BIOBEC, A PROJECT TO PROMOTE EDUCATION IN THE BIO-BASED INDUSTRY, KICKS OFF
- SUSTAINABLE INNOVATIONS, CTA, and the Autonomous University of Barcelona are the Spanish partners of BIObec, a project where 19 European organisations will collaborate to promote education in the bio-based industry.
- BIObec is funded by the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and it has a budget of €1.5 million.
Madrid, September 14, 2021 – BIObec, a new project seeking to promote education in the bio-based industry and funded by the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, officially kicked off with the celebration of an online meeting today, 14th September 2021.
SUSTAINABLE INNOVATIONS, CTA (Technological Corporation of Andalusia), and the Autonomous University of Barcelona are the three Spanish partners of a consortium formed by 19 entities from 12 European countries that have received a total budget of €1.5 million in funding. For 30 months, they will work together to build bridges between the bio-based industry and the education system by interlinking universities, innovation labs, and Research and Development centres with industrial stakeholders and regions.
BIObec proposes a framework that merges the traditional idea of an education centre, with that of a knowledge hub. The project will establish multi-level Bio-Based Education Centres (BBECs) to act as knowledge hubs bridging the gaps between academic institutions, students, innovation entities and policymakers. Likewise, the BBECs are expected to be flexible enough to answer the current and future needs of the industry and surrounding ecosystem at local, regional and national levels.
Collaborating to bridge the educational gap in Bioeconomy
The main responsibilities of SUSTAINABLE INNOVATIONS in this project are to define and implement the communication strategy (corporate branding development, website, social media strategy, etc.), to coordinate the dissemination of BIObec, to elaborate e-learning and training materials, and to contribute to analyse the economic feasibility of the BBECs, including a detailed screening of potential funding sources and models.
“We are delighted to continue our work to bridge the gap between the educational offer and the needs of the bio-based industry”, said Jesús Serrano, Deputy General Manager at SUSTAINABLE INNOVATIONS. “It is a pleasure to keep on improving the education, understanding and skills for the emerging European bioeconomy with partners such as CTA and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, with whom we already collaborated in the implementation of UrBIOfuture, a previous EU-funded project that set the basis for BIObec.”
From its side, the Autonomous University of Barcelona will contribute to underpin the project’s theoretical framework and lead the analysis of the European and regional needs, opportunities, and expectations for the BBECs.
And last, but not least, CTA will lead the replication of the BIObec concept and the BBECs, designing a roadmap for the roll-out of the BIObec project outputs, and a methodology transfer for the establishment of BBECs across external regions.
Unlocking the bioeconomy’s full potential
The need to reduce carbon emissions and the growing importance of the bioeconomy encompass great potential to foster local development and offer a new perspective on traditional productions, as well as to create new businesses, jobs, and opportunities. However, education needs to play a key role to meet the bio-based industry needs regarding a well-prepared workforce, and to unlock its full potential,
BIObec aims to maximise the opportunities offered by the bioeconomy and contribute to the creation of an educational innovation ecosystem, leveraging the work previously done by other EU projects, connecting all the different stakeholders, and increasing cooperation between the bio-based industry and the education system to avoid skills and competences gaps.