Chain. University of Foggia, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, STAR Research Unit.
• National Operational Programme (PON) for Research and Competitiveness. Art. 13, 2012. Production, Extraction and Purification of Phytosterols from Microalgae by means Supercritical Fluid Extraction” (2013-2015). University of Foggia, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, STAR Research Unit.
• MADLENA - Macroalgae of Lesina Lagoon: potential source of natural compounds for pharmaceutics and foods (2011-2012).
Regional research projects
• PROBIO - Department of Agriculture, Apulia Region (Italy), 2013. Regional Biofuels Programme, Guidelines for Regional Initiatives in the programming period 2014-2020.
• BIOREF. 2013. Potential Development of Economic, Social and Environmental Sustainability in the Biorefinery Sector (Foggia Province) Research funded by the Foundation “Cassa di Risparmio di Puglia”.
• Development and Performance of Biogas in the Province of Foggia. Research funded by the Foundation “Banca del Monte - Domenico Siniscalco Ceci”, 2012.
• CATAPULTA “Composting” Alliance for the Technology Advancement & Transfer in the Apulia region. Call 2014: SOSTEGNO AI CLUSTER TECNOLOGICI REGIONALI PER L’INNOVAZIONE – Apulia Region.
• “OPEN LABS”, Pre-commercial Public Procurement on “Reuse of sludge in the processes of of urban wastewater treatment”.
Regional collaboration and consultancy with public administration
• Energy and Environmental Plan of the Apulia Region (PEAR, from 2014 up today);
• Energy Plan of the Province of Foggia (2012-2013) - Energy use of biomass and dedicated energy crops in the "Capitanata" district;
• Biomass Potential from the Agroforestry Sector in the Province of Foggia - Sector analysis funded by the Italian Industrial Association (branch of Foggia) and the Chamber of Commerce of Foggia.
• Agroenergy potential in the "Nord-Barese / Ofantino" Area.
• Energy sources from agro-biomass. A study applied in the territory of the L.A.G. Piana del Tavoliere" project funded by the Local Action Group "Piana del Tavoliere", LEADER + Programme.
• Contribution to the Local Development Plan of the Local Action Group "MeriDaunia". The agroenrgy sector: best practices and benchmark models. LEADER + Programme.
• Contribution to the Local Development Plan of the Local Action Group "Daunia Rurale". The agroenrgy sector: best practices and benchmark models. LEADER + Programme.
• Contribution to the Local Development Plan of the Local Action Group "DaunOfantino". The agroenrgy sector: best practices and benchmark models. LEADER + Programme.
• Integrated Territorial Plan (PIT Tavoliere + PIT SubAppennino) - Energy savings, Energy Efficiency, Energy from Renewable Sources. Biomass potentials and new productive value chains.
• Covenant of Majors – Sustainable Energy Action Plan – Municipalities of the Foggia Province: Stornarella, San Severo, Roseto Valfortore, Ortanova, Motta Montecorvino, Torremaggiore Sant’Agata di Puglia, Ordona, Volturara, S. Paolo di Civitate, S. Marco in Lamis, Pietra Montecorvino, Troia, Stornara, S. Marco Lacatola, Rocchetta S. Antonio, Orsara di Puglia, Monteleone di Puglia, Accadia, Faeto, Celenza Val Fortore, Mattinata, Lesina, Deliceto, Cerignola, Celle di S. Vito, Monte S. Angelo, Castelvecchio di Puglia, Castelnuovo della Daunia, Casalnuovo Monte Rotaro, Castelluccio Valmaggiore, Carlantino, Carapelle, Biccari, Alberona.
International agreement for research collaborations
• Joint Research Centre, 2013. Evaluation of direct and indirect effects caused by the use of biomass residues for energy. Research study commissioned to the STAR AgroEnergyTeam (UFG) by the Institute for Energy and Transport, Cleaner Energy Unit, Westerduinweg 3, Petten - The Netherlands.
COST Action initiatives.
• COST Action TD1203 “Food Waste Valorisation for Sustainable Chemicals, Materials & Fuels”, (EUBIS), coordinated by the University of York, and at present including partners from 27 countries. The strategy of the consortium is to capture the interest of large multinational firms, as well as EU and national institutions, in order to create strong proposals for the Horizon 2020 research grants, starting from 2014.
• COST Action FP1306 “Valorisation of lignocellulosic biomass side streams for sustainable production of chemicals, materials & fuels using low environmental impact technologies”. Dr. Matteo Francavilla is the deputy of the Work Group Leader (WG1: Pretreatment of Lignocellulosics). The Action is running from May 2014 to May 2017.
“Linking” initiatives with single research institutions
• Danish Technical Institute (DTI), Denmark. Prof Anne Belinda Bjerre (Macroalgae Biorefinery)
• University of Cordoba (Spain), Organic Chemistry Department. Prof Rafael Luque (Green Chemistry)
• University of Thessaloniki (Greece), Organic Chemistry Department. Prof Konstantinos Triantafyllidis (Green Chemistry)
• Lulea University of Technology (Sweden), Professor Ulrika Rova (Biomass - Chemical Engineering)
• Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland), Institute of Physical Chemistry. Dr Juan Carlos Colmenares Quintero (Green - Photocatalysis).
• Technical University of Denmark, Department of Organic Chemistry. Dr Eduardo J. Garcìa-Suàrez (Green Chemistry).
• University College Cork (Ireland), Environmental Research Institute. Prof Jerry D Murphy (Bioenergy and Biofuels).
• Dublin City University (Ireland), School of Mechanical and Engineering. Dr Silvia Tedesco (Chemical Engineering).
• Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Science (BAAFS), prof. WU Juying Beijing Research Center for Grass and Environment.
• University of Almeria (Spain), Biotechnology of Marine Microalgae. Prof. Emilio Molina-Grima.
• Free University of Bolzano/Bozen (Italy).
• Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft (HTW) of Berlin (Germany) - University of Applied Sciences FB1. Umwelttechnik-Regenerative Energien: prof. Mitra Kami Delivand.
• National Technological University of Athens (NUTA) (Greece): prof. Emmanuel Koukios.
• Universitatea Ovidius – Constanza (Romania): prof. Eden Mamut.
STAR*Facility Centre Collaboration Network
• SFAX Research Laboratoire des Bioprocédés Environnementaux, Pôle d’Excellence Régional (PER, AUF), Centre de Biotechnologie de Sfax (Tunisia). PhD and post doc researchers will come to the STAR*Facility Centre for carrying out a research program on chemical valorisation of African seaweeds.
• MARIE SKŁODOWSKA-CURIE ACTIONS. Individual Fellowships (IF) submitted by a researcher of the Dublin City University (Ireland). The University of Foggia, STAR*Facility Centre will be the hosting Institutio.
• Royal Irish Academy Grant. Submitted by a researcher of Dublin City University (Ireland). The University of Foggia, STAR*Facility Centre will be the hosting Institution.
• PhD joint research program on “Microalgae valorisation in Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture Systems” will be carried out with the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, BarcelonaTech (UPC) and the International Marine Centre Foundation (Oristano).
Education & training
• Erasmus Intensive Programme in the years 2011 and 2012. Energy Production from biomass in the European Union. University of Foggia.
• Erasmus Intensive Programme. Approved for the year 2014. Efficiency and Equity trade-off in European Agro-Energy Districts. University of Foggia.
• Master Course in “Expert in Design and Management of Biomass Agroenergy Systems”. University of Foggia. 2015.
• ERASMUS Plus 2015– Cooperation and Innovation for Good Practices - Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education (Key Action 2). MULTIBIO (Multidisciplinary Education for a Systemic Approach To Bioeconomy). Partners: 1. Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft (HTW) of Berlin (Germany) - University of Applied Sciences FB1. Umwelttechnik-Regenerative Energien: prof. Mitra Kami Delivand. 2. National Technological University of Athens (NUTA) (Greece): prof. Emmanuel Koukios. 3. Universitatea Ovidius – Constanza (Romania): prof. Eden Mamut. 4. Universidad de Córdoba - Department of Organic Chemistry, Cordoba – (Spain): prof. Rafael Luque.
Action 5 – Organization of workshops and seminars
Workshops aims to bring researchers and scientists from academia together with industrial managers and government staff, to present current research results, new perspectives and proposals, discuss applied experiences and identify future research directions in the bio-energy and bio-economy sectors.
An intensive workshop programme was carried out in the frame of the STAR project. These events were, in general, very useful and gave the opportunity to exchange information, diffuse the knowledge accrued in the course of the work, meet relevant researchers from the European scene.
Organizing and conducting a workshop was the best opportunity to start new collaborations with research teams from other universities or research institutions, or the occasion to strength former partnerships and address new challenges, such as an EU project proposal or experimental activities in cooperation.
The number and quality of the workshops was strictly in accordance with the planned activity. The only significant difference with respect to the initial “Description of the Work” (DoW) was that the final international conference was not on scientific topics, but it was decided to have a relevant event in Brussels discussing a very strategic and hot “political” topic, strictly connected to the follow-up of the STAR project. The title of the final conference was “Bridging research innovation with regional development: the Star*AgroEnergy experience”. This decision was warmly supported by the project “Steering Committee”.
We can consider this specific task of the project very successful and influential.
For further information, please see the STAR project website (dissemination page):
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/project/dissemination-promotion.html
For further information on the Final Conference:
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/news/373/bridging-research-innovation-with-regional-development-the-staragroenergy-experience.html
Workshop List
• 1° WORKSHOP (in English) April 2012.
Title: Biomass, Bioenergy, Bioeconomy.
Speakers: 7; Attenders: 40
• 2° WORKSHOP (in English) December 2012.
Title: Paradigm Lost and Paradigm Regained: the Transition to a Biobased Society
Speakers: 5; Attenders: 62
• 3° WORKSHOP (in Italian) February 2013.
Title: Intellectual property and technological transfer: an operative model for research
Speakers: 3; Attenders: 30
• 4° WORKSHOP (in English) March 2014.
Title: Innovation for Development: Research Capacity in Bioeconomy
Speakers: 6; Attenders: 55.
• 5° WORKSHOP (in Italian) February 2015.
Title: Social innovation and technological integration in the bioeconomy: the Star*Agroenergy experience.
Speakers: 8; Attenders: 45
• Final Conference (in English) February 2015
Title: Bridging research innovation with regional development: the Star*AgroEnergy experience.
Speakers: 6; Attenders: 53
Detailed information, programmes, interview, press releases and outcomes or comments about the workshops can be found on the dedicated STAR dissemination space of the project website:
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/project/dissemination-promotion.html
Besides the workshops, the STAR activities have planned the organization of a very intensive cycle of seminars, in 2013 and 2014, mainly involving the STAR integrated research Unit of UFG as well as the new recruited and seconded staff.
Seminars should be interpreted as a useful training to acquire more familiarity with public presentations, improve speaking skills, increase the ability to effectively report data and technical concepts, face questions from a specialized audience. A relevant objective performed by the seminars was to allow a better interdisciplinary approach and find a common ground to share information, knowledge and expertise among the various “souls” of the STAR*Unit, trying to find interesting convergences in the work of the integrated team.
List of the 16 seminars organized under the STAR project in 2013
1. Social acceptance of biomass combustion plants (6 February)
2. Innovation niches stability with a short term policy intervention (13 February)
3. The STAR Integrated Research Unit: a Trans-disciplinary challenge (27 February)
4. Optimal plant size and feedstock supply radius: minimize the production costs or maximize the profits? (6 March)
5. Assessment of potential availability and environmental impact of biogas production (13 March)
6. ECO CLUSTER MANAGER DAY event that took place in Candela (FG) in view of the setting up of EDEN (Energy Demonstration and Education Network) (27 March)
7. The fate of “tar” from biomass pyrolysis: a microbiological point of view (5 April)
8. How costly is the Social Opposition on the Development of Biomass Plants? (17 April)
9. Land Use Impacts for Biomass Production and Agricultural Prices (24 April)
10. Assessment of energy balance and energy optimization in wheat cropping system (8 May)
11. Algae biorefinery approach: what we have done, what we are going to do (5 May)
12. Workshop organized as intermediate event of the project funded by the Caripuglia Foundation (22 May)
13. AgroEnergy: Multiscalar Geographical Analysis of Conflic Dynamics and Definition of a Territorial Model of Production-Distribution-Consumption (12 June)
14. A) Assessing uncertainty in sustainability transitions: the case of integrated valorisation of bio-waste towards bio-based economy; B) A metamodel-based approach to model sustainability transitions in bio-energy systems. (2 October)
15. From green chemistry and engineering to green economy: Pathways, driving forces and barriers (23 October)
16. Introducing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (11 December)
List of 12 seminars organized under the STAR project in 2014
1. Waste-2-2014 .A) systems approach for the reduction, recycling and reuse of food waste; B) Waste-6-2015 Promoting eco-innovative waste management and prevention as part of sustainable urban development (15 January)
2. Microbial ecology of anaerobic digesters (22 January)
3. Application of pretreatments for the conversion of biomass into biofuels (35 February)
4. Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Biomass-Based Energy - Methodological & Technological considerations (12 February)
5. Planning towards sustainability: the backcasting approach (5 March)
6. Experiences in sustainability assessment of agroenergy systems (12 March)
7. How to write competitive horizon2020 proposals (2 April)
8. Analytical Chemistry and Agroenergy: together for a sustainable approach (9 April)
9. LCA for the environmental assessment of a local agro-biogas chain: “Inventory Flows Analysis” (16 April)
10. Economic crisis and sociotechnical transitions: the case of the Italian biofuel industry (14 May)
11. The effects of biofuel use on agricultural sectors in Turkey (21 May )
12. Pianificazione territoriale e termodinamica: nuova declinazione della sostenibilità (28 May)
The slide presentations of the weekly seminars are available to download at the following link of the STAR website:
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/news/299/staragroenergy-wednesdays-seminars.html;
Action 6 – Participation in EU funded research proposals and projects
Great efforts have been displayed to significantly incrementing the number of research project submissions and the success rate. The strong networking with partnering organization greatly support this activity and made this effort larger in number and quality.
Considering the very high competition rate actually observed with respect to the H2020 calls, it was decided not only to increase the partnerships with upstanding EU research teams, in view of the creation of research consortiums submitting project proposals, but also to diversify our participation to EU calls. It was considered, indeed, that H2020 calls requiring actions in “Research and Innovation” should be much more competitive (i.e. with the highest risk of failure) compared to calls addressing “Coordination and Supporting” or other kind of actions. This considered, it should be an advantage to submit project proposals on several types of action.
T0 diversify our project proposals and increase the chance of success, another opportunity could be to submit proposals under the “SMEs Instruments” or “Fast Track to Innovation” kind of H2020 calls. In this case, the STAR*Unit is not the direct beneficiary of the EU grant but is involved in the project as a business consultant.
Different EU calls, not in the H2020 frame, could be also very interesting, offering other possibilities to establish research collaborations and getting funds for research, such as ERA-NET ARIMNet2 (Agricultural Research In the Mediterranean Network), IPA Adriatic Cross-border Cooperation Programme, Intelligent Energy – Europe (IEE), unfortunately now closed).
A comprehensive list of the research proposals submitted by the STAR*Unit during the project time frame is reported below.
Research proposals submitted by the STAR*IRU and collaboration network
FP7 and H2020 project proposals
• KBBE (Knowledge Based Bio-Economy), 2012. A Decision and Polity-Support Framework of Tools for the Sustainable Deployment of EU Bioeconomy (Biovision Toolbox). Project proposal under the coordination of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).
• KBBE (Knowledge Based Bio-Economy) 2013-7. New microscale design biorefinery: integrated 2nd and 3rd generation to maximize the efficiency of the process (M-AlgaeFinery). Project proposal under the coordination of the Plataforma para o Desenvolvimento da Região Interior Centro (Portugal).
• SEAVALUE (Cultivated macroalgae as a resource for pipeline production of sea derived added-value biomolecules and products). Horizon 2020 Call: BG-3-2014: Novel marine derived biomolecules and industrial biomaterial. Leader: Danish Technical Institute (Denmark).
• FORWARD (FOod Residues and Waste: Advancement through Research and Development). Horizon 2020 Call: WASTE 2 -2014. Leader: University York (UK).
• SEAPLAGAS (Seaweed Integrated Biorefinery to Produce Bioplastics and Biogas). MARIE SKŁODOWSKA-CURIE ACTIONS Individual Fellowships (IF) Call: H2020-MSCA-IF-2014. Proponent from Dublin City University (Ireland).
• W3G “Water to Wheel study of Water sourced Gas. Horizon 202 Call: LCE 11 – 2014/2015: Developing next generation technologies for biofuels and sustainable alternative fuels. Leader: University College CorK (Ireland).
• M-ALGAEFINERY (New microscale design biorefinery: integrated 2nd and 3rd generation to maximize the efficiency of the process. Horizon 2020 - SPIRE-2014 Topic: SPIRE-02-2014. Leader Plataforma para o Desenvolvimento da Região Interior Centro – BLC3 (Portugal).
• RUMPELSTILSKIN – Waste 7- 2015. Recycling soilid waste from the olive oil industry: converting liabilities into assets. Coordinated by Democritus University of Thrace – Laboratory of Ecologycal Engeneering & Technology (Greece).
• AGRICARB – Waste 7 – 2015. Agricultural Waste for Green Carbon Products. Coordinated by University of York (GB).
• DARTS – Waste 7 – 2015. Development in Agricultural Refinery Technologies. Coordinated by the University of York (GB).
• UP-RUNNING – LCE 14 – 2015. Market uptake of existing and emerging sustainable bioenergy. Coordinated by CIRCE Foundation (Zaragoza, Spain).
• PHOENICS (Pyrolytic and Photocatalitic Environmentally Sustainable and Innovative Zero Waste Conception Sewage Sludge Treatment Plant). WATER INNOVATION: BOOSTING ITS VALUE FOR EUROPE 2015.
Other European project calls
• Intelligent Energy Europe, 2011. Upgrading the Market for Soilid Biofuels in European Regions (SolBi). Project proposal under the coordination of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).
• ENPI/CBC-Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme, 2012. Promotion of renewable energy use and improvement of energy efficiency contributing to addressing climate change mitigation. Project proposal under the coordination of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).
• An integrated approach for the treatment of emerging pollutants: solar photochemistry, membrane technologies and new adsorbing materials. Water JPI Pilot Call 01.11.2013 - 19.12.2013 13:00. Leader Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica UPV-CSIC (Spain)(Consortium Integraqua).
Target C Support the R&D potential by upgrading the research facilities
A relevant project activity was to enrich the UFG research equipment. This target, it is worth to highlight, is not related to an equipment improvement but to the creation (“ex novo”) of an entire and very new “Facility Centre” on biomass, bio-energy and biomaterials. It was one of the greatest achievements of the STAR project, largely contrasted by a long series of bureaucratic procedures and time-consuming administrative “routines”. Notwithstanding this huge amount of constraints and difficulties, the STAR Unit succeeded in completing the target, although with approximately one year of delay. Starting from the end of 2013 the full and comprehensive availability of all the installed equipment was gained and the Centre was opened.
The “Facility Centre” is a well specialized lab and a technological platform (made of three different pilot plants) located in the industrial area of Foggia and is able to effectively support research as well as external consultancy services.
As far as we know, we can objectively report that, nowadays, the STAR Facility Centre is one of the best-equipped laboratories in Italy focused on the characterization of biomass. We have the chance, in this way, to compete effectively with the few renowned labs having a strong tradition and accreditation. The not negligible advantage is the availability of a completely new and upgraded equipment that offers the best opportunity for a comprehensive set of analysis.
It was very clear, just from the beginning of the Facility functioning, that the equipment greatly enhance the scientific capacity of the research team and its attraction with respect to other research teams, specifically considering the partnerships into scientific consortium and project proposals.
Action 7 – A dedicated biomass and biomaterial “Facility Centre”
The STAR*Unit has one laboratory (130 sq. m) and an open space technological platform (380 sq. m), situated in the Industrial Area of Foggia (“Incoronata” S.S: 16, km 687), inside an industrial infrastructure that belongs to the company “Bonassisa Lab”.
A contract provides the availability of the premises for a period of ten years. A very good collaboration was established with “Bonassisa Lab”, the owner of the building, that is hosting the STAR*Facility Centre. Considering that Bonassisa is a well-known laboratory specialized in food analysis and certification, a sort of complementarity with STAR was established, with respect to both the supply of services and research activities. No competition and a strong collaboration is the perfect outcome of this complementarity.
The following pilot plants are permanently allocated “en plain air” to constitute the ”STAR*Technological Platform”:
• An Anaerobic Digester Plant. The plant is able to treat mixtures from different feedstock and organic matrices. The total solid content of the material to be treated can be higher than 20%. In particular the plant is able to treat, for instance: slurry from zoo-technical use, organic fraction of municipal solid waste, agro-industrial wastes and sewage sludge as well as dedicated biomass.
• A Pyrolysis/Gasification Plant. The plant is able to use ligno-cellulosic biomasses such as pellet, chopped material or wood chips; the feedstock to be supplied to the plant should be homogenous in size and volume, not lower than 1 cm3. The minimum biomass flow rate must be 10 kg/h; the moisture content should not exceed 20% and the ashes content 15%. The structure of the installed equipment allows carrying out pyro gasification tests from biomass samples that will be treated inside a combustion chamber in order to obtain both syngas (the main energy product) and biochar (a co-product) which will be recovered. The plant is set up for an outdoor use and is equipped with at least the following items: Loading System, Pyrolysis Reactor, Syngas Combustion Boiler, Stirling or thermoelectric Engine, Unloading System, Heat Recovery System, Emergency Heat Sink, Control Board.
• A Photobioreactors Plant for microalgae cultivation. The microalgae pilot plant includes three different kinds of photobioreactors in order to test three different technologies for microalgae cultivation: a column photobioreactor (or inoculum columns), a tubular photobioreactor and a “race-way” reactor.
The STAR*Lab is specifically aimed to characterize biomass and biomaterials, organic waste and sludge, residues and agro-food by-products. It is a completely equipped laboratory with the mains instruments as follows:
• Gas Chromatograph coupled with a Mass Spectrometer (GC-MSn);
• High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) coupled with an auto-sampling and two detectors (Diode Array and Refractive Index Detector).
• Micro Gas Chromatograph (μGC). It will be used for quali/quantitative analysis of syngas and biogas produced by pyrolysis/gasification pilot plants and anaeorobic digestion pilot plant.
• Sulfur Module will implement a CHN Analyzer
• Ash Melting Analyzer
• Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIR).
• Spectrophotometer UV-VIS coupled with an optic fiber.
• MicroWave Extractor.
• Set of anaerobic fermenters (test batch):
• Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA).
• Fiber Analyzer.
• Soxtec.
• Calorimeter.
• Inductively coupled plasma (ICP).
The lab equipment is now complete, fully adapted for biomass characterization and functioning. All the instruments and pilot plants are new and in very good conditions. Other instruments and small demonstration plants can be installed to enlarge the potential research and consulting activities and to significantly enrich the STAR*Facility Centre in the following years. Such investments might result from future research and development projects and, for the most part, have been planned already. Some of the planned equipment is related to new and innovative technologies that we would like to test and calibrate (such as hydro-thermal carbonization; microwave and ultrasound systems; etc.). Differently, other equipment is mostly useful in permitting the technical integration (or industrial “hybridization” or “symbiosis”) among the different kind of technologies already available in the open platform of the STAR*Facility Centre. This objective of technical integration is the most relevant technological advancement we are trying to transfer to our industrial partners and will significantly contribute to the characterization of our research activities in the following years. Specific equipment to establish an effective interchange of material and energy flows from one plant to another is needed, and a large part of innovative research is “hidden” in this kind of devises that should be properly tuned according to the typology of feedstock used, the pre-treatments applied and the specific characteristics of the end-product is expected to be obtained.
Action 8 – Planning a “spin-off” company
The “STAR*Facility Centre” is completely devoted to bio-energy and bio-based productive processes. One qualifying task of the Centre is to offer demonstration and advisory service to those entrepreneurs in need of designing feedstock supply and conversion systems for bioenergy and/or biomaterial production, giving consultancy for economically optimizing the design of the production/conversion systems and the logistics of the agro-energy value chain. This kind of initiative is considered of great relevance in the opinion of industrial and farmer unions as well as bank and credit institutions.
The set-up of a “facility centre” allows performing research evaluations and scientific trials, technology transfers, services to companies and acts as a two-way tool for development. On one hand, it enhances the STAR*Unit research potential in connection with the European Research Area (ERA) and, on the other hand, it offers advice and consultancy to farmers, entrepreneurs, public officers, policy makers, nature conservationists.
The STAR*Research Unit intends to use the “Facility Centre” as an enterprise incubator, whose activity may be targeted to assist start-up businesses while part of it will be dedicated to biomass characterization and quality certification.
Technology transfer and consultancy
The STAR*Facility Centre is now able to extend its services from research to technological innovation and industrial development. The Centre's activities are covering a wide range of services, focusing on the characterization of biomass and biomaterials for the purpose of identify the best techniques to enhance their productive value. The STAR*lab performs the most comprehensive analytical determinations: chemical and physical analysis on biofuels (solid, liquid and gaseous), biochemical and biological analysis of biomass or residual waste, up to the molecular characterization of high-added value compounds extractable from biomass and by-products. On the other hand, the STAR*technology platform allows the realization of pilot productive models able to evaluate and calibrate technological systems equivalent to biorefineries.
The large number of researchers, their highly qualified technical and scientific skill, the systemic approach assigned to complex tasks and, as a whole, the capacity to intercept companies’ innovation needs, are factors able to strengthen the links with industrial companies, farms, associations, productive and technological districts, to promote a balanced socio-economic development and stimulate the regional expansion of bioeconomy.
The STAR*Unit proved to be an effective multidisciplinary research group favouring conditions to test different integration models of productive processes. Through this multidisciplinary research approach STAR offers technological services and consultancy to companies, training activities on issues generally referred to bioeconomy and, in particular:
• Biological processes of anaerobic digestion; characterization of organic matrices from waste, by-products or dedicated crops; assessment of the methane potentials; yields optimization in biogas and biomethane; analysis of the digestate, agronomic plans of digestate utilization; recycle and reuse of wastes, residues and digestate by composting.
• Processes of cultivation of micro and macro-algae and industrial utilization of their extracts; technological cultivation solutions, characterization and optimization of their growth conditions according to environmental constraints and required inputs; evaluation of potential yield through pilot plants; algae strains collection and screening.
• Thermochemical processes of biomass conversion (pyrolysis and gasification), syngas and biochar production; agronomic use of biochar in interaction with soil properties and carbon sequestration.
• “Green chemistry", biomass fractionation, high added value compounds extraction, purification and characterization (to be used in industry, in food, in animal feed, agriculture, according to the biorefinery approach); processes of industrial symbiosis ("cascading") and productive integration to improve the resource use efficiency.
• Environmental performance of agro-energy supply chains through "life cycle assessment", "carbon footprint", sustainability criteria applied to agro-ecological and environmental performance of agro-biorefinery supply chains.
• Cultivation of alternative biomass crops according to models of "low fossil carbon agriculture"; energy balance and greenhouse gases accounting procedures; agricultural management to save energy and mitigate climate change; analysis of agricultural systems and performances through simulation models.
• GIS procedures applied to land use planning, with special reference to changes in land use; the transforming dynamics of agricultural landscape; agricultural ecology and landscape ecology; energy and energy-environmental planning, biomass supply plans, logistic plan to collect, transport and storage agricultural dispersed biomass; agrorefinery platform designing.
The STAR*Facility Centre is economically independent and completely financed through two different sources: one is money allocated by running research projects; the other is funding supplied by the sales of services, such as analytical tests and consulting activities.
During the initial part of STAR project (2012-2013) the STAR*Facility Centre was still under construction and no external services to companies were possible; on the contrary, today and in the forthcoming years (2015-2017) these kind of activities will increase significantly and a good fraction of the total STAR budget could be diverted from it. In the medium term (2018-2020), hopefully, the majority of the budget should be expected to come from the lab analysis, plant testing and consultancy. If this will be the case, a real “start-up” company could be set up, which will exist as a separate entity from the University.
To target the long term sustainability of STAR initiatives, far beyond the project end, the idea is to found a “spin-off” company, stirred by UFG, able to promptly answer to specific needs of companies and farmers, for example in order to characterize feedstock types, certifying their origins and their fuel category or calibrate the technical operation of different conversion pathways. The STAR Research Unit intends to promote the “Facility Centre” as an enterprise, whose activity may be targeted to assist small firms (SMEs) while part of it will be dedicated to “biomass characterization and quality certification”.
The development of a University "spin off" company, although particularly attractive, has been postponed for a couple of years. This decision follows the need to strengthen the financial status and assets related to the STAR counselling and technological transfer activities, in order to be strong enough and well prepared for a process of gradual separation from the University of Foggia, getting an autonomous legal entity.
Potential Impact:
Target D Improve the research impact, research visibility and acknowledgment from stakeholders
The present target was associated with stakeholders' relationships and the need to contribute to socio-economic development, at local and regional level, through well-directed research activities and technology transfer.
Discussion about the economic development based on small firms (exactly the case of the Apulia region) has showed that the success of an industrial district is mainly based on the capability of firms to operate as a system and to generate a “network” or a “cluster”. A primary network is the one between small innovative firms and local sources of scientific knowledge, as Universities and research centres. This relationship allows small firms to build up the technological ambience that sustains their innovative capability and to renew their own skills.
We strongly believe that the creation of a company Consortium, chaired by the University together with a variety of private entities specialized in different kind of business but homogeneous in vision and complementary in their missions, can deploy a very effective strength in promoting social development.
On this respect, the STAR strategic choice can be synthetized into two different initiatives:
1. Creation of an university spin-off to boost technological transfer and share scientific know-how. As it was previously discussed (Action 7 and 8), the establishment of a “STAR Biomass and Biomaterials Facility Centre” should function as a specialized laboratory on biomass characterization and an experimental station to operate with small pilot plants on energy conversion processes.
2. Creation of a Company Consortium (EDEN) in order to promote and facilitate technological implementation among the associated firms and to function as “business incubator” with respect to the local district where the university operates.
Action 9 – Links with socio-economic environment and partnership with economic players
Considering the previous point 2, STAR has created the EDEN Consortium (acronym that stands for: Energy Demonstration and Education Network). The EDEN Consortium (chaired by STAR-UFG) has developed an Exhibition and Demonstration Centre on “Renewable Energy” that is funded by a regional budget. The Centre is placed within a “business incubator” that is managed by the Local Action Group ”Meridaunia” based in a large building in Candela, close to Foggia. The idea is to promote an “Eco-Industrial & Energy Cluster”. A “cluster” can be interpreted as a geographic concentration of interconnected companies in a specialized field that cooperate with each other and with local community to efficiently share resources (materials, energy, water, infrastructure, information, finance, etc.) leading to improved environmental quality, economic gains, and equitable enhancement of human resources for both the business and local community.
STAR has promoted EDEN as a long-lasting structures to support technology transfer and the implementation of know-how into business.
According to this overall vision, two different but complementary initiatives have been launched: the creation of a university spin-off (“Biomass and Biomaterials Facility Centre”) and the foundation of a company consortium (EDEN).
1. The “STAR*Facility Centre”, as a University spin-off, is mainly finalized to “technology transfer”, considering the close relationships with the European research community via the good position and credibility reached by the STAR Interdisciplinary Research Unit.
2. On the other side, but in a very complementary fashion, the EDEN Consortium is promoting business with the direct involvement of the University, in order to stimulate directly the economic growth, to favour new job placement, enlarging the possibility to capture public funding and generate opportunity for sustainable development. In this frame, training and higher professional education cover a very relevant role, considering the strong links with local companies.
In conclusion, one major strength of the overall action implemented with STAR is the high level of integration between the two most important drivers of S&T innovation: “Research Community” and “Local Stakeholders”, respectively. The set-up of an “Interdisciplinary Research Team” within UFG, open to collaborations and able to disseminate knowhow and expertise, could act as a gear mechanism to promote local development.
Action 10 – Professional meetings and “open days”
The type of event organized within this specific action is the Forum. A Forum is a large meeting aimed to inform stakeholders and to improve the mutual understanding and interaction between academicians and the societal and economic actors. A forum is mainly focused on specific topics related to biomass production, energy conversion processes, biomass technological pathways, biomass supply and logistics. The participation of national and international experts was relevant and assigned to these events large consensus and participation. This action should be considered highly positive.
“Fora” organized in the frame of the STAR project
• 1° FORUM - December 2011
Title: Launching of the EDEN Consortium.
Speakers: 6. Attenders: 54
• 2° FORUM - December 2012.
Title: Territorial Policies and AgroEnergy Districts: possible and reliable model
Speakers: 11; Attenders: 140
• 3° FORUM - May 2013
Title: Biogas and Biomethane for the agricultural areas of Mediterranean
Speakers: 7; Attenders: 300
• 4° FORUM - December 2013
Title: Local Agroenergy Districts: from Theory to Practice
Speakers: 5; Attenders: 170
• 5° FORUM - May 2014
Title: Valorization of agro-forestry residues for the Mediterranean areas
Speakers: 6; Attenders: 70
• 6° FORUM - December 2014
Title: Green jobs: tuning the educational needs
Speakers: 5; Attenders: 110
For further information about the “Fora”, please see the STAR project website (dissemination page):
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/project/dissemination-promotion.html
Action 11 – Partnerships and promotional activities
A very crucial goal, largely influential for the success of the project, was to establish a long-term university/industry partnership based on mutual interest and trust. Such links was progressively translated into collaborative and contract research on jointly agreed subjects.
On this respect, the setup of the so-called "Stakeholders’ Network", proved to be a very useful tool, an extremely effective approach to get in tune with almost the whole players of the bioenergy and bioeconomy sector.
The following text is extracted from the “Memorandum of Understanding” signed by the main organizations, companies and local institutions participating to the Second STAR Forum in Foggia, on 5 December 20212.
<< The reason of a Forum and for what it might be useful. The Forum organization is not a sporadic event; through the creation of a " stakeholders' network", we would like to accompany the debate on biomass, favourably orient the development of this bioenergy sector, facilitate the unravelling of specific issues considered crucial, critically judging obstacles, limitations and weaknesses. In this way, a virtuous circle is generated and a useful approach is promoted, to share solution to urgent and relevant problems, having full awareness of the complexity of the issues under confrontation. A participatory approach is needed to take these decisions (for example, similarly to the Agenda 21 process), to reach the common vision, overcome the dependence on fossil fuels and establish a new energy system based on energy saving and renewable sources. A rigorous scientific and technological track is also essential in order to discriminate efficient and useful solutions>>.
[...]
The Forum activities (“Stakeholders’ Network”)
The Forum exerts a useful function on many different issues; some of them have been listed below:
• Spreading culture and awareness about the structure of agroenergy supply chains, its technologies and territorial organization, as well as the resulting socio-economic impacts.
• Promoting a progressive convergence on criteria of environmental assessment and technical optimization of agroenergy, taking into serious consideration the criticisms raised by a part of the public opinion, and working according to a transparent and inclusive approach, which aims to encourage dialogue and participation.
• Dealing with criteria of regional energy planning, to define energy basins with a specific agroenergy vocation (based on the nature, density, suitability for conversion of locally supplied biomass) and, correspondingly, to identify agroenergy districts with proper infrastructures serving energy and biomaterials production, and promoting the development of bioeconomy.
• Contributing to overcome "non-technical" constraints that hinder investments in the sector. Very often, these constraints can be related to cumbersome administrative procedures, permitting authorizations to construct and operate the plants. Frequently it happens in small towns, with small size companies, cooperatives or associations, primarily concerned with the construction of small capacity plants.
• Spreading knowledge and technological innovation, identifying new and more reliable processes of energy conversion and biomass valorisation for the benefit of the industry.
• Jointly assess the positions that the Forum should assume with respect to regulations and norms, standards and best practices, showing ability to dialogue with all stakeholders, especially with the institutions upon which the government of the sector depends.
For further information about the “Stakeholders’ Network”, please see the STAR project website:
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/territorial-policies-and-agroenergy-districts.html
STAR is currently working with approximately 15 different companies, carrying out consultancy activity under contract. The companies that asked for the scientific and technical support of the STAR Unit belongs to the following categories:
• Large farms or farmers organizations.
• Private companies operating in the integrated waste management sector.
• Private companies producing “compost”.
• Regional administrations (District of Agriculture, District of Environmental Policy).
• Companies involved in the construction or management of biomass power plants.
• Companies producing and selling plant materials (seeds, seedlings, cuttings) useful to cultivate dedicated energy crops.
• Mechanical company that build biomass plants, installations or systems; company building specific machines to harvest, collect crop residues, pruning or other by-products; equipment for biomass pre-treatment, conditioning, drying, pulping, pelleting, etc.
SWOT Analysis on STAR future development
In order to obtain a complementary view of the research potential of the STAR*Integrated Research Unit, a SWOT analysis has been conducted with three groups of people, having different degrees of involvement:
- Group A: researchers directly involved in the project, either permanent staff or recruited;
- Group B: researchers of the University of Foggia who are not directly involved in the project, but are informed and aware of the activities undertaken by the STAR*AgroEnergy group;
- Group C: non-academic people, participating to public fora organized by the STAR*Unit (attending at least 3 events).
The survey was conducted by inviting all people to fill-in a check-boxes questionnaire available online. The questionnaire was anonymous. A series of options were provided to the respondents, and they were asked to select up to 5 of them. The results are based on the number of preferences registered for each item.
Strengths
A great degree of convergence has been attracted by three items:
• Multi- and inter-disciplinary team composition;
• Coupling technical research with socio-economic/sustainability;
• Working on innovative research topics.
“Interdisciplinarity” and “innovation” are the two relevant keywords which summarize the strengths of the initiative. Interdisciplinary provides the ability to deal with the complexity of problems and the capacity to deal either with technical issues (i.e. efficiency of conversion processes) and sustainability (i.e. reduction of exhaustible resources, CO2 emissions, social acceptance). The interdisciplinarity should guarantee a positive environment to develop innovative solutions to real problems. In particular, the strengths seem to suggest a high propensity to challenge real problems affecting SMEs (mostly from the technological perspective) and public administration (mostly for the assistance in the settings of regulations and policies).
Weaknesses
The majority of respondents selected three items:
• Team’s employment time horizon limited by the project;
• Public administration bureaucratic effects delaying actions;
• End of the three-year project affecting research financing.
These items are characterized by the low self-confidence in facing the uncertainty related with the procurement of new funding sources and the obstacles in the public administration.
Both of them could be strongly related with the current financial crisis, acting in two different ways. On the one hand, the curtailment of national funds for research (e.g. PRIN and FIRB no longer financed by the Italian Ministry of Education and University) limiting the collaboration with other national research groups to whom the University of Foggia always had a close relationship (e.g. University of Bari, and National Research Council). On the other hand, the reorganization of several administration bodies (including the internal administration of the University of Foggia) might cause a dramatic loss of competences, experience and expertise, which had been accumulated in the last years. It seems that everything should be rebuild from the beginning. This is also related with the end of the 7th EU Framework programme, and the enforcement of the Horizon 2020 programme.
Opportunities
A comparison among the perception between academic and non-academic people was performed, in order to get a more objective perception of new challenges for the near future.
In this case, respondents mostly preferred three items:
• Favorable development at EU level, e.g. new regional and innovation policies;
• Further growth of environmental concerns, with attention to “green” solutions;
• Symbiotic effects from education and training, e.g. new Master and Erasmus actions.
The first is related to an optimistic view of the EU role in the promotion of initiatives aimed at research and innovation. The second is related to the positive trend of business dealing with the creation of more eco-friendly goods that could be coherent with the bio-economy. The third seems more related to the role of the University, in the creation of human capital, which could be employed in the biobased economy.
Threats
The following 4 items have attracted the highest consensus:
• Financial difficulties for supporting research and innovation;
• Weak or negative social acceptance by stakeholders and society;
• Unfavorable development at national level, i.e. prolongation of present crisis;
• Unfavorable development at the local level, e.g. lack of related initiatives by actors.
As expected, there is a strong concern towards the difficulties derived from the financial crisis. However, there are other fears related to the lack of participation and cooperation among stakeholders. The local communities may obstruct the innovation process, since they are afraid of new possible sources of pollution or environmental burdens, but also the lack of cooperation among stakeholders may impede the development of innovative niches.
Future perspective
To conclude the SWOT analysis, a final question was made to all respondents, regarding their expectations towards the STAR*AgroEnergy Research Unit. Here, some evident differences emerged among the three groups. In fact, academic members (groups A and B) foresee an active role of the group “To strengthen research in order to offer technical solutions for local and EU challenges”; in other words, an active role to promote research and innovation in the EU context.
However, members of groups B and C emphasized the role of the research group “To create a strong network at international level, to promote research and business opportunities”, that is, a more emphasis on the role to facilitate the internationalization process, either for academic and firms.
General conclusions from the independent expert evaluation appointed by the EU Commission
The project has demonstrated strengths such as the building of the STAR Facility which is quite unique in the multidisciplinary approach as well as in the integration of different technologies. The research team has excellent capability on the interaction and mobilization of industry and local stakeholders. The credibility and performance of the STAR Unit team is demonstrated through the success of the REGPOT project.
As established now, there is a high potential to contribute to innovation and job creation using the regional resources and turn them in to innovative products in terms of energy, CO2 balance or bioremediation, improving local bio-economy.
The main concern of the reviewers at this point is related to the sustainability of the achievements especially for the STAR Facility personnel and maintenance. Activities have been done to solve this bottleneck, by project applications, setting up a master’s programme and the supply of the external services, whose price has already been defined in accordance with the current market. In terms of personnel and qualified output the ideal situation of maximum 20 researchers and 3 to 5 technicians should be achieved. Half of the funds should be coming from permanent sources. Outreach activities are also excellent as shown by participating in local fairs as well as through collaboration with high schools through the EDEN initiative. Dissemination in terms of promoting the STAR Facility as an excellent opportunity for local development and job creation is needed as well as keeping the international lobbying to be considered as excellent partners for EU projects.
The next coming year is absolutely critical for the future development of the STAR Unit, a big EU investment has been done in infrastructure, but funds are needed for sustainability and launching of the STAR Facility potential at full speed. It is suggested that the guarantee funds retained by the Commission from the original project budget should be fully dedicated to Research activities linked with the STAR Unit. It is expected that the UFG would create a dedicated research fund accordingly to guarantee the sustainability and long term success and return of the investment. The potential for impact in local development and permanent job creations is very high.
List of Websites:
Public website address:
http://www.star-agroenergy.eu/
WP Leaders' mail addresses:
WP1: massimo.monteleone@unifg.it
WP2: edgardo.sica@unifg.it
WP3: matteo.francavilla@unifg.it
WP4: mariarosaria.lombardi@unifg.it
WP5: maurizio.prosperi@unifg.it
