The Regional Innovation Valleys for Bioeconomy and Food Systems will contribute to the New European Innovation Agenda and its flagship action in building 100 regional deep-tech innovation valleys.

Regional Innovation Valleys for Bioeconomy and Food Systems have significant potential to support and accelerate the deployment of the bioeconomy in regions where people live and work. They also address the innovation gap within the EU, with a particular attention to countries from Central and Eastern Europe.

The event is organised jointly by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation and the Agricultural University of Plovdiv, in close cooperation with the BIOEAST Initiative.

Event will be web streamed and recorded.

Background

The European Commission started developing the concept of the Regional Innovation Valleys for Bioeconomy and Food Systems with input from Member States provided at a workshop at the European Bioeconomy Policy Forum in July 2023. The resulting concept will be launched at a high-level event hosted by the Agricultural University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Specific objectives are to:

• Present EU instruments which are relevant for building-up a network of Regional Innovation Valleys for Bioeconomy and Food Systems, particularly the New European Innovation Agenda and the flagship initiative on the Regional Innovation Valleys
• Explain the specific characteristics of Regional Innovation Valleys for Bioeconomy and Food Systems and showcase existing good practice examples from the Member States.
• Discuss and explore challenges and opportunities to set-up Regional Innovation Valleys for Bioeconomy and Food Systems, in particular for BIOEAST countries and regions, and discuss the role for the deployment and scaling up of bioeconomy innovations.
• Highlight and strengthen the role of bioeconomy education and skills development, and discuss the needs and gaps in current curricula to support Regional Innovation Valleys for Bioeconomy and Food Systems.

The target audience of the event are existing and potential emerging bioeconomy and food system valleys, with a strong emphasis on less developed regions, relevant bioeconomy stakeholders, academia and students..

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The working language of the event will be English.

For more information, please contact RTD-BIOECONOMY@ec.europa.eu