BioEconomy Regional Strategy Toolkit (1946)

The implementation of the European bioeconomy occurs under the impulsion of entrepreneurs (ranging from carbon-based industries to farmers and foresters) and political authorities, assisted by knowledge workers (R&D).

The drivers are

(1) the search for alternative resources for fossil fuels,  

(2) the response to climate warming by becoming as CO2 neutral as possible and

(3) the industrial demand for new functionalities offered by biobased materials and chemicals.

Regions can be encouraged to apply new development strategies. Regions can also be guided to find ways to support, encourage and enhance concrete actions towards the bioeconomy by current and potential entrepreneurs within a bioeconomy. All regions are potentially ‘bioregions'.

BERST project (12/2013 - 11/2015, EU FP7) provides tools (sets of criteria, catalogues both of instruments and measures as well as of good practices and case studies, and guidelines for elaborating regional profiles to prepare for smart specialisation strategies) to help regions in their trajectory of bioeconomic development.

The aim of this project is to take into account the bioeconomy potential and strategies of a range of different regions in Europe, and therefore to gain understanding of the possibilities and challenges related to the enhancement of biobased economies. The project also provides a support network in order to promote the development of smart specialisation strategies based on regional bioeconomic potential. The results and outcomes of this project will be linked to each region's 'normal' planning and strategic development processes, and therefore to give additional tools for the regions to enhance their bioeconomies. This also means to promote stakeholder relations within bioregions, so that entrepreneurs can guide regional priorities in the development of the bioeconomy.

The outcomes of the project are intended to be taken over by the nascent EU Bioeconomy Observatory.

The project is coordinated by DLO Foundation/ DLO (DLO Agricultural Research Service, Netherlands) - with three participating units: LEI-WUR, ALTERRA-WUR, FBR-WUR. 
(WUR = Wageningen University and Research Centre)

There are altogether 15 partners from eight countries:

2.  Cambridge Econometrics Limited/ CE;  United Kingdom
3.  Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine/ IC; United Kingdom
4.  Flemish Institute for Technological Research/ VITO; Belgium
5.  Centre for Research and Technology Hellas/ CERTH; Greece
6.  University of Ljubljana/ UL; Slovenia
7.  Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V./ Agency for Renewable Resources/ FNR; Germany
8.  JAMK University of Applied Sciences/ JAMK; Finland
9.  Asociación Madrid Plataforma de la Biotecnología/ MB;  Spain
10.  Fundación Parque Científico de Madrid/ MSP; Spain
11.  Region of Western Macedonia/ RWM; Greece
12.  Keski-Suomen liitto (Regional Council of Central Finland)/ RCCF; Finland
13.  Westland / Zuid Holland/ WZH; Netherlands
14.  BioCampus Straubing GmbH/ BCG; Germany
15.  Biobased Delta/ BD; Netherlands

BERST project is funded by the Seventh Framework Programme  of EU. 

 For more information, please contact

Laura Vertainen  [email protected]

Anneli Ylimartimo [email protected]