​CEI contributes to development of bioeconomy in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe

Over the last years, the CEI has promoted several actions in support of sustainable energy and the development of bioeconomy within its area. It is actively involved in three FP7 projects, “S2BIOM”, “EBTP-SABS” and “Danube-INCO.NET”, with strong complementary objectives in the above-mentioned fields.

CEI Member States’ potential in terms of biomass availability, yet far from being fully exploited, represents an opportunity for economic growth and job creation. At the same time, in order to enhance this potential, effective regional cooperation is needed, able to address various stakeholders such as researchers, economic operators, policy makers and citizens, i.e. the final beneficiaries of bio-based products.
 
In the context of the “Danube-INCO.NET” project - an FP7 Coordination and Support Action tightly linked to the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) - the CEI is implementing a set of activities with the ultimate goal to facilitate the participation of its non-EU Member States in the European debate on bioeconomy. In this regard, as the leader of Work Package 3 - entitled “Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency towards a Bio-based Economy” – the CEI co-organised a large international conference on bio-based economy, which gathered more than 100 participants in Budapest on 19 July 2016.

Under the title “Supporting the development of bio-based economy partnerships in the Danube Region through a triple-helix approach”, this event allowed for a thorough discussion among strategic players such as the European Commission DG Research and Innovation, the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking and the Danube Rectors’ Conference, to name but a few. Representatives from academia, governments and business had the chance to interact both in a plenary session and in the context of thematic panels focused on agriculture, materials, environmental technologies and energy.
 
A Brokerage Event and a Clustering Workshop were also organised back-to-back with the Conference on 20 July, thus providing an additional opportunity to match existing capacities, skills and competences and to facilitate the establishment of collaborations and macro-regional partnerships.
 
In the next future, the CEI will keep encouraging transnational cooperation actions towards more sustainable energy and the advancement of bioeconomy. To this end, It will draw from lessons learned in the framework of the above-mentioned projects with the final goal to enhance the socio-economic development and territorial cohesion of the CEI area.