Bioeconomy in the North: Call for proposals
New initiative to support “Research and innovation leading to new products and supply services from non-food/non-feed biomass resources in Northern Europe”.
In the last decade, Europe has faced a great deal of coordination activities in the field of bioeconomy research. Their activities cover almost all thematic areas of bioeconomy but differ in size of the consortia, project duration, scope and aim as well as in the instruments under which they were implemented. The majority of the initiatives address the entire EU in order to foster the European cohesion and, thereby, somewhat disregard regional specificities (e.g. type and sources of biomass available).
Research funders from Finland, Norway and Germany have decided to develop a long-term joint initiative named Bioeconomy in the North (BiN) for the implementation of bioeconomy in the Northern part of Europe. The partners share the view that their countries share similar challenges and similar assets with regard to climate, climate change, vegetation patterns, industry structure and cultural aspects.
The mission’s aim is to deepen the cooperation of researchers, to create critical mass, to generate synergies, to increase the quality of R&D in topics relevant for bioeconomy in the northern part of Europe by supporting excellent scientific communities.
The primary scope is to support “Research and innovation leading to new products and supply services from non-food / non-feed biomass resources in Northern Europe”.
FIRST CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Projects should significantly contribute to at least one of the three following topics:
1. Forest Biomass Production
2. Lignocellulosic Biomass Conversion
3. Valorization and Governance Strategies and Policy Instruments for Sustainable Bioeconomy Development
Consortia must involve at least two partners from two different countries member of the initiative and the participation of at least one industry partner is mandatory. Partners from other countries not member of the initiative may participate in a research project at their own costs indicating their commitment in a letter of intent.
For further information, please see www.bioeconomy-in-the-north.eu
TIMELINE
Call opening: September 17th, 2018
Deadline for submission of proposals: January 17th, 2019
Communication of results: Approximately June 2019
