Expected outcomes

In line with the objectives of the Circular Economy195 and Zero Pollution Action Plan196, the Longterm vision for the EU rural areas197, as well as the Biodiversity Strategy198, the successful proposals will enhance cooperation and participation of stakeholders from underrepresented countries and regions in the European bio-based economy landscape. Successful proposals will also contribute to the implementation of the EU Bioeconomy Strategy199 and the updated EU Industrial Strategy200. Enhanced synergies and complementarities with actions under the R&I missions ‘A soil deal for Europe’ and ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters’.

Project results should contribute to the following expected outcomes:

• Increased innovation capacity of regional bio-based stakeholders in countries and regions with less mature bio-based ecosystems, especially from the areas covered by the CBE JU Widening Participation Strategy.
• Greater participation of less represented countries and regions in the CBE JU programme and in all actions of the CBE JU; and inclusive engagement of newcomers from the industrial sector, market operators, civil society and policy makers.
• Identified and improved connections among actors within local innovation ecosystems (e.g., industry-governance and research-governance), promoting teaming and exchange of best practice across the EU.
• Full implementation of the CBE JU widening strategy at national and/or regional level through the engagement of relevant national and regional R&I clusters and industrial associations.
• Synergies with other funding programmes at EU, national or regional level.

Scope

Stimulating research activities in countries and regions with underdeveloped R&I capacity for biobased systems is a stated priority of the CBE JU Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) and is monitored by a specific KPI 10 ‘Improving the participation of regions and countries with high unexploited potential and strategic interest to develop it’.

In this context, a dedicated Widening Participation strategy201 for the CBE JU was endorsed by the CBE JU Governing Board together with its first Action Plan for the period 2023-2024202, which includes a list of concrete actions to step up the participation of under-represented countries in the CBE JU programme.

This CSA is one of the measures aiming at supporting the practical implementation of the CBE JU Widening Participation and its action plans.

Proposals under this topic should:

A. Foster stakeholder engagement and collaboration:

• Target stakeholders from countries203 and regions204 covered by the CBE JU Widening Participation strategy. The participation in the consortia of stakeholders from other countries and regions is encouraged, if aimed at the exchange of best practice and mutual learning and at fostering capacity building.
• The development of joint projects could be promoted, facilitating the exchange of
  knowledge and collaboration between bio-based clusters in different regions.

B. Develop capacity building and raise awareness

• Provide a support/knowledge transfer platform for all stakeholders in the bio-based economy, especially focussing on attracting newcomers, with a particular attention to industrial representatives. This may cover the creation of an online platform with information resources, webinars or training courses, aiming at the exchange of best practices.
• Incorporate actions on increasing awareness about CBE JU, via a cocreation/participatory/ trust building approach, including in local languages as appropriate. The proposed activities shall leverage on relevant existing national and regional programmes in the bioeconomy sector, to empower the local biobased sectors.
• Provide recommendations for the growth of the bio-based sector and for an increased engagement of all stakeholders in the targeted countries and regions, aimed at policy makers and replicators. Recommendations can also cover any newly identified bottleneck preventing the participation of local stakeholders in bio-based activities205 to increase their engagement, including information and exchange sharing in local languages, as relevant.

C. Promote synergies

• Synergies with relevant (macro-)regional networks such as the BIOEAST Initiative206 are encouraged.
• Analyse the possibility of establishing collaborations with relevant bio-based funding programmes at EU, national or regional level with a particular focus on European Structural and Investment Funds (ERDF, ESF+, CF, EAFRD, EMFF), the implementation of
  Recovery and Resilience Facility and the Just Transition Fund, to maximise the impact of
  complementary funding in the bio-based sector.
  • Synergies with relevant EC funded projects is also expected. An inventory of relevant EC
  funded projects is included in the CBE JU Widening strategy. This list represent the state
  of the art and should be considered by the applicants when proposing new measures.
  • Proposals may involve financial support to third parties to provide direct support (e.g., in
  the form of cascading grants) to actions related to teaming. Beneficiaries may provide
  financial support to third parties. The support to third parties can only be provided in the form of grants. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 60 000. A
  maximum EUR 300 000 of the EU funding can be allocated to this purpose.

Proposals should seek for links and complementarities and avoid overlaps with past, ongoing and upcoming EU funded projects, including those funded under H2020, HEU and the BBI JU and CBE JU.