ReviewNew innovative ecosystems in France to develop the Bioeconomy
Section snippets
IAR competitiveness cluster: the innovation catalyst in the french bioeconomy since 2005
In 2005, the regions of Champagne-Ardenne and Picardie located in northern France (now part of the new regions Grand Est and Hauts-de-France) decided together to build a cluster dedicated to biomass valorization as part of the French government policy on competitiveness clusters. 71 competitiveness clusters were created covering all business sectors, gathering 9 900 companies (86% SME’s) and more than 15 000 researchers.
The Grand Est and Hauts-de-France regions are leader in France for
Breaking down the barriers between the actors all along the value chain
IAR brings together more than 350 stakeholders from farmer cooperatives, research organisations and universities to VCs, start-ups, SMEs and large industries, including end-users, around a common goal: the optimal valorization of renewable resources through biorefining (Fig. 1).
This approach has stimulated transversal innovation between different industrial sectors. Since 2005, IAR has successfully supported 219 research and innovation projects for a total investment of 1.525 billion euros (1/3
BRI (Bioraffinerie Recherches & Innovations): an open innovation platform within the biorefinery of Bazancourt-Pomacle focused on industrial biotechnologies
It is now widely recognized that the industrial biotechnologies (IB) are called to play an important role in the future of the bioeconomy in Europe and all around the world. For Europe, IB are considered as one of the 6 key enabling technologies (KET) [2]. Thanks to the recent and huge progress achieved in the field of the biology, it is now possible to produce by fermentation and or by bioconversion a large range of products of interest for food, chemicals and energy and even produce
Going beyond competition to invest in collective research and demonstration tools in the frame of public-private partnership (PPP)
A major step in intelligent collaboration for innovation lies in the capacity of actors to go beyond competition in their respective business and invest together in new tools for innovation. This is made possible when members and decision-makers use to meet and exchange, particularly in decision-making bodies of the cluster. These kinds of collaborations allow them to share the financial risk in the frame of a clear consortium agreement. As financial contributors, the role of the public sector
Alignment of regional, national and European policy to have a strong leverage effect
The conditions for the development of the bioeconomy are at the optimum when regional, national and European strategies are in line. IAR was the link to optimize synergies.
Building a complete demonstrators ecosystem to boost biobased products development
In order to bridge the innovation valley of death, it was decided to build a complete ecosystem of platforms to prove industrial feasibility, up to TRL 8. All plants components are covered (proteins, oils, carbohydrates). In addition, all main technologies are addressed: biotechnology, biogas production, second generation biofuels (bioethanol by biotechnology, biodiesel with gasification), fermentation, plant fractionation. This policy was built in close collaboration with local authorities at
Conclusion: challenges for the future
The pace of development of new biobased products based on biotechnology and bio-based chemistry has slowed down due to the low oil price. Many investments have been done, thanks to public-private partnerships, but the business model of the open innovation platforms has to evolve to take into account the new economic situation. In the meantime, we need long term policy support at the national and European level to reassure investors and start up. Public-private partnership is probably the best
References (8)
- ...
Preparing for our future: Developing a common strategy for key enabling technologies in the EU Current situation of key enabling technologies in Europe
(2017)- et al.
La Bioraffinerie de Bazancourt-Pomacle,l'actualité chimique – juin-juillet-aoÛt
(2013) - et al.
Biorefinery 2030: Future Prospects for the Bioeconomy
(2015)
Cited by (27)
Delivering impactful solutions for the bioeconomy
2023, Trends in Plant ScienceThe role of sustainability in the emergence and evolution of bioeconomy clusters: An application of a multiscalar framework
2022, Journal of Cleaner ProductionCircularity effect in the viability of bio-based industrial symbiosis: Tackling extraordinary events in value chains
2022, Journal of Cleaner ProductionUnlocking the circular ecosystem concept: Evolution, current research, and future directions
2022, Sustainable Production and ConsumptionCitation Excerpt :Coherent with prior work (EMF, 2015), we mean the biological cycle as the flow of renewable materials, while the technical cycle corresponds to the finite materials that are reinserted in the productive systems after recovery. These pioneers studies discussed how innovation ecosystems support sustainable circular agriculture (Pigford et al., 2018) and the central role of innovation ecosystems in developing a restorative bioeconomy (Stadler and Chauvet, 2018). Still in 2018, the ecosystems panorama was applied to a real case of CE (Stewart et al., 2018) and in the implementation of national circular action plans (Whicher et al., 2018).
Critical success and risk factors for circular business models valorising agricultural waste and by-products
2021, Resources, Conservation and RecyclingAdvanced biofuels for transportation in West Africa: Common referential state-based strategies
2021, Biomass, Biofuels, Biochemicals: Green-Economy: Systems Analysis for Sustainability