AGRIFORVALOR Thematic Network

AGRIFORVALOR is a thematic network funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme. Its focus is turning waste, by-products and residues from agriculture and forestry into a valuable product or resource for industry through ‘Biomass Innovation Design Hubs’.

Objectives and ambitions

AGRIFORVALOR aims to tackle the issue of how to give value to non-food, high value by-products, wastes and residues from agriculture and forestry. Even if many interesting uses have been found for these agriculture and forestry biomass “sidestreams”, a divide still seems to exist between research and innovation and practice.

The thematic network will try to bridge this gap by connecting farmers and foresters with people from research and academia as well as with associations, clusters, bio-industry, policy makers, business support organisations, etc. in smaller multi-actor innovation partnership networks called “hubs”.

The main objective of AGRIFROVALOR is to find a use for, and systems for organising, these biomass sidestreams. The project will provide the opportunity for people to transfer knowledge and information to enable farmers and foresters to take up existing research results on techniques. This will also enable people not involved in research to transfer ideas that they have for bio-industry applications and business model development.

New value chains from biomass

Some example of types of value chains from these sidestreams which the project will be collecting are:

• Household and office items from lignin fibres
• Bioplastics and raw materials from grass
• Textile and biopolymers from milk
• Table ware from sugar cane
• More here.

Organisation

AGRIFORVALOR is organised in hubs bringing together people from the field of biomass sidestreams in three Biomass Innovation Design Hubs. The Hubs will offer a wide variety of services such as workshops on exploitation of research results and on developing new business models for the forestry and agricultural sector based on biomass sidestreams. The hubs will bring together several different actors mainly on a regional/national level but also at EU-level, including a range of people from the business sector, research and academia, forest and agricultural sectors.

Expected results

By helping the setting up of a circular economy using 2nd generation biomass (sidestreams), AGRIFORVALOR will work towards contribute to achieving a Bioeconomy in Europe. AGRIFORVALOR will deliver case studies and training on how to effectively and economically give use and value to sidestream resources. These will represent new income models for farmers and foresters as well as for rural regions, the project will run coaching for business model development.

Through a central communication platform (www.agriforvalor.eu) all practical results will be compiled in easily accessible and easy-to-read material. The material will also be made available on the EIP-AGRI website.

AGRIFORVALOR has 16 partners from 6 European countries.

Contact

AGRIFORVALOR coordinator contact:

Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum der Steinbeis Innovation gGmbH

Hartmut Welck (Coordinator) welck@steinbeis-europa.de

www.steinbeis-europa.de

AGRIFORVALOR Website: www.agriforvalor.eu

More information on Thematic Networks in this EIP-AGRI Brochure.