MAINSTREAMing small-scale BIO-based solutions across rural Europe via regional Multi-actor Innovation Platforms and tailored innovation support

The development of the bioeconomy holds great potential for driving growth in a sustainable manner. Still, many European regions have yet to unlock this potential, despite considerable investments in research, innovation and business support. In this context, MainstreamBIO sets out to get small-scale bio-based solutions into mainstream practice across rural Europe, providing a broader range of rural actors with the opportunity to engage in and speed up the development of the bioeconomy. We start with regional Multi-actor Innovation Platforms (MIPs) established in 7 EU countries (PL, DK, SE, BG, ES, IE and NL) to enhance cooperation among key rural players towards co-creating sustainable business model pathways in line with regional potentials and policy initiatives. Alongside them we support 35 multi-actor partnerships to overcome barriers and get bio-based innovations to market with hands-on innovation support, accelerating the development of over 70 marketable bio-based products and services. In parallel, we develop and employ a digital toolkit to better match bio-based technologies, social innovations and good nutrient recycling practices with available biomass and market trends as well as to enhance understanding of the bioeconomy with a suite of educational resources building on existing research results and tools. Along the way, a monitoring and evaluation framework will gauge the performance and impact of our measures, providing us with the intel required to catalyse mutual learning across regions and contribute to the creation of policy frameworks more conducive to the uptake of small-scale bio-based solutions in rural areas. In the process, we cluster with relevant initiatives and offer tools to facilitate the replication of our results, ensuring their long-term sustainability as viable solutions for supporting the growth of local inclusive and circular bioeconomies in other rural areas, that can ultimately link to form a strong EU‑wide circular bioeconomy.