Enabling regional bioeconomy across Europe
Jülich, 18.12.2023 – BIOCOM has joined the European project BIO2REG that aims to enable the systemic transition of greenhouse gas-intensive regions through concrete and actionable measures to become bioeconomy model regions.
Driven by a shift towards sustainable development, regions with carbon-intensive economies, such as coal mining, intensive agriculture, forestry, and fisheries and peat production, are undergoing significant structural change. The negative outcomes can be dire: economic disruption, unemployment, social strain, and regional inequality. The bioeconomy, which utilises renewable biological resources and technologies for food, materials or energy production, can play a crucial role in shaping structural change. It has the potential to create new value networks, thereby promoting knowledge-based growth and jobs, ecosystem revitalisation and resilience, resource efficiency and circularity, and innovation, while taking into account the context-specific economic, social and environmental conditions of a region. Regional stakeholders seeking to unlock this transition potential of the bioeconomy, however, often lack the necessary actionable know-how, framework and financial support.
BIO2REG seeks to equip regional stakeholders with an array of practical knowledge and tools to design and implement a region-specific transition. Central to the project is its regions-to-regions approach, fostering the exchange of knowledge, best practices, and challenges among various regional stakeholders involved in the transition process. The project’s unique model region framework places regions and their specificities at the centre of the transformation. Its systemic approach draws on technological and societal innovations, establishes connections across sectors and contributes to sustainable development in economic, ecological, and social aspects.
BIO2REG is coordinated by BioökonomieREVIER at Forschungszentrum Jülich, IBG-2 Plant Sciences. The BIO2REG consortium consists of 9 partners from 8 European countries. The project kicks off in January 2024 and runs until the end of 2026. BIOCOM is responsible for the communication, dissemination and exploitation of the project.
More information at bio2reg.eu