BIOECONOMY GIANTS

BIOECONOMY GIANTS aims to unlock the potential of Europe’s unutilised biomass by repositioning primary producers—such as farmers, foresters and agri-food actors—not just as raw material suppliers, but as key stakeholders in the bioeconomy value chain. The project promotes cooperative and circular bio-based business models (CCBBMs) and fosters innovative forms of collaboration between rural actors and bio-based industries. By doing so, BIOECONOMY GIANTS seeks to shift the role of farmers and foresters from being seen merely as biomass suppliers to becoming pivotal stakeholders within the bioeconomy.

To achieve this, the project will engage primary sector, bringing it closer to bio-based industries under cooperative and circular bio-based business models and equipping them with:

(i) tailored capacity-building programs to strengthen wider primary producers and valuable networks,

(ii) direct financial support through two Open Calls to pilot and scale up new bio-based solutions, and

(iii) dedicated decision-making tools

Expected Results:

1. More than nine forms of cooperation for efficient utilisation of untapped secondary biomass
2. Strengthened capacity of more than twenty value networks such clusters of primary producers
3. More than 200 trained and upskilled primary producers and bio-based ecosystem
4. More than 40 sustainable and circular value chains
5. More than 40 innovative business and governance models adopted
6. More than 30 new high-added value bio-based products and services piloted and scaled up
7. Policy recommendation and a replicability guide

The BIOECONOMY GIANTS consortium, led by ASOCIACION CLUSTER FOOD+I (FOOD +i), consists of 18 partners across 8 European countries (Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain).