POWER4BIO project partners conduct a series of cross-visits among demonstrators

In September 2019, the series of ten cross-visits for the POWER4BIO project kicked off with a visit to Hungary.

Until the end of POWER4BIO in March 2021, cross-visits will be organized to the ten POWER4BIO regions for project partners, regional stakeholders, policymakers, and members of the Community of Interest.

These cross-visits within the POWER4BIO project offer great opportunities to gain insights into business models, best practices, existing and potential value chains, as well as possibilities for cross-border collaboration in bioeconomy.

The first POWER4BIO cross-visit took place in Hungary on September 25-26, 2019. In total, more than 50 experts participated, including Hungarian stakeholders and representatives from the ten POWER4BIO regions.

The main organizer of the event was Bay Zoltán Nonprofit Ltd., the representative of POWER4BIO from the Southern Great Plain region.

The visit began with a half-day "future thinking" workshop, where participants imagined a bioeconomy utopia. In the afternoon, a field visit was organized to Pilze-Nagy Ltd. in Kecskemét to showcase a best practice example. Visitors were informed about how biomass can be used for mushroom production and in biogas plants. The first day concluded with a networking event in Lajosmizse.

Excursion during the first POWER4BIO cross-visit to Hungary (photo: Bay Zoltan Nonprofit Ltd.)

The second day of the visit took place in Budapest, at the National Agriculture and Food Exhibition and Fair. Three companies active in the field of bioeconomy were visited: Herbária Zrt, Tungsram, and Grapoila/Virgin Oil Press Kft.

In the afternoon, the symposium "Vision and Collaboration Opportunities of Bioeconomy-Related Organizations" was organized. Several speakers from the fields of research, policy, and bioeconomy administration discussed policy conflicts for the bioeconomy and presented some best practices from Hungarian bioeconomy.

The symposium was followed by a roundtable discussion on the role of bioeconomy in Hungary. The second POWER4BIO cross-visit took place in Naples, Italy, from October 2-4, 2019, organized by SPRING, the representative of the Italian regions in POWER4BIO.

On the first day, an event dedicated to POWER4BIO presented the state of the bioeconomy in the Italian regions involved in the project. Additionally, the Italian bioeconomy strategy, available technologies in the field of bioeconomy, and bioplastics were presented by industry and academic representatives.

In the following days, participants attended IFIB2019, the International Forum on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioeconomy. Co-organized by SPRING, with around 250 participants from 30 different countries, the forum represents a leading bioeconomy event in Europe.

Participants of the second POWER4BIO cross-visit in Italy (photo: Eleonora Diaferia).

IFIB hosted innovative companies, leading bioeconomy clusters, research organizations, and many other international bioeconomy actors, providing participants with insights into different aspects, trends, and technologies of bioeconomy in Europe.

On the last day, a visit was made to the Novamont R&D center in Piana di Monte Verna. Novamont is the leading Italian company in the production of biodegradable and compostable bioplastics.

The R&D center focuses on the development of industrial biotechnologies, such as the transformation of renewable raw materials into molecules of industrial interest. The next POWER4BIO cross-visits will take place in Bavaria (January 21-22, 2020), Flanders (February 20-21, 2020), Lviv (May 19-20, 2020), and Central Germany (July 17-18, 2020). The news section of the POWER4BIO website (www.power4bio.eu/news) is constantly updated and will provide more information on upcoming cross-visits and registration opportunities. For more information, please visit the POWER4BIO website.