Introduction / EN

BIOEAST HUB CZ

The BIOEAST HUB CZ is the first national BIOEAST HUB in the BIOEAST region established in line with the BIOEAST Governance and Roadmap and with the support of BIOEAST NCP and the Ministry of Agriculture CZ to gather stakeholders and support their engagement in bioeconomy.

The BIOEAST HUB CZ is the coordinator of two BIOEAST Thematic Working Groups - Fresh Water Based Bioeconomy and Bioeconomy Education established at the macro-regional level.

The BIOEAST HUB CZ initiated the establishment of t Network of Bioeconomy Universities in the BIOEAST macro region BIOEAST UniNet.

The BIOEAST HUB CZ membership is free of charge. An organization or a single entity can become a member by signing a Memorandum of Cooperation.

BIOEAST HUB CZ goals are:

  1. to support the engagement of national stakeholders in bioeconomy and to enhance and promote long-term sustainable growth in Central and Eastern Europe
  2. to facilitate the dialog with policy members and to provide a concept paper for the national bioeconomy strategy and support the Czech presidency of the EU in the second half of 2022
  3. to support applied research, technology transfer and join projects of SMEs and research organizations in the bioeconomy field
  4. transfer good practice of bioeconomy innovations to the BIOEAST region

The BIOEAST Initiative is a political initiative, and as such, only ministerial bodies can become members. The BIOEAST Governance and Roadmap defines the role of national BIOEAST HUBs as a national network to gather stakeholders and support their engagement in bioeconomy.

BIOEAST HUB STRUCTURE

The BIOEAST HUB CZ is organised in thematic working groups that, on one hand reflect the BIOEAST thematic working groups (bottom-down), and on the other hand, the needs of its stakeholders (bottom-up). The mirror TWGs reflecting the structure of the BIOEAST TWG (bottom-down) has a leader and co-leader who are approved by the Ministry of Agriculture. The leader and co-leader then invite other experts to join the group. There are the following five mirror TWGs: Forestry, Agroecology, Food System, Bioenergy and new value-added materials and Fresh Water based bioeconomy. The Fresh Water based bioeconomy the was initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture CZ and it is coordinated by the Agriculture Research, Ltd. The BIOEAST HUB CZ is coordinating the horizontal TWG Bioeconomy Education.

There are also currently five national TWGs initiated by the stakeholders. These groups are Biotechnology and new breeding techniques, Composting and bio-based recycling technologies, Engineering, Material Engineering, and Building material, rubber and plastic products.

Bioeconomy as a great opportunity for the Czech Republic and the BIOEAST region

There are several platforms or associations that are already a member of BIO HUB CR:

  • the Association of Research organisations (www.avo.cz), that is the only organization in the Czech Republic representing applied research (AVO has more than 75 members, both entrepreneurs and research organisations)
  • the Czech-Moravian Breeding and Seed Association (www.cmssa.cz) as the professional association of research, breeding and seed companies, member of the European Seed Association (ESA)
  • the Czech Technological Platform Plants for Future (www.rostlinyprobudoucnost.eu/ctprb), member of the European Technological Platform Plants for Future

Among other members of the BIO HUB CR we can name the non-profit organisation Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences (www.tc.cz/en/about-us), business units AgriKomp Bohemia (agrikomp.com/cs) or some research organisations.

BIOEAST HUB CZ aims are:

  1. to create stakeholder groups at a national level and to support their engagement in the bioeconomy
  2. to facilitate dialogue in thematic working groups
  3. to define and discuss national priorities
  4. to secure the communication with the BIOEAST NCPs
  5. to provide discussion and comments to the relevant strategic policy documents
  6. to create a concept paper for the national bioeconomy strategy
  7. to promote the national research topics for the Horizon Europe Work Programme in the expert group established at a national level
  8. to support the participation of the national stakeholders in EU calls for project proposals

Bioeconomy as a great opportunity for the Czech Republic and the BIOEAST region

Northern and West Europe are gradually developing and updating their national bioeconomy strategies, while in Central and Eastern Europe this process is at an early stage. That is why the V4 countries created the BIOEAST initiative, which was gradually joined by another 7 countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The aim of the BIOEAST initiative is to support the preparation of national strategies in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, to facilitate the use of bioeconomic opportunities and to enable more intensive involvement of these countries in international cooperation.

As the BIOEAST HUB CZ is the first national BIOEAST HUB, it provided a guidelines to inspire and motivate other partners from the BIOEAST region to follow. This guidelines also provides details about BIOEAST HUB CZ partners. The document is avaiable on the BIOEAST web pages.

In May 2020, BIOEAST HUB CZ issued the first document that summarises the strategic priorities concerning BE, which was published as strategic documents provided by the public administration in the CZ.

The BIOEAST HUB CZ activities are based on several projects that we have been implementing since 2010: