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Research and innovation

Bioeconomy

Research and innovation on the bioeconomy, funding, collaboration and job opportunities, projects and results, events and news

Why the EU supports bioeconomy research and innovation

The bioeconomy means using renewable biological resources from land and sea, like crops, forests, fish, animals and micro-organisms to produce food, materials and energy.

Stronger development of the bioeconomy will help the EU accelerate progress towards a circular and low-carbon economy.

It will help modernise and strengthen the EU industrial base, creating new value chains and greener, more cost-effective industrial processes, while protecting biodiversity and the environment.

More about the EU's bioeconomy strategy and action plan

As action under the 2018 EU Bioeconomy Strategy, a study on bioeconomy education, training and skills has been launched in June 2021. The findings of this study will be published in Summer 2022.

Regional Innovation Valleys for Bioeconomy and Food Systems

In July 2022, the European Commission published the Communication “New European Innovation Agenda” (NEIA). The document presented five important flagships. Under Flagship 3 NEIA introduced the initiative of Regional Innovation Valleys (RIVs).

RIVs are crucial because value chains are evolving and initiatives, such as RIVs, can play a major role in helping to develop innovative solutions to contribute to the strategic sovereignty of Europe.

With the main objective of supporting NEIA, its priority areas and the RIVs, the Regional Innovation Valleys for Bioeconomy and Food Systems (RIV4BFS) arise, taking into account Bioeconomy principles. The RIV4BFS will contribute to the New European Innovation Agenda and its flagship action in building 100 regional deep-tech innovation valleys, and have significant potential to support and accelerate the deployment of the bioeconomy in regions where people live and work, and to address the innovation divide within the EU. They also address the innovation divide within the EU, with a particular attention to countries from Central and Eastern Europe.   

The concept of the Regional Innovation Valleys for Bioeconomy and Food Systems was developed by European Commission (EC) with input from Member States provided in a workshop at the European Bioeconomy Policy Forum in July 2023.  

Policy focus

Funding opportunities

Horizon Europe Cluster 6

Calls for proposal on bioeconomy-related themes in Horizon Europe and information on the work programme.

InnovFin

Loans and guarantees to innovative businesses for research and innovation activities.

European Investment Bank loans

Loans for projects in agriculture, forest-based, blue economy, waste management. Loans guaranteed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments for high-risk investment in production and processing of food, biobased materials and bioenergy.

European structural and investment funds

Bioeconomy research related calls can be found in national rural development programmes, European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, Cohesion Fund for renewable energy projects, European Regional Development Fund for smart specialisation.

Innovation Fund

Funding supporting the deployment of biobased solutions in carbon intensive sectors.

LIFE

The LIFE Programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment and climate action.

Projects and results

Horizon Magazine

Latest news, interviews and features about thought-provoking science and innovative research projects funded by the EU.

Horizon dashboard

Access to real-time programme data with the ability to filter by country, region, theme and more.

Horizon Results Platform

Platform where framework programme participants present their results for you to search, contact their owners, and form partnerships.

Collaboration and jobs

Global partnerships

International cooperation in bioeconomy research and innovation to help tackle global challenges.

BIOEAST

Initiative offering a shared strategic research and innovation framework for working towards sustainable bioeconomies in Central and Eastern European countries.

ERA CoBioTech

ERA-Net Cofund Action under Horizon 2020, which aims to strengthen the European Research Area (ERA) in the field of biotechnology.

Scientific publications, tools and databases

Knowledge centre for bioeconomy

Platform supporting policy making by bringing together knowledge on the bioeconomy from a wide range of scientific disciplines and sources.

EU Science Hub

an overview of the research performed by the JRC in 10 science areas

EU Open Data Portal

Single point of access to open data produced by the EU institutions - all data is free to use for commercial and non-commercial purposes.

OpenAIRE

You can access open scientific publications from Horizon 2020 via OpenAIRE.

EMODnet

Access to marine and maritime data in Europe.

Factsheet11 October 2023
Regional Innovation Valleys for Bioeconomy and Food Systems

 

Regional Innovation Valleys for Bioeconomy and Food Systems are a thematic use case in support of the “New European Innovation Agenda” (NEIA) and its flagship initiative, “Regional Innovation Valleys” (RIVs). Regional Innovation Valleys aim to harness the potential of deep-tech innovation across...

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