The project is supported through the EU Horizon2020 funding programme and engages with the EU bio-based business community to provide 10 different types of innovation services to third party SMEs. These are 75 percent funded by the project, aiming to bring these value chains closer to reality. The SuperBIO consortium includes four industrial cluster organisations (from Belgium, France, Spain and Poland), and six service providers (from the UK, Germany and Belgium).
The EU bioeconomy in general comprises those parts of the economy that use renewable biological resources from land and sea – such as crops, forests, fish, animals and micro-organisms – to produce food, materials, chemicals and energy.
A flourishing bioeconomy offers multiple advantages for the EU in the global economy. It decreases dependence on oil-producing countries by displacing fossil resources, uses local feedstock, decreases greenhouse gas emissions, and enables job creation, economic growth and re-industrialization of the EU. It currently already employs more than 18 million people and represents a turnover of more than 2 trillion euros. This strong foundation means that Europe is well placed to grow and diversify its current bioeconomy. Innovation focusses on producing a larger variety of bio-based bulk or specialty products, using various types of feedstocks and introducing bio-based products in new sectors.
To further innovate in the EU bioeconomy, new partnerships and connections need to be established between different sectors (e.g. between chemistry and agriculture, between producers and end-users). SuperBIO helps to build these connections by engaging with the wider bio-based business community, supporting cross sectorial and cross border industrial value chain building and providing innovation support services to SMEs.
Industrial stakeholders are invited to submit their idea for an innovative value chain to the SuperBIO project. The consortium ensures that their information will be treated confidential throughout the process. The combined expertise in the bio-based economy and skills of the consortium enable them to identify promising ideas for new innovative value chains. SuperBIO then supports cross sectorial and cross border development of the value chain of the selected ideas.
Once a value chain is created SuperBIO analyses the gaps to be filled and further requirements to bring this value chain closer to the market. Based on this, SuperBIO offers selected innovation services to SMEs that are part of the value chain. Six services providers are included in the consortium offering a combined set of 10 different professional innovation services: scale-up and proof-of-concept, IP support, life cycle assessment, techno-economic evaluation, feedstock analysis, market research, sustainability advice, business planning, access to investors and grant writing. These services are funded by the project for 75 percent, the remaining 25 percent being covered by the SME receiving the service.
In short, SuperBIO offers a unique opportunity to bring innovative, sustainable, cross border and cross sectorial value chains closer to the market.
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