EU projects

Contact person for prospective project partners: Philipp von Bothmer.

ERA-NET Bioenergy

ERA-Nets (European Research Area Networks) aim to improve cooperation and coordination of national and regional R&D support programmes. ERA-NET Bioenergy is concerned with energy production from biomass and has set itself the goal to enhance European research cooperation and coordination in this field by way of networking of the relevant R&D programmes of national governments. Founding members of ERA-NET Bioenergy were Austria, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. In 2006, Denmark and France joined the network, bringing the number of member states up to eight.

The ERA-NET Bioenergy workplan includes systematic information exchange (e.g. on best practice of project evaluation, monitoring and strategic issues), networking activities, Joint Work Packages as well as implementation of joint project support. The last action has so far resulted in the implementation of three joint calls (on small-scale combustion, cleaning of product gas from biomass gasification and on short rotation coppice, respectively). As a results of these calls, a total of 14 international consortia have received/are receiving funding for their research work.

The ERA-NET Bioenergy started in October 2004 and was originally due to end in November 2008. However, the cooperation action was extended for 1.5 years, until May 2010. Moreover, 2 new partners from Ireland and Poland joined the consortium in December 2008. Currently work is currently underway to evaluate past joint activities and plan for new actions.

Further information:

FNR contact person: Karen Görner

Biofuels Technology Platform

The European Biofuels Technology Platform (Biofuels TP) brings together stakeholders from industry, research and technology to contribute to the EU strategy for biofuels.

The platform is working on research recommendations designed to

contribute to the development of cost-competitive biofuels technologies
create a healthy biofuels industry
accelerate the deployment of biofuels in the EU through a process of guidance, prioritisation and promotion of research, development and demonstration.

From October 2006 to March 2009, FNR, Swedish Energy Agency STEM and British service company CPL jointly acted as secretariat for Biofuels TP. The main responsibilities of the secretariat are to support Biofuels TP by organising, preparing and following up workshops and conferences, to edit documents, to provide and maintain a virtual office for the Platform and design/maintain its website.

Since 1st of April 2009, the work of the secretariat is being continued under a new contract. The new secretariat is led by FNR, supported by CPL.

Further information:

FNR contact persons: Iwona Podrygala, Mona-Maria Brinker

ERA-Net Industrial Biotechnology

ERA-IB (ERA-NET Industrial Biotechnology) is a network of organisations from 12 countries with the vision to reduce the fragmentation of national research in the area of industrial biotechnology. ERA-IB’s objective is to support economic and academic IB players in sharing risks, costs and skills related to innovation in order to develop new knowledge, new products, technologies or supply services that could reach the market more efficiently. It is aimed at establishing cross-border partnerships between industrial and academic IB research, improving and accelerating technology transfer, and strengthening European efforts to achieve sustainable industrial development. These goals should be achieved by implementing common calls for trans-national R&D projects. The first such call opened in February 2008. A partnering workshop was organised in early March to bring interested researchers from different countries together. The proposals which passed the pre-proposal stage successfully were evaluated by external experts. The projects selected for funding after the second evaluation stage started in the beginning of 2009.

Further information:

Details on ERA-IB and on joint calls: www.era-ib.net

FNR contact person: Karen Görner

EUBIONET III

The IEE-funded EUBIONET III aims to increase the use of biomass-based fuels in the EU by finding ways to overcome market barriers.

National biomass programmes and biomass fuel potentials will be analysed, especially with a view to different industrial residues and to agro-biomass.
The international biomass fuel trade will be promoted, price mechanisms will be analysed and new CN codes for biomass fuels will be proposed.
Certification and sustainability criteria for biomass fuels will be developed in co-operation with market actors.
The implementation of new CEN standards for solid biofuels will be supported.
Bioenergy use will be promoted by raising awareness on the topic of biomass heating and cooling.
The appropriate use of biomass resources will be assessed by analysing raw material availability within and between the bioenergy, forestry and agricultural sector.

4BIOMASS

The Project 4BIOMASS, funded by the CENTRAL EUROPE Programme, will foster the sustainable use of bioenergy throughout Central Europe. Through dissemination of best management practices and best available technologies, accompanied by study trips for local and regional stakeholders to demonstration projects in different CE regions, investment will be facilitated. A joint management tool consisting of a databank pooling all information on CE demonstration projects will be produced to help National Competence Centres (NCCs) and stakeholders to find tailor-made solutions for investment into bioenergy and operation of plants. Information will be obtained from broad national networks connected to NCCs.

Other work packages of the project will contribute to internal integration of the CE area. A transnational action plan directed at policy makers and implementing authorities will give advice on how a transnationally coordinated bioenergy policy can be designed, and a Transnational Forum for stakeholders will facilitate an exchange of experience and further coordination of national policy implementation. Based on existing contacts, national networks will be optimised/enlarged in view of the transnational network 4BIOMASS.

The 4BIOMASS partners consist of national bioenergy expert agencies and of the national ministries responsible for bioenergy.

FNR acts as lead partner (coordinator).

Further information can be obtained from

the official project website, www.4biomass.eu, and
the new project flyer.

Contact persons at FNR: Carina Lemke, Claudia Lutsyuk.

Bioenergy Promotion

„Bioenergy promotion“aims to promote and increase the sustainable use of bioenergy in the Baltic Sea Region.

The project brings together 34 partners from ten countries and serves as a platform for cross-sectoral and transnational networking to facilitate information and knowledge exchange, a coordinated policy development and application of bio-energy promotion instruments. Sustainability criteria for biomass supply, use and trade will be developed and these policy guidelines will contribute to the development and implementation of national and regional biomass action plans.

Bioenergy Promotion was approved as a strategic project in the Baltic Sea Region Programme. It will reinforce sustainable agriculture and forestry and improve the functioning of the energy market, facilitate the creation of networks, clusters and public-private partnerships in the bioenergy sector and foster conditions that will support the Baltic Sea Region in reaching the 20% target for renewable energies by 2020. The project is due to run until 2011.

Further information can be found on the official website: www.bioenergypromotion.net

Contact person at FNR: Aino Martikainen

Star-COLIBRI

The project Star-COLIBRI ("Strategic Targets for 2020 – Collaboration Initiative on Biorefineries") brings together 12 institutions from Belgium, Germany, Britain, Finnland, France and the Netherlands, including five Technology Platforms. It started on 1. November 2009 and will continue until October 2011.

FNR is party to the initiative through the European Biofuels Technology Plattform (EBTP).

The project is funded under the 7th Framework Programme of the EU and aims to assess synergies and overlaps between existing biorefinery R&D projects, in order to promote further developments and cooperation between funding agencies in this area.

Further to this, Star-COLIBRI aims to improve and support collaboration between research and industry.

Additional information can be obtained by contacting info(bei)star-colibri.eu (a project website is currently under construction).

FNR contact person: Kristin Sternberg

WoodWisdom-Net

The ERA-Net WoodWisdom-Net is a European network of research funding organisations. The aim is to improve coordination between national support programmes, to build up a lasting transnational collaboration on R&D funding in the forest and wood sector, and to thereby improve the competitiveness of the European forest and wood industries.

The 2^nd phase of this ERA-Net started in March 2009 under the 7^th FP. Ministries and funding agencies from 12 countries, as well as further associated partners are involved in WoodWisdom-Net now. FNR participates in joint calls organised in the frame of this project as an associate partner.

The 2^nd joint call of WoodWisdom-Net was published on 11^th November 2009 and open for proposals until 23^rd February 2010. At the moment, the evaluation of the proposals is under way, with final results expected in summer 2010.

Details of the call, as well as further information on WoodWisdom in general, can be obtained from www.woodwisdom.net.

FNR contact persons: Sönke Lulies, Karen Görner

BECOTEPS

BECOTEPS brings together nine Technology Platforms (TPs) working in the “knowledge-based bio-economy” (KBBE). The aim of this project, which is funded through the 7^th Framework Programme, is to improve cooperation between the different TPs, enhance the implementation of the respective Strategic Research Agendas und thereby contribute to the creation of a strong KBBE. As a partner in BECOTEPS, FNR represents the Biofuels Technology Platform.

One core instrument of the project is a series of three workshops which will provoke discussions between the stakeholders involved in the different TPs (industries, research, policy makers, funding agencies, lobby groups). These discussions will result in recommendations for future R&D and policy foci. These recommendations will subsequently be summarised in a strategic document (“White Paper”), which is to become a basis for discussions with decision makers on national as well as EU level.

BECOTEPS started in March 2009 and will end in February 2011.

Further details of the project can be obtained from www.epsoweb.org/Catalog/TP/BECOTEPS.htm as well as the project homepage.

FNR contact person: Birger Kerckow

Completed EU projects (selection)

EUBIONET II started in 2005 and ended 31st December 2007. The project analysed current and future trends on the biomass fuel market, collected feedback on CEN 335 biofuel standards from different market actors and estimated the techno-economic potential of biomass fuels until 2010. 30 different solid biofuel supply chains were studied, and the most suitable trading and business models for small- and large-scale biofuel supply chains selected, taking into account sustainability aspects. Furthermore, the implementation of EU Directives in the member states, legislative differences and the major driving forces of biomass markets in EU25 were also studied. Target groups of the project were biomass fuel traders and users, fuel producers, suppliers and policy makers. Key associations, i.e. AEBIOM and CEPI, participated in the project and disseminated information to various stakeholders. Publications and further info can be fund at http://www.eubionet.net/. The work of EUBIONET II is being continued under the new project EUBIONET III.
Chemical-Technical Utilisation of Vegetable Oils (CTVO-net): The project aimed to improve the exchange of information between national and European support for research activities in the field of the industrial usage of vegetable oils. In order to analyse application and sales opportunities of European oils, workshops were organised. The thematic scope of each workshop was divided between six teams and results were published in paper form as well as electronically. The participants of this project came from F, DK, E, NL and UK and experts from all European Member States took part in the realisation of the workshops. The project started 1st April 1998 and was completed 30th September 2000. Further information can be found on http://www.biomatnet.org/secure/Fair/S645.htm
ET Bioenergy: Starting in March 2005, ET Bioenergy (INTERREG III) studied the impact of emission trading and national frameworks on biofuel trade. Aspects included trade in raw or processed biomass, electricity and emission certificates, as well as the implementation of JI projects. ET Bioenergy, coordinated by Finnish VTT, was completed in December 2006. Further inforamtion and project reports are accessible on Eubionet.net.
IENICA: The project objective was to improve national and EU-funded research on the cultivation and industrial use of renewable resources. In the course of IENICA, country reports for EU member as well as candidate states were submitted and a number of workshops and seminars were held. Project Coordinator was the Central Science Laboratory (York, UK). Further information on IENICA can be obtained from its official website Reports submitted by FNR: Report Germany (pdf, 184 kB) and Germany Update 2004 (pdf, 400 kB). Sub-project INFORRM was based on an initiative of ERRMA's. Its report on the main players on the market for renewable resources in the EU and in particular on five member states can be accessed on http://www.inforrm.com.
ERA Biomass: The project improved information exchange on national frameworks, funding schemes, research activities and players in the field of biomass and bioenergy. With its main output, a mapping of research activities within the member countries, ERA Biomass can be seen as the predecessor of following projects such as ERA-Net Bioenergy. The project ended in Octber 2003. More on ERA Biomass can be found here.