Visions, opportunities and challenges for the Bioeconomy in Southern Europe
The international seminar “Visions, opportunities and challenges for the bioeconomy in southern Europe” was organized by EFI in collaboration with USSE and EUSTAFOR on 28 September 2016 in Donostia-San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain. The seminar was supported by the Basque Government.
The European Union and several of its Member States are in the process of updating their bioeconomy strategies. For this reason it is important to understand the bioeconomic implications at the regional level.
The bioeconomy offers southern Europe the opportunity to catalyze social, technological, and economic transformations towards inclusive, smart and sustainable growth. This event was a platform to strategically reflect on the potential of the development of the bioeconomy in southern Europe in the context of the revision of the EU Bioeconomy Strategy. Participants discussed policies, innovative commercial uses for forest resources leading to the creation of new markets as well as visions, opportunities and challenges that Europe, in particular its southern part, faces regarding the bioeconomy.
Speakers included: Esko Aho, former prime minister of Finland and Special Advisor to EFI; Marc Palahí, Director, European Forest Institute; representatives of USSE, the Basque Government, the North Karelia Council and several companies operating in the field. Piotr Borkowski, EUSTAFOR’s Executive Director, shared with participants the vision of European state forest management organizations (SFMOs) on their contributions to the European bioeconomy.
More documents:
- Programme in English and in Spanish
- Speakers
- Presentations available for download:
- Marc Palahí – La bioeconomía forestal, motor de cambio en la era post-petróleo
- Miguel Ángel Tapiador – Presentación de Iberpapel Group
- Mariana Ferreira – Presentación del Grupo RB Luresa Resinas
- Simão Soares – Silicolife, rational design of microbes for competitive biotechnological processes
- Javier Arregui – Bioeconomía, Ence – energía y celulosa
- Risto Poutiainen – North Karelia towards a fossil-free bioeconomy region
- Piotr Borkowski – European State Forests Boost the Bioeconomy
- Practical information
- Venue: Kursaal Congress Centre
