Bio-based strategies and roadmaps for enhanced rural and regional development in the EU

Project Information

BE-Rural

Grant agreement ID: 818478

DOI

10.3030/818478

Project closed

EC signature date 16 April 2019

Start date 1 April 2019

End date 31 July 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy

Total cost

€ 2 996 288,75

EU contribution

€ 2 996 288,75

Coordinated by

ECOLOGIC INSTITUT GEMEINNUTZIGE GMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - BE-Rural (Bio-based strategies and roadmaps for enhanced rural and regional development in the EU)

Reporting period: 2020-10-01 to 2022-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

This transition towards a new, bio-based regional economy requires the active involvement of a broad spectrum of stakeholders and the sustainable use of agricultural, forest and marine ecosystems. Building on this idea, BE-Rural explored the potential of regional and local bio-based economies and support the development of bioeconomy strategies, roadmaps and business models. Specifically, the project had the following objectives:
• To support modest and moderate innovator countries in the development of regional bioeconomy strategies and roadmaps.
• To increase awareness, education and understanding of the bioeconomy, its potentials and impacts among regional actors by considering stakeholders’ and citizens’ needs and concerns.
• To mobilize engagement among regional stakeholders and citizens in view of the development of inclusive and balanced bioeconomy strategies and roadmaps.
• To build capacity among regional stakeholders regarding the assessment of innovative bio-based business models and their potential impacts, the fostering of R&I capacities, the design of a supportive policy framework, and effective utilization of available funding streams.
• To explore small-scale business models and their market potentials suitable for realising bio-based innovations across different bioeconomy sectors.
• To identify and disseminate good practices and facilitate knowledge sharing across European regions.
• To generate new knowledge on the effective development of regional bioeconomy strategies and roadmaps and to make that knowledge available for uptake in policy processes in other regions across Europe.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

WP1 (Project Coordination & Management): The project office at ECO has efficiently managed the project. Project meetings have taken place as planned in the Description of Action (DoA) and monthly coordination calls with all project partners have been organised. In addition, ECO provided specific guidance to the OIP facilitators regarding the implementation of the regional stakeholder processes.

WP2 (Regional Potentials & Business Models): Sustainable technology options and good practice business models, which are suitable for local deployment, were identified, described and analysed by WIP. Their local suitability was ensured as local partners from the OIP regions were consulted for advice in the selection process. WIP authored an easy to understand handbook on local and regional bioeconomies, which was translated into all target country languages. The policy frameworks and the biomass potentials of the OIP regions were analysed by ECO and WIP, respectively, in close collaboration with the OIP facilitators.

WP3 (Education, Awareness & Engagement): STRATH has compiled educational resources on bioeconomy, circular economy and sustainability in a report on materials for educational events in schools, colleges and universities. In addition, a teachers' summer school on bioeconomy & sustainability has been organised. Three physical and two virtual bio-based pop-up stores were organised by BIOCOM and the respective regional partners. The exhibition introduced the BE-Rural project, showcased sustainable bio-based products and gave insights on how bioeconomy innovations can contribute to the achievement of selected UN Sustainable Development Goals.

WP4 (Knowledge Exchange & Capacity Building): IPE facilitated knowledge exchange across European regions through the organisation of three webinars and two face-to-face workshop with regional stakeholders. Supported by STRATH, a series of regional knowledge-exchange and capacity-building seminars has been organised by the OIP facilitators. In addition, an international R&I capacity-building workshop has been organised by STRATH. Finally, the BE-Rural Network of Knowledge has been established.

WP5 (Regional Strategies & Roadmaps): On the basis of comprehensive stakeholder mapping exercise, stakeholders have been invited to join BE-Rural’s regional Stakeholder Working Groups, which met regularly to discuss the way forward regarding the development of concrete strategy/roadmap documents in the five OIP regions. Facilitated by the regional project partners, five regional bioeconomy strategies/roadmaps have been developed in a participatory manner. Coordinated by ECO and using the BRIGAID Market Analysis Framework, small-scale business models for five bio-based ideas have been developed. Finally, a concept for the development of a sustainability screening for regional bioeconomy strategies has been developed and applied by ECO in two case studies.

WP6 (Dissemination, Communication & Exploitation): A prioritisation of the project results/outputs, based on their potential to target specific audiences, took place as part of the communication, dissemination and exploitation strategy, which was developed by BIOCOM. Following this selection of project outputs, key messages, communication channels and measures, and windows of opportunity were identified. Based on the strategy document, a project brand identity was designed, including a project logo and theme.

WP7 (Ethics Requirements): The project office at ECO ensured that all project activities complied with the ethics provisions set out in applicable international, EU and national law and submitted two dedicated deliverables outlining the ‘ethics requirements’ that the project had to comply with

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

BE-Rural recognized that due to the Covid-19 crisis there was a window of opportunity for regions to make a fresh start towards more sustainable and resilient society, economy and environment and that there is a role here for the bioeconomy to play. As such, BE-Rural’s mid-term conference, initially planned as a regional exchange on bioeconomy strategy development, was designed around the topic of how the bioeconomy can leverage the reactivation of regional economies. In addition, BE-Rural saw the Covid-19 pandemic and related restrictions as an opportunity for additional capacity building among regional stakeholders and provided comprehensive training for the use of online tools, which was perceived by many stakeholders as highly beneficial for their future work
BE-Rural reached out to more than 200 regional/local policy-makers and stakeholders by organising formal and informal meetings and KE&CB seminars. Apart from that, BE-Rural organised five physical and virtual pop-up stores. Building on the lessons learnt from the predecessor project BioSTEP - namely that showcasing bio-based products is not sufficient for engaging with visitors in an informative dialogue - the team organised tasting events under the title ‘Eat the bioeconomy’ and engaged with the visitors in an open dialogue on the bioeconomy. Moreover, BE-Rural collected feedback from participants on their vision for the development of their region. The aim was to integrate citizens’ feedback into the regional strategies and to ensure that the regional strategies will contribute to broader societal goals.
Many ongoing initiatives dealing with the monitoring and understanding of the bioeconomy's effects on the ecosystems are lacking a regional focus. To contribute towards filling this gap, BE-Rural has developed and piloted a new framework to help decision-makers consider ecological limits when drafting regional bioeconomy strategies and roadmaps, and with this to contribute to Priority 3 of EU Bioeconomy Strategy: "Understand the ecological boundaries of the bioeconomy".

BE-Rural Conceptual Framework