uP_running joining the SecureChain project Final Conference
On 7th June 2018, the SecureChain project organized in Brussels its Final Conference “Small and Medium Enterprises in Bioenergy: Boosting Rural Employment and Sustainable Biomass Mobilisation“.
SecureChain is a market-update project funded through the European Union’s research and innovation programme ‘Horizon 2020’ under the Grant Agreement no. 646457. The main goal of SecureChain is to promote sustainable bioenergy chains in the rural area, which fulfil high environmental standards and are economically viable for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME).
The main objectives of the conference were:
- Showcase the potential of SMEs for stimulating innovationand employment in sustainable bioenergy in rural regions;
- Discuss lessons learnt from various support and mentoring approaches for SMEs:innovation vouchers, cluster initiatives, networks, and outreach programmes;
- Benefits and challenges of national and international programmesfor fostering market uptake and collaboration in bioenergy value chains.
In line with the last point, the uP_running consortium accepted an invitation from the SecureChain partners in order to present successful examples of APPR biomass value chains. The presentation was given by Mr. Manolis Karampinis from Centre of Research and Technology Hellas – CERTH (also a partner in SecureChain). After a brief introduction on this specific type of biomass resource and the ambitions of uP_running, the presentation focused on what uP_running has identified as keys for success for implementing a value chain based on APPR biomass and on three real “flagship” cases of utilization that have been identified in Europe (the Vineyards4heat project in Spain, the ITC Shabo winery in Ukraine and the Fiusis power plant in Italy). General remarks and lessons learned were passed on as final recommendations to stakeholders interested in initiating or participating in APPR value chains. The full presentation can be downloaded from the link at the bottom of this article.
Overall, the SecureChain Final Conference successfully brought together professionals and stakeholders in bioenergy, notably SME managers, experts, advisors, financiers and decision-makers. The full programme, presentations and photos are available at the conference website: http://www.securechain.eu/conference/
