The demand for sustainable and circular alternatives to fossil raw materials offers opportunities for the European biobased industry. This also applies to Central and Eastern European countries, where the development of biobased activities has lagged behind that in Western Europe. Recently updated country reports on the biobased industry in Romania and Poland underline the enormous potential in these countries, where untapped potential lies waiting to be explored and exploited.
A number of years ago, the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) took the initiative to draw up country reports. They aim to provide an overview not only of the state of the country, but also of the potential for the biobased industry, including opportunities for investment and collaboration.
Innovation and economic growth
In Romania, a country with a rich agricultural sector and well-developed innovation centres, the BIC country report published last month 'Mapping Romania's biobased potential' an in-depth insight into the possibilities for biobased growth. By valorizing co-products and waste in sectors such as agriculture and food processing, Romania can become a center for biobased activities, where innovation and economic growth go hand in hand.
In Poland it has a comparable country report led to renewed interest and collaboration within the biobased sectors. By raising awareness about the potential of the biobased economy and bringing together stakeholders from different sectors, the report has helped establish new initiatives and clusters in the country.
Increase participation
The role of organizations such as BIC and the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) is crucial in promoting participation in biobased activities in Europe. Strategic initiatives such as the country reports and the broadening strategy ('Widening') launched by CBE JU in 2023 contribute to this. The countries and regions involved are often very rich in biomass flows that are useful for industry, but are hardly exploited. “The intention is not to transport these raw materials to Western Europe,” says Nelo Emerencia of BIC. “The added value must mainly be created locally, in the region.”
It requires cooperation between parties that does not happen automatically. “I have been promoting biobased chemistry for the last five or six years, but in the thirty years before that, when I worked in the chemical industry, I never came into contact with a farmer or someone from the forestry, marine industry or waste processing. These industrial sectors do not know each other and therefore do not work together. This inhibits growth. To truly build a biobased industry, we need to break the barriers and involve all these sectors. That is what we as BIC put into practice with the country reports.”
Broadening
When BIC started working on the country reports in 2018, the eligible countries were almost all in Central and Eastern Europe. They scored low on the European Commission's annual innovation index, indicating an underdeveloped biobased industry. Portugal was the only Western European country that also scored low. Now that the first reports have been made on all these countries, the results are encouraging. Last year BIC started a second round. The intention is to update the country reports every two or three years to monitor the development of the biobased industry. The focus has been broadened to include other countries mentioned in the broadening strategy. This means that there will also be reports on the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Croatia. The resulting new collaboration encourages participation in CBE JU-funded projects. This approach is in line with the European Commission's aim to help countries connect to European networks and realize their own potential.
Emerencia: “These initiatives mark an important step towards a more sustainable and circular economy in Europe. By promoting collaboration and raising awareness about the potential of the biobased industry, we can stimulate innovation, create jobs and promote a more sustainable future. In this way, the biobased economy in Europe can continue to grow and develop.”
Source: Agro-Chemie.nl
