The low performance and visibility of knowledge-based agriculture, aquaculture and forestry in the bioeconomy in CEE regions is an issue which has been widely recognized. Policy makers know the background of the bioeconomy concept and global challenges such as climate change, land and ecosystem degradation, coupled with a growing demand for food, feed and energy. This forces authorities to seek new ways of producing and consuming. New solutions are expected with the development of bioeconomy. Yet there is a need to engage all relevant policy making institutions on the national level in bioeconomy development and to involve them in macro-regional bioeconomy networks.
The BIOEAST political initiative (Central And Eastern European Initiative For Knowledge-Based Agriculture, Aquaculture And Forestry In The Bioeconomy) was initiated by the Visegrad Group Countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, subsequently joined by Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Republic of Estonia, Romania, Slovenia.
BIOEASTsUP is an H2020 project which was implemented Oct 2019 – March 2023 to support the BIOEAST initiative, the BIOEAST Vision 2030 and its Action Plan for the transition of 11 Central and Eastern European (CEE) to bioeconomy. The main objectives were:
- triggering strategic thinking at governmental level and paving the way for development of national circular bioeconomy strategies;
- developing a macro-regional framework and a bioeconomy Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for the BIOEAST countries;
- facilitating evidence-based policy making by aggregating bioeconomy relevant statistical, quantitative and qualitative data;
- increasing the visibility of the bioeconomy within the quintuple helix in the BIOEAST region.
BIOEASTsUP mobilized the main actors of the bioeconomy macro-regional landscape. Policy documents have been elaborated, national policy makers and experts had been engaged in horizontal transnational peer discussion and internal evaluation process. The macro-regional SRIA has been developed in a bottom-up multi-actor approach, allowing current and future EU programs and calls to drill in the BIOEAST SRIA.
