This wrap-up has been compiled by the Programme
Priority 3 Climate-neutral societies
Objective 3.1 Circular economy
Blue-Green Bio Lab:
Wrap-up of project achievements
To reduce excessive nutrient use and greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture, and to boost regional self-sufficiency in food, feed, and energy, the Interreg project Blue-Green Bio Lab helped public authorities develop regenerative business models in agriculture, aquaculture, and industry, bringing circular bio-industrial symbioses into action.
Project achievements
The Interreg project Blue-Green Bio Lab helped public authorities in Denmark, Latvia, and Sweden identify the potential of regenerative business models and equipped them to become driving forces in building bio-industrial symbioses in their regions. These models bring environmental and economic benefits to local communities, advancing the shift from linear to circular use of bioresources.
In a nutshell, the project developed:
- A toolkit for initiating circular bio-industrial symbiosis based on blue and green biomasses
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Project
Details
Project type
Small project
Project duration
October 2022 – March 2024
Contribution to the EUSBSR
PA Bioeconomy
Budget in million
EURO
Involved
Countries
Lead partner
Project partners
Highlights
Bio-industrial Symbiosis Toolkit
The Bio-industrial Symbiosis Toolkit helps public authorities take the first steps towards initiating circular bio-industrial symbiosis based on blue and green biomasses. In such symbiosis, one company’s residual materials become the basis for another company’s production. This inherently cross-sectoral concept links agriculture, industry, and aquaculture. While enterprises form the core of these cooperation models, public authorities play a vital role in enabling them, for example, through local development planning, environmental assessments, or monitoring activities.
The toolkit serves as a step-by-step guide to launching discussions and overcoming barriers to developing circular bio-industrial symbiosis. It describes how to identify local resource streams and support the development of value chains. It contains briefs on climate and environmental benefits, existing knowledge gaps, and the opportunities and challenges of using various blue and green biomass types.
As examples, project partners analysed biomasses relevant to their areas, i.e. Skive (Denmark), Lysekil (Sweden) and Zemgale (Latvia), including mussels, grass, common reed, seaweed and aquatic species suitable for terrestrial cultivation such as vannamei shrimp, red alga Asparagopsis or African catfish.
The toolkit features a simple, dynamic digital 3D tool with building blocks for designing bio-industrial symbioses: www.bluegreenbiolab.com. It also explains how to develop conducive policy environments and practices to spur bio-industrial symbioses.
More info
Interreg pays off
Impacts
First impacts of Blue-Green Bio Lab are already visible:
- Skive Municipality (Denmark) expanded their cooperation with Kalundborg Symbiosis (Denmark) in coordinating and facilitating bio-industrial symbiosis in the region;
- Knowledge gained during the project enabled Climate Foundation Skive (Denmark) to more intensively engage in further development of the energy park GreenLab Skive in Denmark;
- Chalmers Industrial Technology (Sweden), Lysekil Municipality (Sweden), and LEVA (Sweden) strengthened their collaboration with the Swedish company Preem, and initiated a feasibility study on industrial symbiosis and hydrogen storage;
- Zemgale Planning Region (Latvia) has joined the initiative led by the Latvian Ministry of Environment and Regional Development, on advancing circular economy, green bio-industrial symbiosis and waste management.
Blue-Green Bio Lab in numbers
11 organisations cooperating across borders
28 organisations directly benefitting from the project solutions
Project Wrap-Up
Through joint work across borders enabled by Interreg, public authorities in Denmark, Latvia, and Sweden learned to navigate the complexities of developing circular bio-industrial symbioses, and inspired others to follow. By bridging knowledge and skill gaps, the project linked sectors and set in motion new cooperation models that accelerate the transition from linear to circular use of bioresources.
