The overall goal of BE-Rural is to realise the potential of regional and local bio-based economies by supporting relevant actors in the participatory development of bioeconomy strategies and roadmaps. BE-Rural will investigate the particular characteristics of the selected regions at a macro level, as well as existing best practices and business models geared towards the bioeconomy. This higher-level analysis will aid in the assessment of the 'bioeconomy potential' of the selected regions. This work will set the foundation for the implementation of a series of regional Open Innovation Platforms to kick-start the co-creation process, bringing together key stakeholders from academia, policy, business and civil society to develop ideas and capitalise on this bioeconomy potential. Activities will include research & innovation capacity building workshops, educational seminars and webinars, summer schools, and Bio-based Pop-up Stores. Building from this, the proposed 'Network of Knowledge' will aim to share knowledge and lessons learned from the Open Innovation Platforms at an inter-regional level, further disseminating best practices, closing the information gap on issues related to sustainability, and increasing capacities of regional authorities and stakeholders.

The Objective of Ethna System is to develop and implement an Ethics Governance System for grounding good practices in RRI (ETHNA System) in Higher Education, Funding and Research Centres (HEFRCs). The Project will implement and validate a new formal organizational structure within the management structure in 6 different HERCs of the consortium from 6 countries and 3 type of contexts: 2 universities, 2 funding research centres and 2 technological parks in ES, NO, EE, BG, AT and PT. The ETHNA System is composed by an Ethna office (integrity office) and 4 tools and work methodologies for RRI (ethical code, ethics committee, ethical hotline and process indicators to report) that implied institutional changes to respond to ethical challenges that HEFRCs are facing in EU context nowadays in its R&I activities. The institutional changes will be sustainable beyond the lifetime of the project funding because will be implemented and institutionalised in the HEFRCs management structures throughout the Ethna office. A Sustainability Plan will be developed to maximise the impact during 5 years after the end of the project. Therefore, the development of the project will involve a mutual learning among the consortium partners which have different level of expertise and knowledge in the five dimensions of RRI (research ethics and integrity, gender equality, open science, citizen’s engagement). Consortia will contribute to 22 MoRRI indicators and 7 SDG goals (16 targets). GOV2 and GOV3 indicators are particularly focused with KPI project indicators. The process to define ETHNA System is based on Quadruple Helix Mode (QHM) where the involvement of all stakeholders in R&I and the implementation of the ETHNA System and its institutionalization require a sustainable engagement with citizens and society as a whole. Moreover, ETHNA System includes the evaluation of the activities in order to communicate with transparency and publicity its achievements and points of improvement.

Transition2BIO will built upon the most relevant communication and education EU funded projects and initiatives to contribute to the implementation of the updated 2018 EU Bioeconomy Strategy and promote the transition towards a more sustainable production, consumption and lifestyle by implementing an integrated package of activities addressing a wide range of target stakeholders, namely: DEMAND SIDE; SUPPLY SIDE; MULTIPLIERS and SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT. The project will: •Valorize and exploit sectoral communication tools and activities developed at national, regional and local level by EU funded bioeconomy projects and other relevant initiatives •Raise awareness on bioeconomy at large and the related environmental and socio-economic impacts for European citizens through communication activities •Contribute to the transition towards a more sustainable production, consumption and lifestyles through engagement and education activities •Contribute to the deployment of the regional bioeconomy strategies by providing Member States and Regions with methodologies, mentoring, capacity building, tools and materials to raise awareness and communicate bioeconomy (contributing to action 2.3 of updated EU Bioeconomy Strategy) •Facilitate the identification of the educational and training needs towards the creation of an innovation ecosystem for bioeconomy (contributing to action 2.4 of updated EU Bioeconomy Strategy) •Strengthen the European Bioeconomy Network to maximize the collaboration among and impacts of EU-funded projects in bioeconomy (contributing to action 2.3 of updated EU Bioeconomy Strategy) Transition2BIO is promoted by the founders of the European Bioeconomy Network, an alliance of 57 projects and initiatives promoting Bioeconomy. The project partners are involved in the most relevant communication and education EU funded projects (BIOVOICES, BLOOM, SHERPA, BE-Rural, Biobridges, LIFT, NEXTFOOD, BoostEdu, etc) and initiatives like the European Bioeconomy University.