The ambition of the AER Working Group on the Bioeconomy is to facilitate exchanges among European regions to share challenges and opportunities and prepare for future partnerships and projects. In this context, the AER Secretariat mapped a series of resources to help policymakers navigate the abundance of online resources and information.

Knowledge for policymaking

Various types of knowledge may be useful at the different stages of policymaking, depending on needs and purpose. The below resources encompass policy briefs, reports, interactive tools and peer review services to tackle policy challenges.

The AER Working Group itself will organise a workshop on “Changing perspectives on resources for a sustainable bioeconomy” on the occasion of the AER General Assembly in Ajara.

Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform

The Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform aims to facilitate targeted exchanges between European regional policymakers and provides access to thematic expertise. The following two policy briefs could be particularly relevant to regional policymakers:

• Sustainable and circular construction: an overview of EU initiatives to inspire local and regional authorities and showcase practical examples of stimulating the transition to a circular and sustainable building sector
• Biowaste challenge: an outlook on EU initiatives that local and regional authorities should refer to for boosting their biowaste collection, prevention and recycling rates in compliance with the EU Directives and to the benefit of a local circular economy, with a series of replicable good practices.

The Interreg Europe peer reviews are a service for public bodies responsible for local or regional development policies. They are organised as a two-day meeting with international experts to resolve a policy challenge with selected peers and experts. The objective is to give advice, recommendations and an action plan to resolve the policy challenge. Practical information about the application process, testimonies of beneficiaries, and peer review reports are available on the Interreg Europe peer reviews webpage.

EC Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy

Knowledge4Policy (K4P) is the EU Commission’s platform for evidence-based policymaking. The goal is to bridge the science-policy gap by bringing together evidence for policy from scientists across Europe to policymakers across Europe. The Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy provides access to available evidence tailored to the needs of policymakers. For instance:

• The Bioeconomy country dashboard provides an interactive map with data at the national and regional level about strategies, specific sectors, bioeconomics, initiatives…

• Exploring foresight scenarios for the EU bioeconomy: Conclusions from a series of workshops using a scientific game and foresight tool called the Scenario Exploration System, which gathered policy makers, primary producers, consumers and businesses, tasking them with imagining the bioeconomy of the future.
• Brief on the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate environmental impacts of the bioeconomy: Looking at the impacts of a system’s life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials to waste management, helps monitor and predict the environmental impacts of the bioeconomy to ensure that it operates within safe ecological limits.

OECD iLibrary

Policymakers interested in having further information on topics such as the digitalisation in the bio-based industry, carbon management, innovation ecosystems, agriculture and food systems, may find the OECD iLibrary useful to inform their policy processes.

• Carbon Management: Bioeconomy and Beyond: this report focuses on relieving pressures on land from agriculture and forestry by enlarging the bioeconomy to include alternative sources of bio-based carbon to complement biomass. In climate policy, most attention and resources has gone into energy and transportation, while much less attention has been given to industry. Yet, reaching net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 requires the action of all countries and all sectors.

Other tools and resources

The below resources are examples of tools aggregated on the MainstreamBIO Horizon Europe project website:

• Bioeconomy Strategy Accelerator Toolkit: an online platform for guiding decision-makers and stakeholders to develop their regional bioeconomy strategies
• Go-GRASS training resources to implement circular grass-based business models in a region: starter manual, online decision support tool, business plan writer
• Best Practice Guidelines to design an Integrated Biomass Logistics Centre to help different sectors, such as the feed, grain, olive oil, sugar, vegetable seeds and wine sectors, to implement this concept
• The Rural toolkit is the go-to guide to EU funding and support opportunities for rural areas in the European Union. It aims to help local authorities, institutions and stakeholders, businesses and individuals to identify and take advantage of existing EU funds, programmes and other funding and support initiatives, and to foster development in rural territories.
• System Change: A Guidebook for Adopting Portfolio Approaches (UNDP): because a sustainable bioeconomy requires a holistic approach and different ways of collaborating between stakeholders, it is useful to integrate innovative change management methodologies in any policymaker’s set of tools

Open calls for projects

The following open calls may be of interest to AER members who wish to develop the bioeconomy sector in their region:

• Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON): Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (HORIZON-JU-CBE-2024). Deadline is 18 September
  Examples of topics:
  • Bio-based value chains for valorisation of sustainable oil crops
  • Bio-based value chains for valorisation of sustainable natural fibre feedstock
  • Sustainable microalgae as feedstock for innovative, added-value applications
  • Circular and SSbD bio-based construction & building materials with functional properties
  • Valorisation of polluted/contaminated wood from industrial and post-consumer waste streams
  • Innovative bio-based food/feed ingredients
  • New forms of cooperation in agriculture and the forest-based sector
  • Mobilise inclusive participation in bio-based systems and supporting the CBE JU widening strategy and its action plan

• Horizon Europe – Cluster 6: “Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment” Deadline is 8 october 2024
  Soil Mission calls for proposals include topics such as:
  • Living Labs in urban areas for healthy soils
  • Managing forest peatsoils
  • Soil health, pollinators and key ecosystem functions

• Transforming neighbourhoods, making them beautiful, sustainable, and inclusive (HORIZON-MISS-2024-NEB-01) call. Deadline for submissions is 19 September 2024.
  • Exploiting the potential of secondary bio-based products
  • New governance models for the co-design and co-construction of public spaces in neighbourhoods by communities
  • Setting up a New European Bauhaus hub for results and impact
    

About the AER working group on the bioeconomy

The AER working group on the bioeconomy gathers representatives from Värmland (SE), Gelderland (NL), Fribourg (CH), Donegal (IE), Údarás na Gaeltachta (IE), Adana (TR), Eastern Slovenia (SI), Lower Austria (AU), West Slovenia (SI), Dolj (RO), Tirana (AL), Umbria (IT), Valencia (ES).

The next workshop and study visit will take place on the occasion of the AER General Assembly in Ajara on “Changing perspectives on resources for a sustainable bioeconomy”. It will be an opportunity to discover regional policies and practices on the bioeconomy, discuss strategies and nominate a new Chair.

Photo by Ochir-Erdene Oyunmedeg sur Unsplash

This article was written by Nicola Miceli, who did an internship on Policy & Knowledge Transfer at the AER Secretariat from January 2024 to June 2024.