Green light for Bio-Based Industries Initiative!

Today (6 May) EU governments have given the green light to roll out, over 2014-2020, an ambitious Innovation Investment Package worth over €20 billion for public and private investment in research and innovation.  The package is set to tackle some of the EU’s major societal challenges and boost growth and jobs through strategic public-private partnerships (PPP); in particular through the new Bio-Based Industries (BBI) PPP.

The BBI will create new jobs, especially in rural regions, and offer Europeans new and sustainable products sourced and produced locally. Making the economy more sustainable by using renewable resources in a smart and efficient manner will benefit society as a whole.

Bio-based industries will increase the competitiveness of the European economy through re-industrialisation and sustainable growth. New value chains will be created between often unconnected sectors, ranging from primary production and processing industries to consumer brands.

The development of new bio-based products and markets based on smart and efficient use of resources will diversify industries’ revenue streams. The BBI should therefore enable European companies to be more competitive in the global bioeconomy race with the US, China and Brazil.

The BBI is expected to bridge European research knowledge with commercial scale bio-based products, making full use of European scientific and technological knowledge. SusChem has played a significant role in laying the foundations of the BBI initiative and looks forward to supporting its development.

The BBI should benefit all Member States where regions can play an important role through their Smart Specialisation Strategies.

Now that EU governments have given their green light, the BBI will be officially established on the day of publication of the Regulation in the Official Journal of the European Union in early- mid-June.

9 July: launch of the first BBI Calls

The BBI’s first Call for Proposals will be launched on 9 July. The BBI will fund projects aimed at: 

• Building new value chains based on the development of sustainable biomass collection and supply systems with increased productivity and improved utilisation of biomass feedstock (including co- and by-products); 
• Unlocking the utilisation and valorisation of waste and lignocellulosic biomass; 
• Bringing existing value chains to new levels, through optimised uses of feedstock and industrial side-streams while offering innovative added value products to the market, thus creating a market pull and reinforcing the competitiveness of EU agriculture and forest based industries.  
• Bringing technology to maturity through research and innovation, by upgrading and building demonstration and flagship biorefineries that will process the biomass into a range of innovative bio-based products. 

About the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking

The Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking is a €3.7 billion Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the EU and the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC). 
The BBI is dedicated to realising the European bioeconomy potential, by turning biological residues and wastes into greener everyday products through innovative technologies and biorefineries, which are at the heart of the bioeconomy.

The BBI is about bridging key sectors, creating new value chains and producing a range of innovative bio-based products to ultimately form a new bio-based community and economy. 

BIC, the industrial partner in the PPP, hosts a unique mix of sectors including agriculture, agro-food, technology providers, forest-based/pulp and paper, chemicals and energy. It is an association that was specifically established in 2012 to collectively represent the private sector in the BBI. To date, BIC has 69 full industrial members (large, SMEs, clusters) and over 100 associate members (RTOs, universities, associations, technology platforms). And it is still growing. 

For more information contact the BIC secretariat or visit the BIC website where you can also find the latest BIC newsletter.