| Posted June 19, 2023

The Algae ProBanos Project Kicks-Off: Algae as a Sustainable Biomass of the Future

As a carbon dioxide absorber and oxygen emitter, algae can contribute to mitigating climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. Provided that they do not require arable land, fresh water or fertilisers to flourish, algae can also be a sustainable biomass resource for a number of applications. Our recently launched EU project Algae ProBANOS will explore the potential of algae as biomass and develop sustainable and circular product value chains related to it in the North and Baltic Sea. The objective of Algae ProBanos, which stands for Accelerating Algae Product Developments in the Baltic and North Sea, […]

| Posted June 16, 2023

“Sustainable & Digital into the Future” – Supporting Companies to Become Circular Through Digital Tools

Legal requirements such as the Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP), the right to repair, and the EU Regulation on Packaging require small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in many sectors to become more circular. In addition, by endorsing Circular Economy principles, companies can save resources, reduce their carbon footprint, and develop new business models that make them future-proof. In the workshops series “Sustainable and Digital into the Future” as part of the WertNetzWerke digital centre, Marianne Magnus-Melgar, Mike Tabel and Thomas Wagner explained how digital tools and processes can support SMEs to become more circular, and ultimately sustainable. Using practical examples […]

| Posted June 14, 2023

Final PSLifestyle Workshops: Citizens from 8 European Countries Identify Opportunities to Sustainable Living

Building on the previous workshops, in which the lab participants had identified and jointly developed 100 measures for a sustainable and good life in areas such as housing, nutrition, mobility and general consumption, in this last round of Living Lab workshops they focused on the challenges and opportunities for integrating such measures into everyday life. The inability to influence the living infrastructure due to lack of ownership (e.g., living property), high financial costs, impediment to convenience and/or lack of availability and accessibility to more sustainable options were recurring challenges across the various countries. For example, in all countries, not owning […]

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New Horizon Europe Project SOILUTIONS Launched: Unlocking the Potential of Bio-Waste Soil Improvers

Can soil improvers made from biowaste pave the way for a more sustainable future? The new European Horizon project, SOILUTIONS intends to remove the barriers to market access for these products. Over the next three years, this ambitious initiative aims to revolutionise soil health and reduce the use of mineral fertilisers. The urgency related to soil health has risen to the forefront of European and global environmental policies. The European Commission has set its sights on the EU Mission Soil Health and Food to ensure that 75% of soils attain robust health by 2030, and ultimately achieving the 100% mark […]

| Posted June 13, 2023

Storytelling for Impact: The Case of Our CATALYST Project

Who doesn’t love a good story: be it in books, movies or conversations. Years of scientific research hint that our brains have evolved to tell, understand, and retain stories. We remember stories longer than other types of information and they have a stronger influence on us than just facts. That’s why storytelling is such a powerful tool to connect with people. But what about the role of stories in the working world? How can stories help us convey complex messages in meaningful ways and trigger actors to take action? How can we use stories to increase the impact of our […]

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Collaborating for Biodiversity: Our UBi Project Brings Together 160 Key Actors at the Dialogue Forum in Berlin

At its most recent Dialogue Forum held in June 2023 in Berlin, Germany, our UBi (Business & Biodiversity) project brought together businesses, nature conservation organisations, policy makers and scientists to find new synergies toward halting and reversing biodiversity loss. The participants, including many from businesses and business associations, were addressed via video by the German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, Steffi Lemke. In her address, she emphasised the need for businesses to actively promote the conservation of biodiversity both nationally as well as on a global level. At the launch of the panel […]

| Posted June 5, 2023

Enhancing Sustainable Tourism Practices in Central Asia

Known for its vast mountains and beautiful landscapes, Kyrgyzstan is a major destination in Central Asia for nature-lovers from around the globe. While tourism is a strong economic pillar of the country, it comes with trade-offs such as resource depletion and pollution. Through the EU Switch-Asia project PERETO, we are engaging with Kyrgyz national and local institutions to introduce and enhance sustainable tourism practices that lead to a more resilient future. In particular, PERETO’s focus is on introducing sustainable consumption and production (SCP) measures to the local tourism sector as well as to local consumers, decision makers and financial institutions. […]

| Posted June 1, 2023

How Our SteamBioAfrica Project is Supporting Clean and Secure Energy in Africa

Energy is essential in our everyday lives. However, peaking energy prices have increased levels of energy poverty and insecurity for many communities around the globe. The situation is particularity dire in sub-Saharan Africa. In countries like South Africa, 47% of the households face energy poverty, spending as much as 27% of their income on energy*. In Botswana, up to 75% of the rural population has no access to clean energy for cooking and in Namibia up to 64% of the rural population has no access to electricity**. Through an EU-Africa industry-research partnership, the SteamBioAfrica project is tackling energy poverty and […]

| Posted May 30, 2023

Supporting Communities to Become Resilient Through Better Crisis Management

Imagine developing innovative solutions to tackle emergency situations, but when it comes to their implementation a series of practical challenges emerge. How best to account for the uptake and mainstreaming of effective novel technologies by the key actors who will be using them? The PathoCERT project, through its pilot cases and multi-stakeholder engagement processes, tackles this, enabling not only the testing of developed technologies, but also facilitating co-development and feedback mechanisms thanks to its Communities of Practices (CoPs) approach. An efficient response to waterborne pathogen contamination events requires a high-level of coordination among all actors, from those in charge of […]

| Posted May 24, 2023

Our REIF Project: How Artificial Intelligence Can Save Food

The complexity of the food industry has so far been a hurdle to food waste reduction. On the positive side, due to this complexity, the food industry generates an above-average amount of data that can now be harnessed through disruptive approaches such as Artificial Intelligence (AI). Through the digital marketplace, the REIF project wants to enable a value-added network for the food industry to create synergies and use AI in ways that benefit the industry, the environment, and society alike. The AI services offered on the marketplace, can help actors implement various measures for the respective value-added stages along the […]

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