The BIOMODEL4REGIONS project aims to support the establishment of the innovative governance models at local/regional level to achieve better-informed decision-making processes, social engagement and innovation to support and strengthen EU and international science-policy interfaces to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by: - Supporting the development of regional/local strategies, aiming at exploiting the local potentials and innovations by integrating the opportunities created by the local bio-based economy thus contributing to the broader bioeconomy transition - Developing novel business models to enable consumers, industry/producers and public bodies to a societal switch towards environmentally responsible behaviour by means of biobased products and services - Developing best practice guidelines for local operators and innovation developers, supporting climate-neutrality and low environmental footprint improvements of bio-based products and services The methodology is based on the set-up of a governance structure among bioeconomy clusters that will leverage on previous successful projects, initiatives and best practices to capitalise on work performed through several years of research and studies in the field of bioeconomy. These results will be demonstrated within the project to support 6 pilot regions chosen in clusters’ network. The pilot regions , taking into account different model regions (Northern, Southern, Eastern and Central-Western EU), their conditions and assets and different primary sectors (forestry, agri-food, aquatic biomass and organic fraction of municipal solid waste- OFMSW) will be demonstrated under a fully transferable case-study approach, that can be replicated throughout Europe to demonstrate the replicability of the approach after the end of the project.

At the present, 60-70% of all soils in Europe are in unhealthy conditions, mainly because of poor land management practices, pollution of soils, intensive agriculture, and the constant effects of climate change. This situation is further aggravated given that 25% of land is at a high or very high risk of suffering desertification in most parts of Europe. MarginUp! proposes a strategy to secure use and return profitability on marginal lands. Its main objective is to introduce climate-resilient and biodiversity-friendly non-food crops for sustainable industrial feedstock in marginalised and low-productivity lands. The project will focus on producing biomass to be used as raw material for the production of bioproducts and biofuels, which in turn, will create a sustainable and circular value chain, increasing the farming system resilience in rural areas. To further enhance the biodiversity beneficial impact, MarginUp! is focusing on understanding which marginal lands are suitable for low ILUC biomass production. The knowledge gathered in this project will be put into practice in 5 different use cases located in 5 different regions across Europe: - Mediterranean Lands (Spain) - Mine Lands (Greece) - Boreal Lands (Sweden) - Wetlands (Germany) - Central Europe (Hungary) Moreover, international cooperation has been considered and examination and identification of marginal lands will extend to non-European countries such as Argentina and South Africa. To ensure the success of the project, MarginUp! will have a replication network to address the needs and requirements of relevant stakeholders, including, policymakers, land managers, farmers, the bio-based industry, environmental authorities, the academia and the civil society. MarginUp! is directly contributing to European policies such as the European Green Deal, the Circular Economy action plan and the Bioeconomy and Biodiversity strategies.

The development of the bioeconomy holds great potential for driving growth in a sustainable manner. Still, many European regions have yet to unlock this potential, despite considerable investments in research, innovation and business support. In this context, MainstreamBIO sets out to get small-scale bio-based solutions into mainstream practice across rural Europe, providing a broader range of rural actors with the opportunity to engage in and speed up the development of the bioeconomy. We start with regional Multi-actor Innovation Platforms (MIPs) established in 7 EU countries (PL, DK, SE, BG, ES, IE and NL) to enhance cooperation among key rural players towards co-creating sustainable business model pathways in line with regional potentials and policy initiatives. Alongside them we support 35 multi-actor partnerships to overcome barriers and get bio-based innovations to market with hands-on innovation support, accelerating the development of over 70 marketable bio-based products and services. In parallel, we develop and employ a digital toolkit to better match bio-based technologies, social innovations and good nutrient recycling practices with available biomass and market trends as well as to enhance understanding of the bioeconomy with a suite of educational resources building on existing research results and tools. Along the way, a monitoring and evaluation framework will gauge the performance and impact of our measures, providing us with the intel required to catalyse mutual learning across regions and contribute to the creation of policy frameworks more conducive to the uptake of small-scale bio-based solutions in rural areas. In the process, we cluster with relevant initiatives and offer tools to facilitate the replication of our results, ensuring their long-term sustainability as viable solutions for supporting the growth of local inclusive and circular bioeconomies in other rural areas, that can ultimately link to form a strong EU‑wide circular bioeconomy.

Europe is the second world producer of pulp and paper, manufacturing 130 million tonnes in 2014 and representing 23% of world production. The EU pulp and paper manufacturing and converting industries generate an annual turnover of €180 billion, representing 1,26% of the European GDP. In particular, the Pulp and Paper industry (PPI) has a turnover of €75 billion, comprises 920 plants and provides 180,000 jobs in Europe directly, and 1.5 million in the value chain. This sector is resource intensive and produces 11 million tonnes of waste yearly . It has been found that 25-40% of municipal solid waste generated each year worldwide is paper-related. Furthermore, Europe is nowadays facing the challenge of resource scarcity and more efficient use. If managed in a sustainable manner, PPI waste can become a valuable raw material for other resource intensive industries such as the construction (i.e 5,4 billion tonnes of raw material consumption) or the chemical industry (1 billion tonnes). Mining industry waste generation is estimated at up to 20.000 million tons of solid waste yearly, and relevant part of this waste needs to be kept in environmental safety conditions, which in turn implies additional use of resources (e.g borrow materials). New widespread markets are needed to extend the valorisation operations, reduce the landfilling rates and increase the competitiveness of the PPIs creating new added value markets for their inorganic waste. The overall objective of PAPERCHAIN is to deploy five novel circular economy models centred in the valorisation of the waste streams generated by the PPI as secondary raw material for a number of resource intensive sectors: construction sector, mining sector and chemical industry. PAPERCHAIN aims to unlock the potential of a resource efficient model based on industrial symbiosis which will demonstrate the potential of the major non-hazardous waste streams generated by the PPI as valuable secondary raw material.