BRANCHES aims to increase implementation of cost-efficient new technologies mobilize more biomass and create new business opportunities in rural areas by improving and strengthening the connection between practice and science of bio-based economy through offering a channel for two-way flow of information, new ideas and technologies within European agriculture & forestry practitioners particularly in rural areas. Research in bioeconomy has accelerated during the last ten years and a vast amount of knowledge has been generated. However, due to the multiple sectors and complex value chains involved, a significant part of that valuable information is in danger to stay untapped. The BRANCHES project will summarize, share and present the existing best practices and research results from earlier and running EU and national projects to promote bioeconomy and rural development through new bio-based initiatives. The demands and needs of the practitioners will be gathered by a series of workshops and meetings and active co-operation within national networks. In BRANCHES, the selected knowledge on forest and agricultural biomass supply chains will be integrated with available and innovative technologies and best-practice cases for bioeconomy solutions with bioenergy conversion systems in wider bioeconomy context. Policy recommendations, competitive biomass supply chains and most suitable innovative technologies will be summarized and shared in easily understandable formats (Practice abstracts and factsheets) through Thematic Networks launched by BRANCHES. The cooperation within Thematic Networks is expected to lead to outcomes which will have a lasting and widespread impact on practitioners across Europe in the rural environment. The project consortium has 12 partners, and, in addition, over 30 different organizations (including companies, associations, Ministries, Councils and Federations) have express their support to the project (through support letters).

The objective of thERBN is to put into operation an EU-wide multi-actor (MA) thematic network (TN) for knowledge sharing on innovative solutions for sustainable circular bioeconomy (CB) applicable by small farms and foresters (practitioners) at a local scale in rural areas. Such a framework will contribute to empowering practitioners (PPs) solving the gap between available and viable CB solutions and the problems they face in their everyday. Starting from their most urgent needs on the management and use of biological by-products and residues, thERBN will identify existing solutions from grassroots from PPs, innovations developed by Operational Groups (OGs) and research applied results from national and EU projects, to produce practice-oriented easily understandable materials to be shared in national and EU demo days and training and through channels most consulted by PPs. thERBN TN will assure open access to long-term digital structures like EU-Farmbook, and EU-CAP Network, complemented by the thERBN platform to facilitate multilanguage access and a social environment to interact among and integrate CB-interested OGs, TNs & project communities, thus enhancing the cross-border dimensions and effects of thERBN TN, and reducing the fragmentation in knowledge and innovation. The MA thERBN TN will connect with the key actors (researchers, advisors, innovation brokers) and structures (national and regional AKIS, extension services, advisors networks) necessary to encompass the transition of small rural farms and foresters towards climate neutrality and more sustainable and resilient operation. Bottom-up MA-based dialogue will yield evidence on the current PPs' needs, the remaining gaps for CB solutions that new innovative products and services can cover, and policy briefs proposing policies or instruments to support the adoption of small-scaled CB solutions by small farms.

The POSEIDON project aims to facilitate the use of e-methanol as e-fuel in shipping by demonstrating innovative solutions along the value chain steps: 1. two complementary CO2 valorisation routes – biogenic CO2 from a biogas plant and industrial plant from a lime plant will be investigated, 2. A new hybrid TRL7 power-to-e-methanol technology will be built and demonstrated within a test platform allowing to re-create real case studies conditions, 3. The produced e-fuel will be tested in 2- and 4-stroke engines at testing facilities and in a pilot boat in open sea to confirm its applicability. The project will also pave the way for the future implementation of e-methanol value chains in the port areas of Valencia and Thessaloniki. Communities of practice gathering project partners and external local stakeholders interested in the e-fuel transition will be created. These communities will strengthen collaboration, raise awareness of the potentials and benefits of renewable e-fuels, help members share their vision and discuss requirements and challenges. This will be supported by detailed case study assessment: extensive tests will be performed in a Power-to-X test platform and simulations enabling to evaluate environmental, economic and social mid-term to long-term impacts will be carried out. Market studies and business modelling activities will be done to have a clear view of the deployment potential at EU level. To foster market uptake, an EU deployment roadmap and a replication tool allowing external stakeholders to conduct their own pre-feasibility assessment will be developed. A public project guidebook outlining the main key exploitable results and policy recommendations will be published. To achieve all these results, the project will build upon the wide expertise of its 19 partners. The consortium consists of a well-balanced team of industrial partners (8), research partners (5), business support organisations (2), ports (2), an association and a public agency.

The Biomasud certification system of the quality and sustainability of solid biofuels (http://biomasud.eu/), was created within the BIOMASUD interreg IV project in 2013 with the aim of covering all typical Mediterranean biomass resources used as solid biofuels in small and medium heating installations: domestic, commercial, institutional etc. The label is owned by several partners established in Spain, Portugal and France.Presently, the label includes wood chips and pellets, olive stones and some types of nut shells. Also within Biomasud project, a GIS tool that provides information about sustainable biomass resources and costs available in different Mediterranean countries was updated and upgraded with new information about agroindustrial residues and pellets production and producers Presently, some solid biofuel companies are already producing under the Biomasud quality label in Spain, and others have also shown the interest to adopt it in Spain and Italy, but there is a strong need for development of the label along the whole Mediterranean area where the biomasses and solid biofuels under the label are widely produced and used in the domestic sector market out of any standards. Moreover, there is also a need to extend the label to new biomasses that are used in the Mediterranean area and which are not covered by the label, this making therefore more difficult their appropriate combustion in stoves or small-medium size boilers. Finally, it is also important to mention that, in order to improve the label, a research is needed to develop new and/or review the existing Biomasud label analytical limits and sustainability tools along the value chain, including, the GHG calculation procedure. In the described context, the overall goal of the project is the improvement, dissemination and market development of the Biomasud label in order to promote the sustainable use of the Mediterranean autochthonous solid biofuels in the domestic sector.

The main objective of BioRural is to create a pan-European Rural Bioeconomy Network under which related stakeholders will cooperate to promote the currently available small-scale bio-based solutions in rural areas to increase the share of Bioeconomy, giving increased value in such remote areas. Such framework will contribute in bridging the gap between the available novel high-end bio-based solutions and the everyday European rural life by assessing the existing situation of European rural Bioeconomy, capturing grassroots-level needs and ideas, promoting effective exchange of knowledge and information and investigating the possible opportunities for regional development through the expansion of bio-based solutions integration in rural Europe. This way, BioRural will develop a transition framework towards a sustainable, regenerative, inclusive and just circular Bioeconomy across all Europe at local and regional scale and support innovators to scale-up inclusive and small-scale bio-based solutions in rural areas. To do so, the project will: (i) Assess and evaluate the current performance of the European rural Bioeconomy in the EU and identify factors affecting innovation adoption and diffusion of bio-based solutions in rural areas; (ii) Create four regional Rural Bioeconomy Platforms (RBPs) that will form a European Rural Bioeconomy Network (ERBN); (iii) Assess and promote success stories of bio-based solutions in rural areas; (iv) Develop and continuously optimise an online open stakeholders’ tool, named BioRural Toolkit; (v) Facilitate knowledge exchange and capacity building for the European rural Bioeconomy through a series of workshops in local, regional and European level; (vi) Create rural development blueprints for regional and business scale-up of resilient and circular bio-based solutions in rural areas and (vii) Disseminate and communicate all activities for maximum visibility and rural Bioeconomy expansion.