BBI JU 2019 Call now open

The BioBased Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) has published its 2019 Call for proposals under Horizon 2020. This sixth call will provide a further EUR 135 million of funding to boost the development of the EU’s biobased industries sector. The call is built around four strategic orientations: Feedstock, Process, Products, and Market uptake and continues the BBI JU’s objective of accelerating the development of new sustainable value chains from biomass feedstock supply via efficient processing, to the acceptance and application of bio-based products in end-markets.

The 2019 call identifier is H2020-BBI-JTI-2019 and contains 21 topic areas previously outlined in the BBI JU Annual Work Plan 2019. This document gives the full texts of the call that include 10 Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs), 7 Innovation Actions (IAs) - specifically 4 Demonstration (DEMO) calls and 4 Flagship (FLAG) calls - and 4 Coordination and Support Actions (CSAs) under the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme.

The deadline for submission of proposals is 4 September 2019, 17:00 CET, with proposal evaluations taking place during October and November and results being sent to applicants hopefully during December 2019.

Proposals to the Call 2019 can be submitted through the Funding and Tender Opportunities Portal - SEDIA (former known as the Participant Portal), the official EU funding communication channel, that gives an extensive overview of all Call information, such as Call documentation, how to get support regarding intellectual property, IT, and partner searches etc.

Via the BBI JU’s Partnering Platform, potential participants and consortia members can create  free, online profiles that enable a better interaction with other potential BBI JU Call applicants.

Applicants interested in receiving professional support or advice at the national level can get in contact with the appropriate member of the BBI network of National Contact Points.

BBI Info Day

On 12 April the BBI JU Info Day 2019 is taking place in the Charlemagne Building, Brussels. Plenary presentations on Europe's biobased sector and the development of the global bioeconomy will be followed by an outline of the BBI JU 2019 Work Programme from Philippe Mengal, Executive Director of the BBI JU. Information will be provided about the BBI JU initiative and all other aspects of the 2019 Call process including details of the proposal submission and evaluation processes.

After lunch, the BBI JU Networking event, will help participants to build their networks and find potential partners for the BBI JU Call for proposals.

And throughout the day, participants will have the opportunity to speak to representatives from BBI JU's founding partners and Member States as well as exchange views with entities in synergy with the BBI JU, including SusChem. The BBI JU's Programme Office staff will also be available to answer questions about the Call process and procedure.

Save the date: 14 September for Societal Challenge 5 InfoDay

On 14 September 2016 the European Commission is holding an Information Day and Brokerage event covering the 2017 calls for proposals in Horizon 2020's Societal Challenge 5: ‘Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials’ in Brussels. The actual call will be launched in autumn 2016.

Societal challenge 5 is a key area of interest for SusChem and features in the SusChem Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda. Interested stakeholders from the research community, businesses and public administration are invited to register as soon as possible for this briefing in Brussels and to start consortium building.

A draft agenda for the meeting is available. The event takes place in the European Commission's Charlemagne building at rue de la Loi 170, Brussels and you can register here.

The event will open with two plenary sessions: the first introducing Societal Challenge 5 on Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials followed by a session on effective proposal submission; and the second session covers open data and risk management issues.

This will be followed by parallel sessions covering the following topic areas:

• Nature-based solutions & Cultural heritage for sustainable growth
• Climate services and decarbonisation, The Arctic dimension and earth observation
• Raw Materials
• Circular economy

A full list of call topics for Societal Challenge 5 for 2017 can be found here.

In the afternoon there will be an extended brokerage and matchmaking session.

Live webcast
If you can’t make it to Brussels on 14 September the morning plenary sessions and the parallel sessions will be webcast live (links available nearer the event) and after the event video recordings with sound and integrated slide presentations will be made available online too.

For more information contact the event organisers.

Bio-based Industries Info day 2015

The Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) will be holding an Info Day session on the morning of 26 June followed by a networking and brokerage session in the afternoon. The Info Day will take place from 09:00 to 12:30 at the Charlemagne Building, Rue de la Loi 170, B-1000 Brussels.

The Info day session will address the following questions:

• What benefits does the Bio based Joint Undertaking offer you?
• What is included in the new Call?
• How can you apply for funding? 

The BBI Info Day 2015 in Brussels on 26 June will give you first-hand information on this new EU funding instrument. The Info Day is organised by the BBI JU to provide full information on the 2015 Call for Proposals. Participation is free of charge but registration is compulsory.

Registration is open until 19 June 2015 via the BBI website on the "Events" section or via the link below. To attend the conference please fill in the on-line registration form as soon as possible. When registering please specify the organisation you belong to. All applications will be considered on a “first come, first served” basis.

To register for the BBI Partnering Platform visit http://www.bbi-europe.eu/participate/bbi-partnering-platform.

What is the BBI JU?
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). It is dedicated to realising the European bioeconomy potential, 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 connecting 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.

SusChem Chairman shares view on how to boost EU growth

Dr Klaus Sommer, Chairman of the SusChem board and President of A.SPIRE aisbl - the legal entity backing the SPIRE PPP, has put his views on what is needed to exit the economic crisis and help Europe's economy to grow as part of a series of video testimonials on the Horizon 2020 website. You can watch his video below. If you get an issue with playback (may not work with iOS) you can also access the video here.



Dr. Sommer said: "I think in Europe we have one disadvantage, and that is actually beginning with an advantage. The advantage is that, in research, we produce great results: we're very competitive in basic research and in fundamental inventions. But the issue is that we are not as good in turning this into commercially successful results. And this has been referred to as the 'valley of death' a couple of times, which means that we cannot take these results to something commercially viable. So I think Horizon 2020, with its focus on demonstration and piloting, will give us a great opportunity to take some of these results to something that business people like and build businesses on and make money with."

To find out more about SusChem visit our website and more information about the SPIRE PPP can be found here. 

PPP information days 
Information Days on the Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) under Horizon 2020 are being organized by the European Commission on 16-17 December, 2013, at the Charlemagne Building, Brussels. Central to this event will be the presentation of the first research and innovation call topics for the SPIRE PPP under Horizon 2020. More information on the SPIRE session in the event will be available shortly, but registration to the event is open now.

The Information Days with cover the four research contractual PPPs envisaged under Horizon 2020: Factories of the Future; Energy-efficient Buildings; Green Vehicles; and Sustainable Process Industries.

On the first day of the meeting a plenary session is planned for the four cPPPs and then parallel workshops for each PPP focusing on the presentation of their new Multi-annual Roadmaps, opportunities in the calls included in the 2014-2015 Work Programme for Horizon 2020 and brokerage activities.

On the Tuesday (17 December 2013) a second plenary session for the PPPs is foreseen with contributions from Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science and Neelie Kroes, EC Vice-President and Commissioner for Digital Agenda.

The programme also includes a final assessment of the first three Research PPPs established under the Recovery Plan, reports on success stories in the domains of the four PPPs, and a roundtable discussion on the expected impact of the PPPs.