Engage4BIO
The project aimed to strengthen the bio-based economy (bioeconomy) and foster sustainable regional innovation across the participating countries and Europe as a whole. To achieve this, the consortium applied design thinking, co-creation, and art and design approaches to strengthen the societal uptake of the bioeconomy, promote cross-sectoral collaboration, and stimulate innovation.
Throughout the three-year project, the consortium organised nearly 100 international events and activities, engaging stakeholders from the quadruple helix: higher education and research, industry, policymakers, and civil society. These included co-creation workshops involving diverse stakeholder groups, international conferences and symposia, festival appearances, exhibitions, performances, thematic hands-on workshops, hackathons, design competitions, educational programmes, training courses, webinars, podcasts, and other knowledge-sharing initiatives. Together, these activities promoted knowledge exchange on the bioeconomy, supported the development of innovation partnerships, and encouraged the active involvement of diverse societal actors in the transition towards a more sustainable future.
Objectives
A key objective of the project was to strengthen knowledge, visibility, and collaboration around the bioeconomy across the participating regions, while fostering dialogue and joint innovation processes among a wide range of societal and economic stakeholders. To this end, the consortium employed participatory and creative methodologies that enabled participants to jointly explore bioeconomy-related challenges and opportunities, co-develop innovative solutions, and contribute to the transition towards more sustainable futures.
In Hungary, MOME, in collaboration with Bay Zoltán Nonprofit Ltd., coordinated the development of the national platform for the agri-food value chain and implemented a wide range of awareness-raising, educational, and community engagement activities. Through these initiatives, MOME played a leading role in integrating art and design approaches into the project, introducing new perspectives on the bioeconomy and contributing to its broader societal understanding.
Partners
1 Centre for Social Innovation GmbH (ZSI), Austria
2 Wageningen Research (WR), The Netherlands
3 Agenzia per la Promozione della Ricerca Europea (APRE), Italy
4 Bay Zoltan Nonprofit Ltd for Applied Research (BZN), Hungary
5 European Association for Education of Adults (EAEA), Belgium
EAEA Associate Partners: 6) Verband Österreichischer Volkshochschulen (VOEV), Austria; 7) Nevelők Háza Egyesület (NHE), Hungary; 8) Learn for Life (LfL), The Netherlands;
9 Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME)
10 ArtEZ University of the Arts (ArtEZ), The Netherlands
11 CLIC Innovation Oy (CLIC), Finland
12 Business Upper Austria Wirtschaftsagentur GmbH (TMG), Austria
13 Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (MET), Finland
14 University of Palermo (UNIPA), Italy
Associated partners:
15 Uudenmaan Liitto - Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council (HURC), Finland
16 Distretto della pesca e crescita BLU (COSVAP), Italy
17 Consorzio Universitario della Provincia di Trapani (CUPT), Italy
18 Creative.Region Linz & Upper Austria GmbH (CREARE), Austria
19 Holzcluster Steiermark GmbH (HCS), Austria
20 Groene Metropoolregio Arnhem-Nijmegen (GMR), The Netherlands
21 Bavarian Research Alliance GMBH (BayFOR), Germany
Activities
