The Irish Minister for Agriculture, Food, and the Marine Charlie McConalogue T.D., along with his colleagues Ministers of State Martin Heydon T.D. and Senator Pippa Hackett, has announced the opening of a new innovation support measure for the bioeconomy. The ‘Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative’ is part of the EU Just Transition Fund for Ireland and is designed to pilot and demonstrate the bioeconomy in action within the Just Transition Fund Territory.
The scheme which is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union (EU) through the EU Just Transition Fund will offer the opportunity to support close collaboration between stakeholders along the entire bio-based value chain, including SMEs, research-performing organizations, universities, local authorities, clusters, primary producers, bioprocessing industries, and consumer brands.
The bioeconomy has significant potential to improve the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of the agri-food sector. For example, it is now possible to replace products produced from fossil resources with those produced by bio-resources from land and sea, including new biofertilizers and biopesticides, high protein food and feed, bio-based plastics and textiles, and much more besides. Utilizing biomass, including biowastes, from agriculture, food production, and processing in this circular way means we can extract more value from our agri-food system while simultaneously improving overall environmental and climate sustainability, said Minister Charlie McConalogue.
The Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative will support bioeconomy innovation at the Just Transition Fund territorial level and will seek the active involvement of local actors such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), local and regional authorities, community, and local action groups) alongside the bio-based industries.
The Just Transition funding for bioeconomy demonstration initiatives in the midlands will build on the research and innovation capacity that has been developed through previous funding of more than EUR 25 million by my Department. With these building blocks now in place, it is critical that we move those bioeconomy innovations from the research lab to the scaled-up demonstration level. This will help the agri-food system to become more circular, sustainable, and resilient, commented Minister of State Martin Heydon T.D.
For her part, Minister of State with responsibility for Land Use and Biodiversity, Senator Pippa Hackett commented on the potential for revitalizing the Midlands region.
We have secured a total of EUR 20 million for bioeconomy demonstration initiatives in the Midlands under the Just Transition Fund. I am hugely excited by the potential for Midlands farmers, community groups, research organizations, local authorities, SMEs, and other enterprises to come together to realize the potential of the bioeconomy for this region and beyond. The 2023 call has a budget of EUR 10 million for two separate projects, each of which will be eligible to receive funding of up to EUR 5 million. Through this year’s call, we are seeking proposals to develop biobased products, services, and jobs that will help us move to a more sustainable, climate-neutral economy here in the Midlands. I’m looking forward first of all to seeing the successful proposals getting up and running in the Midlands, and ultimately then seeing their pilot projects replicated across Ireland and further afield in years to come, Senator Pippa Hackett said.
Applications must be submitted online through theApplication Submission Portal – Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marinewith a closing date of October 13, 2023.
