Becoming a part of the pioneering project to support circular bioeconomy business models.
The first open call for the project will finance initiatives to validate innovative biological products with up to €50,000.
BioHubCat, the one-stop shop dedicated to facilitating the generation of economic value from renewable organic resources in Catalonia, has formally joined PRIMED, the European project dedicated to developing of circular bioeconomy business models led by the Ruhr University Bochum in Germany.
The role of BioHubCat will consist in advising the participants of four European nations – Finland, Ireland, Italy and Portugal – to build strategic agreements and governance mechanisms to promote the sector, replicating the path taken in Catalonia in an initiative that is deemed of reference throughout the continent. The project also foresees actions in Catalonia to consolidate the bioeconomy action of the Shared Agenda for the Economic Transformation of the Lands of Lleida, Pyrenees and Aran, the fifth participating area. It is precisely this Shared Agenda that serves as a methodological model, a fact that was warmly welcomed by the project’s evaluators. Thus, Catalonia takes another step on the way to leading collective action to promote the bioeconomy.
Ambitious goals
The PRIMED project formally started on 1 January 2024 and will last until 31 December 2026. BioHubCat’s general coordinator, Víctor Falguera, explained that the learning acquired in Lleida (and which is being replicated in other areas of Catalonia thanks to the Smart Specialisation Strategy, RIS3CAT 2030) serves as a practical basis for the other four regions, with the idea of accelerating the growth of the bioeconomy through agreements between companies, administrations, research organisations and representatives to encourage innovation around “living laboratories”. The PRIMED project also encourages collaborations between multiple stakeholders from the different regions, since working method requires the involvement not only the project partners but all the key players in each territory.
This part of the project aims to achieve the following objectives in each of the regions:
- Identification and involvement of actors and interested parties, and creation of an initial promoter group.
- Enhancing cooperation between primary producers and other key actors to foster collaboration, networking and encourage stakeholder participation.
- Creation and real commitment in the creation of agreements between the entities of a territory in the fulfilment of common objectives to enhance the economy based on local renewable resources.
Call to action underway
The PRIMED project has opened the first of the two calls it will include to finance projects that validate support technologies for the priority value chains in each of the regions.
Interested users and companies can apply for up to €50,000 in funding and support, provided by the European Commission, until 30 September.