About the project - A short summary

The rural areas of the North Sea Region (NSR) are expected to play a major role towards the development of a regional circular bio-economy. The objective of the BIOCAS project is to ignite this development and turn the rural areas into smart specialized regions for the integrated and local valorization of biomass, based on biomass cascading principles.

Short summary of the project

The rural areas of the North Sea Region (NSR) are expected to play a major role towards the development of a regional circular bio-economy. The objective of the BIOCAS project is to ignite this development and turn the rural areas into smart specialized regions for the integrated and local valorization of biomass, based on biomass cascading principles. The biomass cascading principle means extracting valuable components out of biomass before it is processed. The 18 BIOCAS partners from Denmark, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands firmly believe that this will generate economic, societal and ecological benefits and prosperity. This will accelerate greening and revitalization of the rural areas.

The main focus of BIOCAS is to realize concrete Biomass Cascading Alliances (BCA's) for a more sustainable conversion of biomass. A BCA covers all stakeholders which are involved in the value chain of biomass (Feedstock -> Processing -> Product + Waste streams/Feedstock). Via triple helix, science, business and governmental input, the BCA's will be realized and thus ignite the development of a strong regional circular economy in the rural areas of the NSR.

The initiatives of BIOCAS share four circular bio-economy principles:

1. An integral approach, including the whole chain of production, collection, treatment/conversion and application.

2. A truly circular perspective that includes the value of healthy soil, nutrition value of food products and biodiversity.

3. A direct linkage between the optimal valorization of biomass and prosperity of regional (rural) communities (closing the cycle as locally as possible).

4. Participation of partners along the entire biomass chain including ‘specialized’ SMEs for the valorization of biomass.