Strengthening bioeconomy innovation and deployment across sectors and all governance levels

Topic description

ExpectedOutcome:

The successful proposal will contribute to the development of a Strategic Deployment Agenda for the Bioeconomy, including Food Systems, one of the actions in the 2018 bioeconomy strategy and Action Plan. The European bioeconomy strategy and Action Plan^[1] aims to deploy innovations across Europe to ensure that the bioeconomy as a whole is a vehicle for inclusive and sustainable growth at the local level, and is a key contributor to EU's Climate ambition for 2030 and 2050. It will contribute to improved governance for innovation ecosystems and enable advances in sustainability and resilience.

Project results are expected to contribute to all following expected outcomes:

• Improved understanding about which measures should be taken, by EU, Member States, and others to strengthen the innovation ecosystem within and across food systems and bio-based sectors, based on a detailed mapping exercise and on a comprehensive view on issues related to deployment
• Improved impact and efficiency of bioeconomy innovation and innovation systems

These outcomes will also support the farm to fork strategy for fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food systems, the EU Green Deal policy priorities and the EU's Climate ambition for 2030 and 2050.

Innovation today and the initiatives and structures that are part of it at EU, national, regional, and local level already contribute to the uptake and deployment of innovative solutions for example by supporting testing, demonstration, and training, and by investing in the infrastructure that enables these activities. However, more action is needed to (1) address the fragmentation of this innovation ecosystem across food systems and bio-based sectors, (2) to create linkages between the different levels of governance, and (3) to improve the interfacing between the research communities, the innovation communities, investors and citizens. Actions that address these areas of improvement across the bioeconomy are to be preferred because their crosscutting nature and trans-disciplinarity might be a further source of innovation and system transformation, and because they enable sharing of best practices across sectors and actors.

Proposals are expected to:

• Identify instruments and initiatives that contribute to spreading knowledge and deploying innovations in and across food systems and bio-based sectors, at EU, national, regional, and local level. Identify links with other policies (e.g. education) and instruments (e.g. financial instruments, regulation);
• Analyse possible interactions and complementarities between initiatives, instruments and policies;
• Identify opportunities for improved governance and for enhanced cooperation between instruments and initiatives within the bioeconomy’s innovation ecosystems, across the EU, Member States and private sector;
• Recommend actions to improve bioeconomy innovation and the deployment of new knowledge, technologies and practices, in particular by strengthening cooperation between entities and activities that support different forms of innovation.

Proposals should:

• Map the structures, instruments and initiatives that make up the innovation ecosystem of the bioeconomy with respect to food systems, bio-based sectors (including the blue economy), at local, regional, national and EU level
• Put in place networking and matchmaking activities to allow these structures, instruments and initiatives to raise their profile, to identify opportunities for new collaborations both amongst themselves, and across the different sectors of the bioeconomy
• Provide advisory support to these structures, instruments and initiatives to align themselves to policy priorities at different levels of governance, and in full awareness of existing schemes of sustainability and circularity indicators of the bioeconomy
• Identify best practices to improve the exploitation of outcomes from funded research within innovation communities, innovators and entrepreneurs, and public and private investment communities
• Examine the possibilities for improved reporting on the state-of-play and results of innovation in the bioeconomy
• Address specific barriers to reducing the fragmentation of the innovation ecosystem
• Deliver specific recommendations related to thematic financial instruments and tools applicable to sectors of the bioeconomy and to innovation. Targets of this activity should be previously mapped public and private investors, entrepreneurs and all the structures, institutes, programs and initiatives. Advice should focus on the effective and integrated use of financial tools to support innovation in the long term, and on the contribution to building a sustainable and responsible financing framework in Europe
• Where appropriate, link to Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects that demonstrate innovative and cross-sectoral solutions, as well as to relevant EU initiatives (for example those linked to : European Innovation Partnerships, European Innovation Council, European Institute of Innovation & Technology).
• Engage with policy makers and other stakeholders/initiative-owners that are responsible for innovation support at different levels of governance, to co-create recommendations to improve bioeconomy innovation and the deployment of new knowledge, technologies and practices

Proposals should set out a clear plan on how they foresee to collaborate with other projects selected under this and any other relevant topics/calls, by participating in joint activities, workshops, as well as common communication and dissemination activities.

This topic should involve the effective contribution of SSH disciplines.

Socio-economic science and humanities

[1]https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1583773927512&uri=CELEX:52018DC0673