CEE2ACT

Empowering the Central and Eastern European Countries to Develop Bioeconomy Strategies and Action Plans

To date, only nine of the EU’s 27 member states have a national bioeconomy strategy and action plan. Despite the fact that the bioeconomy is one of the main pathways for the EU to achieve its goal of being climate-neutral by 2050.

The aim of the CEE2ACT project is to empower ten CEE countries (Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Greece, Republic of Serbia) to develop national circular bioeconomy strategies and action plans. Drawing on learnings from countries such as Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden, the project will support the ten CEE countries in boosting societal engagement, innovation, and the knowledge base required for developing their national bioeconomy strategies.

The CSCP leads stakeholder engagement in the project and supports the target countries in establishing National Bioeconomy Hubs. The Hubs will be a platform for relevant national, regional and local stakeholders to meet and exchange on ideas and solutions that promote the deployment of the bioeconomy potential. The Hubs will also facilitate knowledge transfer that addresses the needs, motivations, gaps, and opportunities of each CEE2ACT country.

Stakeholder engagement in the National Bioeconomy Hubs will be bottom-up in order to build trust and stronger connections between actors from public institutions, private sector, industry, energy, small and medium-sized enterprises, feedstock providers (e.g., waste, side streams, farmers, foresters, fishermen), academia and research, and civil society organisations. The stakeholders will co-create national roadmaps as a precursor to drafting the respective national bioeconomy strategies.

The CEE2ACT project started in September 2022. The 17 project partners from Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Greece, Republic of Serbia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden have a clear vision and strong motivation to contribute to meeting the goals of the European Green Deal.

This project receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme.