Transboundary Bioeconomy Meeting in Badajoz

The headquarters of the Scientific and Technological Park of Extremadura in Badajoz hosted, on the 24th of January, the first "Iberian Meeting on Bioeconomy: Innovation for sustainable growth in the EUROACE region."

The purpose of this meeting, which was held under the project RITECA II, was taking a first step in the implementation process of a strategy for an European Bioeconomy in a transboundary context.

Currently, the bioeconomy has the strong support of the European institutions, as this can contribute significantly to the future development of rural areas, boosting shares of supply and demand, creating supply chains of residues as feedstock for bio-industries and playing a important role in sectors such as agriculture, forestry, food industry, biotechnology and bioenergy.

The goal is to put innovation at the service of the traditional sectors of the regional economy in order to create products and services with high added value, which can be more competitive and sustainable.

This meeting brought together renowned professionals from both sides of the border which discussed among other topics the strategies of the bioeconomy in Europe, Hidranatura, technology parks, networks and clusters as instruments in the service of this field.

RITECA

The opening ceremony was attended by the Chairman of the Biologists Order of Portugal, António Domingos de Abreu; the Director General of the Institute of Cork, Wood and Charcoal (ICMC - IPROCOR), Germán Puebla; the Rector of the University of Extremadura, Segundo Píriz; the President of the General Council of Official Biologist Colleges, Pérez Camprubí, and the Dean of the College of Biologists Journal of Extremadura, Antonio Palomeque.

To note that the Transborder Research Network of Extremadura, Centre and Alentejo emerged in 2009 as a project co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) within the Operational Programme for the Spain-Portugal Transborder Cooperation 2007-2013 (POCTEP) to create a system of collaboration between institutions of Extremadura and the Center and Alentejo regions of Portugal, in the field of research, technological development and innovation. Currently, this project is in its second phase.