Bioregions Open Innovation Challenge 2022

Deadline: 12-Feb-23

Applications are now open for the Bioregions Open Innovation Challenge 2022 to support targeted activities to convert business innovation, social innovation, product innovation, or process innovation ideas into reality.

The funding under the grant is provided by the European Forest Institute (EFI) Bioregions Facility, which aims to catalyse innovation and entrepreneurship in forest bioeconomy in its member regions: Basque Country, North Karelia, North Rhine-Westphalia and Catalonia. Thus, granted solutions must solve, totally or partially, specific challenges, defined by Bioregions members.

Challenges and Priorities

• Challenge 1: Carbon Farming & Climate-Smart Forestry
  • Forest carbon offsets can be considered a forest product with a large market potential among individuals, public institutions, and companies that want to materialise their commitment to mitigating climate change. If done right, forest carbon offsets can contribute both to climate change mitigation, and to more sustainable and multifunctional forest management. However, this promising opportunity is yet to be implemented at a significant scale, as wicked barriers persist.
• Challenge priorities
  • Innovative ideas, methods, prototypes, close-to-market, or market-ready solutions to help engage all relevant actors in carbon farming and climate-smart forestry activities. The proposed solution can be technological, business model related, managerial or social, addressing one or more of the following priorities:
    • Monitor, trace, certify and monetise forest carbon and other ecosystem services, increasing reliability and trust on the carbon benefits produced.
    • Facilitate engagement of all actors (forest owners, companies, citizens, etc.) activating and matching carbon offer and demand.
    • Incorporate the different carbon sinks (e.g., biomass, soils, forest products) in carbon markets, and possibly co-marketing other ecosystem services.
    • Incorporate avoided carbon emissions in forest disturbances, e.g., rewarding wildfire prevention and other climate change adaptation activities.
• Challenge 2: Forest Monitoring, Early Warning and Response
  • Climate change has huge consequences for European forests and the services they provide. Changes in temperature, precipitation, and the frequency of extreme weather events, among other factors, are leading to increased impacts of forest pests, diseases, and the expansion of invasive species. In some cases, air quality problems may cause additional stress. It is extremely important to deploy new technologies and to empower forest stakeholders in timely and accurate monitoring of forest conditions, and improve risk assessment, early warning and response.
• Challenge Priorities
  • Innovative ideas, methods, prototypes, close-to-market, or market-ready solutions to improve forest health. Innovation can be technological, business model related, managerial or social, addressing the following priorities:
    • Forest monitoring solutions based on readily available data, open-source GIS platforms.
    • Novel diagnosis and risk assessment solutions for pests and diseases of high actual or potential impact.
    • Methods and approaches for spatial explicit risk assessment, and seasonal forecast of pests and diseases outbreaks.
    • Innovative tools and approaches for social engagement, awareness raising and empowerment in forest health, including via gamification and e-learning.
• Challenge 3: Unleashing the potential of Non-Wood Forest Products
  • Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFPs) can contribute in many ways to human health and wellbeing. They are part of our natural and cultural heritage, and important resources that can support a sustainable bioeconomy with wild foods, natural cosmetics and biomaterials, such as cork and resins. NWFPs can support nature-based tourism and territorial marketing approaches for the benefit of entire communities. However, the large potential of NWFPs is frequently underdeveloped, as significant hindrances remain.
• Challenge Priorities
  • Innovative ideas, methods, prototypes, close-to-market, or market-ready solutions to create value and more multifunctional management through NWFPs value chains. Innovations can be technological, business model related, managerial, or social, addressing the following priorities:
    • Solutions for inventory, monitoring and yield forecast, including those to include NWFPs in Forest Inventories.
    • Novel tools and approaches for resource management, more efficient value chains, harvesting / collection, traceability, and certification.
    • New products, and services based on NWFPs and novel business models for rural areas.
    • Innovative solutions for awareness raising, engagement and empowerment of forest owners and managers in NWFPs value chains, including via gamification, and e-learning.

Funding Information

• A maximum of three grants of 7,000 euro will be awarded for the development of a solution in response to the challenge. Implementation period for the activities supported by the grant is nine months.
• Each application can only address one challenge; Each Applicant can only apply for one challenge.

Target Activities

Targeted Activities include:

• Networking, pitching, and presentation
• Prototyping and piloting activities
• Adaptation of solutions to regional reality
• Training, mentoring, and capacity building
• Travel, logistic and consumable costs

Eligibility Criteria

Applicant is legally established or resident in one of the following countries:

• Member States of the European Union, including their overseas departments and outermost regions
• Member States of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
• United Kingdom
• Albania
• Montenegro
• North Macedonia
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Serbia
• Ukraine
• Andorra
• San Marino

For more information, visit Bioregions.