Bioeconomy starts on the fields, yet meaningful participation of the primary sector in the bioeconomy is currently challenged, especially due to: (i) poor cooperation and knowledge transfer between relevant stakeholders, (ii) limited support to invest in R&D of new value chains. To answer this challenge, the COOPID project proposes an effective strategy to mobilise primary producers and stimulate the uptake of inclusive and sustainable bio-based business models in the European primary production sector, considering regional & sectorial conditions. To do so, a network of COOPID Bioeconomy Clusters from 10 European countries has been created ad-hoc, involving a range of stakeholders: (a) primary producers, in cooperatives or associations, within agriculture, forestry & aquaculture, (b) industry, (c) public sector, (d) research & academia. We have already the commitment to participate of 73 entities. We will foster the deployment of innovative bio-based business models in the primary production based on a four-l

With the aim to increase organic farming to 25% by 2030, the EU recognizes the potential of organic farming to contribute to a climate neutral Europe by 2050 and other environmental EU-targets. However, to achieve these targets, it is important to step-up the capability and the capacity of organic farms to reduce GHG-emissions and remove carbon through sequestration. The overall aim of OrganicClimateNET is to establish a pilot network of 250 organic farms to adapt, test, improve and implement climate and carbon farming practices. Key to this are the peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchanges between farmers organised in 24 hubs in 12 EU countries and facilitated by trained advisors. Concrete outputs are individual carbon farming strategies of the pilot farms as role models for the entire organic sector; 120+ climate and carbon knowledge materials, improved, translated and adapted to organic farming feeding into a decision support toolbox and freely accessible via the highly frequented Organic Farm Knowledge Platform; the evaluation of carbon farming business models (including MRV and rewarding schemes); upscaling to EU level in a quantitative assessment of the emission reduction and sequestration potential of the EU organic sector based on the data set from the 250 pilot farms; engagement with other EU-Projects and organic AKIS actors outside the network; and a network sustainability plan to sustain the network and knowledge exchange activities on the long term. Project results feed steadily in policy briefs and policy dialogue workshops to support effective climate policy design. The 4-year project gathers 17 partners (extension, farming associations, research) from 14 countries allowing exchange between countries with a mature organic sector and countries where organic farming is less developed.

On average, each European citizen produces approximately 200 kg of municipal biowaste per year, representing between 118 and 138 million tonnes of biowaste annually arising in the EU. The main municipal biowaste management systems currently existing in Europe represent one-way flow systems in which materials and resources are underused, limiting its potential recovery into high-value products. VALUEWASTE proposes an integrated approach in urban biowaste upcycling for the production of high-value biobased products, developing the first complete solution to fully valorise biowaste that can be replicated across Europe. We will implement three new value chains that will use urban biowaste as raw material for its valorisation into high-value end products in a cascading process, generating economic, social and environmental benefits: food & feed proteins and other ingredients, and biobased fertiliser. VALUEWASTE will be developed at two very different European locations, Murcia (ES) and Kalundborg (DK) with the purpose of finding a solution both technical and socially adapted to the different socio-economic contexts exiting across Europe. Social initiatives will be created to increase consumer awareness and acceptance of urban biowaste-derived products. End-user products applications and new market opportunities will be demonstrated. Outcomes of the project will contribute to new standardisation, and will be useful information for EU policy makers in terms of waste management and in the adoption of new policies.

The EU28 imports 77% of the protein it requires, for food or feed, representing an important vulnerability for our economy, risking our self-sufficiency and food security. GreenProtein aims at a major innovation by producing high-added value, food-grade and fully functional proteins and other ingredients, out of vegetal residues mainly from sugar beet. The main outcome will be the valorisation of 4,000 tons of agricultural residue /yearly into a high quality dried RuBisCo powder ready to enter into food industry production chains as an alternative of the widely extended egg white preparations or whey protein. We are the first team worldwide, covering the whole food chain, to design an extraction system of functional RuBisCO. The project will design and implement specific equipment to establish a demonstration plant with capacity of 1,500 kg/hour of vegetal residue input, rendering 28 Kg of dry RuBisCO and 82 Kg of dry dietary fibre (25-30% dry matter). The obtained protein has top valuable functionalities required in food industry, such as gelling, foaming or emulsifying. The outcomes have excellent market projection due to their application in growing consumer needs like high-protein foodstuff, vegan, halal, etc. Establishing this DEMO plant will allow fine-tuning the extraction process at industrial scale in order to define the optimal conditions for industrial manufacture. It will be built in a compact design, ready to be “plugged” to the production line, an easily replicable system with a high spreading projection in whole EU.

OLEAF4VALUE is a three-year project that will develop a complete valorization system for the olive leaf. 4,5 million ton of olive leaves are produced annually in the world by the olive oil industry, a key industry in southern Europe and along the Mediterranean coast (Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia, among others). This recalcitrant biomass represents a problem for both the farmers and the whole olive oil industry, who need to remove it from the fields and the olive oil mills. This biomass is nowadays burnt in the fields, given to the cattle or, in some cases, combusted to produce energy. OLEAF4VALUE will put together a competitive consortium of highly experienced partners devoted to the complete valorization of this new underexploited biomass. The consortium will address all the stages of the value chain: raw material, biorefining, post-extraction technologies, market validation and sustainability assessment. The goal of OLEAF4VALUE is to set up the basis of a smart value chain based on a newly developed 4.0 concept: Smart Dynamic Multi-Valorization-Route Biorefinery (SAMBIO) for the cascade valorization of the olive leaf biomass according to its physicochemical composition, particularly modulated by specific pretreatments to produce target products. Advanced green extraction and isolation technologies will be used to sequentially separate all fractions and compounds of value, with a zero-waste approach. Enzymatic biotransformation and nanoencapsulation technologies will be applied to develop tailor made prototypes according to end user market needs from high value sectors: food, feed, health, cosmetic, pharma and chemical industries. Large companies from these sectors within the consortium will guarantee a good market-oriented approach throughout the project. OLEAF4VALUE will link the primary olive sector from southern Europe with large multinationals from the high valued competitive markets in a circular bioeconomy project.