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BIObec: leveraging education to unlock the EU bioeconomy’s full potential

By September 7, 2021June 5th, 2023News
Image with the BIObec logo

BIObec, a new project leveraging education to unlock the full potential of the European Union’s bioeconomy, officially kicked off with the celebration of an online meeting today, 14 September 2021.

The increasing importance of the bioeconomy and the bio-based industry, a sector in full growth, encompasses a great potential for economic development and the creation of new jobs. However, this sector also generates a demand for a qualified workforce with new skills and professional competencies. BIObec aims to maximise the opportunities offered by the bio-based industry and the bioeconomy by interlinking universities, innovation labs, and R&D centres with industrial actors and regions to avoid skills and competencies gaps.

In order to achieve this, the project is bringing together 19 partners from 12 different countries that will work for 30 months and build bridges between the bio-based industry and the education system.

BIObec proposes a concept that merges the traditional idea of an education centre with that of a knowledge hub: the Bio-Based Education Centres (BBECs), which will act as multi-level knowledge hubs bridging the gaps between academic institutions, students, innovation entities and policymakers.

“We are very glad to coordinate a project proposing a collaborative perspective for the development of new skills and educational approaches”, said Davide Viaggi, Professor and Researcher at University of Bologna and BIObec’s Project Coordinator. “By developing the concept of the Bio-Based Education Centres, we expect to align the bio-based industry needs for skills and the workforce offer through consistent interactions between all the relevant stakeholders.”
BIObec aims to set the basis for the development of BBECs in six different European regions to answer the current and future needs of the industry and surrounding ecosystem at local, regional, and national levels. These BBECs are expected to ensure a wide geographical coverage in Europe and address different topics linked to the variety of value chains and institutional contexts, paving the way for replication in other regions and boosting the contribution of the education sector to the development of the bioeconomy.

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