On 23 October 2025, the Bioeconomy Regions Summit gathered 100 participants from 40 European regions, representing regional governments, research and academia, regional networks and initiatives, European institutes, the private sector, NGOs and more, to exchange knowledge and discuss how regions can turn bioeconomy ambitions into action.
Here’s a summary of what happened:
Place-based bioeconomy transitions
The event opened with a video message from Silke Gorißen, Minister of Agriculture and Consumer Protection of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, one of the Bioregions Facility’s founding members. In her remarks, she highlighted the strong partnership between EFI, the Facility, and North Rhine-Westphalia, and referred to the Bioregions: Five Years of Impact report, which showcases how the forest-based bioeconomy supports the green transition.
The event continued with two lessons learned related to the ambitions of place-based bioeconomy transitions in Spain.
Cristina Massot, Secretary General of the Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food, Catalonia, described progress on the region’s Bioeconomy Strategy. Having implemented its first action plan last year, Catalonia is now developing the second phase.
“Our bioeconomy strategy has become an umbrella for all government projects – it’s now part of the wider plan for managing the whole territory,” she says.
The aim is to improve the situation and reduce the risk of wildfires, which is one of the main problems in the region.
Watch Cristina’s interview explaining more about the Bioeconomy Strategy in Catalonia.
Moreover, José Almodóvar Aráez, Deputy Minister of the Environment for Castilla-La Mancha, introduced the region’s Bioeconomy Strategy to the audience. One of Castilla-La Mancha’s goals is to foster sustainable forest management, which is essential to maintaining the health of Mediterranean forests and preventing wildfires.
“We want to give more value to the ecosystem services to tip the scales. The goal is to upscale all the forest management across all our forests – not only public forests, but private ones as well,” he added.
The region created an agreement called “Alianza por los Servicios de los Ecosystemas or Alliance for Ecosystem Services”, which brings together forest owners, villages, public administrations, and companies with corporate social responsibilities.
Funding regional bioeconomy initiatives in Europe
Building on the progress made through regional bioeconomy strategies, the next step is securing the resources to turn these plans into tangible results.
Across Europe, funding programmes such as the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) and the European Innovation Council (EIC) play a central role in supporting regional initiatives, from developing innovative bio-based materials to scaling up circular solutions.
Virginia Puzzolo, Head of Programme, CBE JU, explained how CBE JU helps establish Europe’s bio-based sector. Even though regions cannot benefit from their programme, they can ensure that companies inside their territories benefit from European mechanisms.
One action to create synergies between the CBE JU and EU regions is to establish regional platforms to connect CBE JU with regional funding authorities interested in advancing bioeconomy solutions in their regions. The role of the region becomes one of facilitating access, supporting companies, and ensuring long-term growth and sustainability.
“You can have political willingness, but we need to bring willingness together with reality, to take research out of the lab and scale it up,” she said
In addition, Kirill Dimanopoulos, Project Adviser at the European Innovation Council and the SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA), presented Interregional Innovation Investments (I3), which provides capacity-building and investment.
I3 instrument thematic areas are digital transition, green transition, and smart manufacturing. Regarding project focus, bioeconomy appears among the strongest investment areas so far – it cuts across many other priorities.
“50% of project funding goes to less developed regions. That’s how we ensure a strong interregional balance,” he added.
Preserving our natural capital
This next session focused on forests, soils, and water, vital natural resources at the heart of the bioeconomy.
Bart Muys, Full Professor and Head of the Forest, Nature and Landscape Unit at KU Leuven, discussed climate-smart forestry to manage mixed forests sustainably while contributing to the circular bioeconomy.
“From the moment biomass becomes a valuable commodity, we need to be ready with sustainable management plans,” he said. Climate-smart forestry is an approach that fosters mixed forests in support of the circular bioeconomy.
Lars Kristian Selbekk, Halden River Sub-district Manager, shared insights from Norway’s long-term water management of the Halden-Canal river system. He showcased how peatland restoration can support flood prevention, carbon storage, and ecosystem recovery, while also highlighting the challenges posed by fragmented land ownership.
Bart Meuleman, Project Manager, NatuurInvest, presented the Flemish National Park Brabantse Wouden as a platform for circular wood. The initiative promotes local, climate-robust timber and aims to reduce dependence on imported wood.
“We export nearly everything we cut and import what we actually use – that needs to change,” he said. By emphasising locally produced wood, the region reduces import dependence, improves local circularity, and increases economic value locally.
From Italy, Valentino Marini Govigli, Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, discussed reducing trade-offs among forest ecosystem services through a land-sparing approach. He explained how the region of Emilia-Romagna is developing its Regional Forest Plan 2.0 under the ARCADIA project to support multifunctional forestry.
“Italy uses a lot of wood, but most of it comes from imports – we must unlock our local forest potential,” he added.
Scaling up bioeconomy innovation in European regions
This session focused on how European regions are driving bioeconomy innovation from research to market, highlighting approaches to strengthen regional competitiveness and create lasting impact.
Sven Wydra, Head of Business Unit Bioeconomy and Life Sciences at the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, outlined the challenges and opportunities for scaling up bio-based innovations in Europe. He emphasised that while Europe has an extensive network of pilot and demonstration facilities, financing and market uncertainties still slow down the progress. Upscaling requires significant investments, new processes, and better coordination between the regional and EU levels.
“Future-proof regions will be those that connect sectors, build resilience, and use their local resources wisely,” he said.
From the Netherlands, Angèle Liaigre, Senior EU Advisor for Cities Northern Netherlands, presented Circular Friesland and the region’s pioneering efforts in bio-based construction. Over 40 projects across Friesland are already using timber-frame and bio-based insulation methods, supported by the Frisian Hemp Deal, which aims to establish a full local value chain from cultivation to processing.
“Scaling up bio-based materials in construction starts with stimulating demand, and public procurement is a powerful tool,” Liaigre noted.
Markku Pyykkönen and Anne Kokkonen from the City of Joensuu highlighted Forest Joensuu, a globally recognised innovation ecosystem bringing together more than 600 companies, research institutes, and education providers. The initiative fosters open collaboration between public organisations and businesses, supports technology pilots, and promotes Joensuu as the “Forest Capital of Europe.”
“We built our innovation ecosystem on openness, collaboration and information sharing are at its core,” they said.
Finally, Gorka Altuna, Head of Development of Bioeconomy Projects at HAZI Foundation, showcased how the Basque Country positions bioeconomy as a driver of sustainable competitiveness. Through the Basque Circular Economy and Bioeconomy Plan 2020–2024, the region promotes eco-design, industrial symbiosis, and local innovation. In Enkarterri, a public-private hub supports projects such as nanocellulose manufacturing and the recovery of plastic waste from pulp and paper industries.
“Change starts locally. When one community embraces the bioeconomy, others follow,” he said. Together, the presentations underscored that scaling up innovation depends on long-term investment, collaboration, and strong regional ecosystems that link policy, research, and industry.
Call for collaboration
The summit concluded with a strong call for collaboration among European regions and networks to accelerate the bioeconomy transition. Speakers highlighted the importance of connecting regional actors through joint initiatives, shared learning, and innovation alliances that bring together research, policy, and business.
Learn more about them:
The Bioregions Facility is an inter-regional, knowledge-led platform dedicated to accelerating the development of a sustainable forest bioeconomy in European regions. Our lines of action are policy learning, innovation and awareness and engagement.
ERIAFF is the European Regions for Innovation in Agriculture, Food and Forestry, currently with 52 members and 40 observers from 18 EU member states and Norway and the UK. ERIAFF’s working groups focus on agroecology, bioeconomy and resilience, communication, forested regions and more.
The European Regions Research and Innovation Network (ERRIN) has a mission to bring a place-based perspective to EU research and innovation policy and programmes. The network has 120 regional stakeholder organisations. One of their working groups is natural resources and adaptation, which focuses on blue economy, bioeconomy and climate adaptation.
Vanguard Initiative network has 33 regional governments and development agencies around Europe. The focus on innovation funding, innovation platforms on key transitions, and EU policy intelligence. The network collaborates in bioaromatics, lignocellulosic biorefinery, liquified bio-methane, and biopolymers.
ACR+ is an international network supporting the transition to the circular economy in cities and regions. Currently, they have more than 90 members across 23 countries in the EU. They provide members with concrete tools and approaches to enact the transition towards waste-free circular systems in their territories and beyond.
BIO2REG, a Horizon Europe project, helps regions transition to circular and systemic bioeconomy models by providing technical guidance and interregional cooperation opportunities.
BIOECONOMY GIANTS, Horizon Europe project with 18 partners in eight countries, promotes cooperative and circular bio-based business models and fosters innovative collaboration between rural actors and bio-based industries.
BIOEAST acts as a bridge between EU policy and regional implementation, aligning national bioeconomy strategies with the European Green Deal and circular economy goals.
Learn more
A warm thank-you to our member regions who made this event possible, to all speakers, regional networks, and participants for contributing to the discussions.
Download all the presentations here and check out more photos of the summit here.
