Engaging primary producers (PP) in RDI programs remains a significant challenge across Europe. This challenge is driven by factors such as limited access to information, low awareness of bio-based solutions, and various structural, financial, and regulatory barriers. These obstacles hinder PP integration into emerging circular bio-based value chains, despite the potential to introduce new business models that offer environmental benefits, including energy and nutrient recycling, sustainable production systems, and new revenue streams in rural areas. The CBE JU is committed to enhancing the involvement of primary producers within its funding schemes and the resulting innovative solutions. To this end, a Working Group on Primary Producers (WGPP) will be established, bringing together sector representatives from agriculture, forestry, and the blue economy. This group will develop an Action Plan aimed at strengthening the role of PPs in future CBE JU-funded projects and beyond. RootLinks will support and facilitate the efforts of the WGPP in co-creating and implementing this Action Plan. It includes horizontal and sector-specific actions designed to improve the role of primary producers in CBE JU programming, increase their participation in calls, and enhance their ability to exploit new value chains. The focus will be on to generate direct, tangible, and measurable benefits for PP, empowering them to become strong partners in cross-disciplinary bio-based research and innovation projects across Europe. Furthermore, RootLinks actions will enhance the roles of PP in exploiting innovations and related value chains, fostering improved collaboration between PPs and the bio-based industry. RootLinks offers a unique portfolio of sector expertise and competencies, implementing a comprehensive set of activities at the European, national, and regional levels, including knowledge and awareness-raising, capacity building and training, partnership development, and networking.

Sustainable bioeconomy transition is an acknowledged pathfinder to achieve the Green Deal ambitions. A regionalised bioeconomy is seen as a promising leverage point for green growth. Many European regions have already adopted bioeconomy strategies. However, the majority of regional stakeholders lack actionable knowledge to translate them into practice and embed them into society, industry and research by simultaneously considering planetary boundaries. Regions heavily relying on GHG-intensive economies - that are particularly critical for realising the Green Deal - face even more challenges to unlock their bioeconomy potential. The concept of bioeconomy model regions tackles the urgent need to concretise bioeconomy into tangible transition measures. Model regions are characterized by a systemic approach, draw on technological and societal innovations, are able to link sectors and contribute to sustainable development in economic, ecological and social dimensions. BIO2REG therefore aims to enable regional stakeholders of GHG-intensive economies to unlock their regions’ bioeconomy potential by transitioning towards model regions. BIO2REG paves the way for regional stakeholder to actively initiate and shape transition based on a regions-to-regions approach. Embedded in a network of regions for regions, interregional exchange and cooperation will be facilitated. Specifically, regional stakeholders will be capacitated by i) provision of a regionalisation concept for model regions, ii) mapping best practices on circular and sustainable bioeconomy, iii) guides for bioeconomy potential assessments, iv) mentoring and training services v) formation of transition alliances and v) policy recommendations to adapt strategies and funding. A key component is the adoption of a multi-actor approach by co-creating tools and guides with regional stakeholders as well as engaging with regions by guided on-site exchanges with stakeholders from other regions.

BIOTRANSFORM provides European policymakers with an adequate assessment and policy development framework, knowledge base and expert support ecosystem to accelerate the transition from linear fossil-based systems to circular bio-based systems. It is therefore operating at the interface between the circular economy and the bioeconomy transitions. In this way, BIOTRANSFORM equips policymakers with the tools to set informed priorities that serve environmental, economic, and social goals, being actionable, future-proof, and align with supply-and-demand trends in related industries and value chains. BIOTRANSFORM’s “assessment package” will be tested by and provided for European policymakers, which will include 3 complementary tools: (i) resource flow analysis tool including circular innovations, (ii) a cutting-edge quick environmental, social and economic assessment tool, and (iii) a logistics management tool. To achieve this, BIOTRANSFORM develops and tests its framework to establish and roll out circular bio-based systems by applying a multi-actor approach around 6 regional cases: Andalusia (Spain), Northern Burgenland (Austria), Western Macedonia (Greece), Finland, Charles Spa Region (Czech Repulic) and North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). These regional case studies represent several important industries and scenarios for Europe such as: forestry, agri-food, lake ecosystems, lignite and minerals, and chemicals. Action roadmaps will consider specific regional available resources and infrastructures, conversion pathways, logistics, current policies, strategies, and access to finance. In other words, BIOTRANSFORM builds on the concept of regenerative bioeconomy value cycles by tapping into what is there already and connecting the dots. In this concept, carbon is stored and nutrients are recovered. This concept shall be upscaled and replicated to many further European regions to achieve Europe's ambitious goals.

As the solid waste management crisis is growing in its urgency, humanitarian aid practitioners are faced with the question of how to manage environmental challenges linked with aid that is being shipped across various humanitarian settings. One of the sound solutions how to address this challenge is to open up a streamline of cooperation between humanitarian aid operators and the bio-based sector allowing them to explore the application potential of bio-based products, systems, and innovative technological solutions. Bio4HUMAN aims to contribute to the identification of bio-based solutions for solid waste management that have the potential to be applicable in various humanitarian settings. To achieve this goal, Bio4HUMAN will conduct a scoping exercise that will come up with a list of solutions but also identify existing supply chain gaps. Following that, it performs life cycle assessments of the proposed solutions and evaluates their applicability with regard to socio-economic and governance aspects. To explore if solutions fit the purpose of key solid waste management stakeholders and to explore the possibility of their acceptance by the community, local businesses, and local authorities, Bio4HUMAN conducts a feasibility evaluation process in 2 African locations. Simultaneously, the project will develop a replication roadmap that will contribute to the future replicability of the solutions identified. Altogether, all of the Bio4HUMANs actions will help to improve ways of addressing waste management challenges under humanitarian contexts and to the reduction of waste littered in the environment. In the long run, Bio4HUMAN is expected to contribute to the development of innovative and sustainable value chains that will benefit consumers and citizens in Europe and beyond.

In response to the increasing need for cooperation in learning and skills/capacity development for environmental sustainability, including biodiversity and Nature-based Solutions (NBS) learning and teaching, eNaBlS will set the basis of networking and collaboration with a view to promoting transdisciplinary dialogue and further embedding and unfolding NBS concepts and approaches within universities and vocational schools, the professional sphere and society at large. eNaBlS envisions the creation of 7 Living Labs (DE, NL, FI, AT, LT, GR, CZ) to epitomise an integrative approach that includes all ‘voices’ and leaves no one behind. Collecting a variety of input and welcoming a plurality of values and knowledge, the goal is to mainstream biodiversity and NBS in higher education and TVET (Technical and Vocational Education & Training) by developing and upscaling new forms of teaching, learning and capacity-building that are more relational, systems-oriented and applied. This should be achieved through multi-actor collaboration and a whole institution approach (WIA) – universities become their own Living Labs – that spans the curricula, pedagogy and didactics, professional development, institutional practices school/university-community relationships and institutional ethos, vision and leadership. Doing so implies working together across silos, sectors and epistemologies as well as a paradigm shift in education and the development of sustainability competencies. The ultimate objective is for eNaBlS to contribute more generally to i) the advancement of a Nature Positive society through the necessary transformative change of communities, business models and lifestyles, and, specifically, ii) put biodiversity and climate on the path to recovery responding to the objectives of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 and the EU climate adaptation strategy.