“The BIC platform can accelerate the green recovery in Europe’s rural and regional areas by supporting regions in realising their Smart Specialisation Strategies,” says Dirk Carrez, BIC Executive Director, announcing the platform’s launch. “The platform enables the bio-based industry and regions to make contact based on common needs, such as an industry’s objective to valorise a bio-based feedstock and its availability in a specific region. By better aligning industrial and regional bio-based investment priorities, the platform seeks to stimulate new bio-based investments and create new, local value chains.”
Applauding the initiative, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, President of the CoR, emphasised the following: “BIC’s new platform is an essential tool in connecting regions with new industrial partners: a sustainable bioeconomy is the green beating heart of the circular economy, a key building block of the European Green Deal, and the activities have to be anchored firmly at regional and local level to foster innovation and optimise the use of biomass. A sustainable and circular bioeconomy contributes to addressing global challenges like climate change, and land and ecosystem degradation. We remain committed to supporting its successful implementation, also for the health of our communities.”
Through its partnership with the CoR and other regional organisations, around fifty European regions currently participate in the platform, representing a broad geographical diversity of regions from the north, south, west and the east of Europe. The platform remains open to additional regions to join in the future.
Read more about the platform, including comments from representatives of five European regions in our new article ‘Regions and Green Growth’.
Image: Nord-Est Romenia (Cosmin Save/Shutterstock)
