Biobord is an online platform for bioeconomy innovation, knowledge sharing, discussion and networking. Our aim is to bring bioeconomy developers together around Baltic Sea Region to solve joint problems.
This platform offers you bioeconomy services from our five partner region (PL, FI, NO, LP, EE) for example agricultural advisory services and courses for business entrepreneurs. By using our forum you’ll get a chance for international matchmaking, knowledge sharing, discussion and innovating.
It is a place for you, if you are interested in being part of a global bioeconomy network. Find people with shared interests, team up and get support to build your business or launch your innovation to global markets. The power of Biobord Network is now in your hands.
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ConnectedByBiobord -project had a kick-off today and here is a summary of the project
* Funded by EU Development Fund programme Interreg Baltic Sea Region, under Capacity for Innovation
* 01.10.2020 - 30.06.2021
* EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region's Bioeconomy flagship project
* 9 partners around Baltic Sea Region:
* JAMK University of Applied Sciences, as the lead partner.
* Other partners: Krinova Incubator & Science Park, Vidzeme Planning Region, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Institute for Environmental Solutions, Tretorget, SEI Tallinn, Paperprovince and Foundation of Social Dialogue PRO Civis
* Budget of 900 000€
Challenges behind the project:
- Regional authorities and innovation actors in the #BSR lack experience in implementing smart specialization strategies.
- Limited number of actors and innovation infrastructure in the rural BSR
- Bioeconomy unfamiliar, especially among rural bio-based business sector. Challenge to bring together relevant actors and develop regional bioeconomy.
Response of ConnectedByBiobord:
Find us from Biobord!
A three-year project of RDI2CluB (Rural RDI milieus in transition towards smart bioeconomy clusters and innovation ecosystems) has become to its end. Project has been funded by European Development fund programme Interreg Baltic Sea Region, and it has been part of the project family of 2014-2020 under the Priority 1 'Capacity for innovation' that is dedicated to actions strengthening the ability of the Baltic Sea Region to create and commercialize innovation. RDI2CluB has also been a PA Bioeconomy flagship project of EUSBSR. RDI2CluB unites authorities, RDI institutes (research, development, and innovation institutes) and business development bodies from five regions (triple helix consortium) to a joint quest of boosting smart and sustainable bioeconomy development in the rural areas of Baltic Sea Region. Project has been implemented with 12 partners across the BSR:
Project mission was bringing together bioeconomy developers throughout the rural areas of Baltic Sea Region to a joint table to solve global and local challenges with bioeconomy innovations. Aim was to connect bioeconomy innovation networks to share ideas, share knowledge, raise awareness, find partners and work together to create business opportunities in bioeconomy. To enable international co-operation and co-development we created several tools and methods.
This report describes the main outputs of the project and other results, as well as the lessons that we have learnt from it.
Outputs and results include:
Partners agreed that project was successful even though subject was not easily comprehendible nor easy to implement. Transnational co-operation and the RDI2CluB network were the most valuable creation of RDI2CluB. Biobord-platform will also stay in the use of partners and development work will continue. All outputs will have a place in future, either in educational purposes, co-working purposes, development purposes or as lessons learnt.
When asked, how RDI2CluB partners have been benefitted from the project, five most popular answers were:
With these results and lessons learnt it is easy to continue the bioeconomy development in the ConnectedByBiobord-project!
Also JAMK university of Applied Sciences has signed yesterday 29.09.2020 an agreement between RDI2CluB-partners of an official Biobord Network that will continue the work of both projects. Stay tuned for more information. JAMK has also signed to upkeep the platform until the end of 2025, so the good work on the platform may continue still several years!
You may find old RDI2CluB partners and new ConnectedByBiobord partners from Biobord!
Riikka Kumpulainen
Project Manager RDI2CluB & ConnectedByBiobord
Phone & Whatsapp +358 505759454
E-mail: riikka.kumpulainen@jamk.fi
Illustration by Diana Pitkänen 2020.
We all wish to live in a clean, pollution-free and well prospering region which cares for its inhabitants. The best way to achieve that is, certainly, bioeconomy. To facilitate achieving this goal in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, several years ago its authorities had decided to engage in the RDI2CluB. On the 24 September 2020 they officially summed up its results in the region. The final conference was held on-line and it was moderated by dr Małgorzata Pink from the University of Agriculture in Cracow who is also a manager of a similar bioeconomy project BLOOM. Around 80 people participated in it via the Internet.
The Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship has participated in the RDI2CluB project from 1 October 2017 to 30 September 2020. This does not mean that bioeconomy in the region terminates in a few days. On the contrary, it is expected to flourish thanks to such a basis. - Thanks to the project we actually started to perceive the bioeconomy as one of the pillars of the region. Although it has been present in four out of seven region’s smart specializations – modern agriculture and food processing, sustainable construction, health tourism and sustainable energy production, we never looked at it as a whole – admitted Mr Andrzej Bętkowski, Marshal of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, opening the final project conference. The main ideas of the RDI2CluB projects were later presented by Mr Sławomir Neugebauer, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Marshal Office of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship and a bioeconomy expert of PP8 RDI2CluB team.
The fact that bioeconomy is a prospective domain is reflected in many EU countries’ bioeconomy strategies or other state documents. In Poland it is a document entitled “The roadmap of transformation towards circular economy”, adopted in 2019. The Świetokrzyskie Voivodeship also refers to bioeconomy in its strategic documents. Additionally, the Regional Bioeconomy Profile has been created as a part of the RDI2CluB project. – Bioeconomy has been present in our official documents, yet not directly. We have had references to it in our Regional Development Strategy or Regional Innovation Strategy. Soon, it will be also mentioned in the project of the Regional Development Strategy 2030+, which is in the consultation phase. The term is going to be officially mentioned there – assured Mr Tomasz Janusz, vice Director of the Department of Investments and Development in the Marshal Office of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. Bioeconomy has been also present in 316 projects co-funded by the Regional Operational Programme for Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship 2014-2020. They were run i.a. by farmers, companies and municipalities. The prospects which bioeconomy creates for the companies were discussed by another conference panelist, Mrs Katarzyna Błachowicz from the Waste Management and Recycling Cluster in a presentation “Bioeconomy as a chance for green businesses”.
A great success of the RDI2CluB project was engaging the youth and children in the subjects of bioeconomy and circular economy. Last year the ideas were taken up by the Youth Assembly of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship during two of their sessions. This year, during the new tenure of this body, they appointed the Commission for Environmental Protection, which officially consults e.g. the Regional Development Strategy 2030+ as well as other projects of state acts of the Regional Assembly of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. The Commission’s Chairman, Oskar Frydrych, presented also the SmogOut project – created by some young councilors in cooperation with RDI2CluB. It concerns educating the citizens on the importance of air quality and their role in local bioeconomy, mainly through meetings and lectures in primary schools.
The panel presentations were followed by a joint discussion with Marek Jońca, Member of the Board of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Tadeusz Pęczek, president of EPRD and Foundation for Education and Social Dialogue Pro Civis – his institution is one of the RDI2CluB project partners, responsible for the development and testing of the Biobord.eu platform, as well as Monika Malanowicz from Regional Science and Technology Centre – another RDI2CluB project partner, responsible for appointing the bioeconomy Hub in the region. Their discussion focused on creating new possibilities in regional bioeconomy development by enhancing cooperation and facilitating the entrepreneurs engaging in the process.
The RDI2CluB is co-funded from the European Regional Development Fund Interreg Programme BSR 2014-2020.
Operating Model 3.0 has been published!
RDI2CluB-project has published today 28.09.2020 third version of Biobord Operating Model. The Biobord Operating Model describes the potential of our network, the functionalities of the platform as well as the user profiles and service paths. Furthermore, the Operating Model provides practical guidance and tools for the uptake of the Biobord, creation of the service paths as well as continuous improvement of the forum community building.
Operating Model, its guides and manuals can be found from Biobord forum, from Biobord User Support. https://forum.biobord.eu/t/biobord-operating-model/802/4
Aija Hytönen, JAMK University of Applied Sciences - Institute of Bioeconomy
Sheep help keep the landscape open. At the same time, wool can be produced in an ecologically sustainable way.
Wool production in Finland is challenging. Finnish wool has good properties and is produced sustainable, but it is not profitable for sheep farmers. Spinning mills currently pay the producer so little compensation for raw wool that it does not necessarily cover even the costs of cutting the wool of the sheep, let alone the sorting costs of wool. With a view to further processing of wool, production should be developed in terms of sheep breeding, feeding and care, as well as in terms of barns conditions, wool sorting and logistics. If the raw wool were of high quality, clean and properly sorted, the spinning mills could also cost a better price for the sheep farmers.
We started the discussion of these starting points in a panel discussion organized by the RDI2CluB project (EU Development fund programme Intterg Baltic Sea Region) managed by the Institute of Bioeconomy at JAMK University of Applied Sciences on Tuesday, September 15, 2020 in BioPaavo in Saarijärvi. The panel was attended by sheep farmers Pia Niemeläinen from the Niemelä sheep farm and Maija Suutarinen from the Hakamaa sheep farm, logistics lecturer Ilkka Suur-Uski from JAMK University of Applied Sciences, sheep and goat production expert Milla Alanco-Ollqvist from ProAgria and entrepreneur Eeva Piesala from Piiku. Annemari Sinikorpi from the Institute of Bioeconomy at JAMK University of Applied Sciences was the moderator of the panel discussion.
The wool of Finland's most common sheep, Finn sheep, is high-quality and good handicraft wool with many opportunities in the world. Despite its good properties, Finnish sheep wool is not very well known in the world, and there would be a need for its brand. Although Finn sheep's wool is usually almost as high quality as merino wool, its small amount compared to merino makes branding difficult. the discussion revealed question that which organization should do the branding. Based on the discussion, it was concluded that it shouldn't be the responsibility of the wool producer.
The small amount of Finnish wool also means that it cannot compete on price in the world. In small volumes, sales and branding should be based more on individual production sold through storytelling and utilizes domestic strengths. The Finnish wool brand must therefore emphasize its ecology, the pure nature of Finland and the ethics of the wool chain.
The quality of the wool plays a key role when looking at profitability. Clean, the right length and properly sorted wool makes wool processing easier and faster. The quality is greatly influenced by the conditions in which the animals are kept, such as the drying of the pens, the humidity of the barns indoor air and the vegetation of the pastures. Feeding and arranging it can have a big impact on the quality of wool. It is worth noting that the most efficient and practical feeding method is often not the best option for wool quality. Processing and producing good wool are a long-term task that must be considered throughout the whole life cycle of a sheep.
Besides of the conditions of barns and care, also the sheep breed, breeding and production stage affect the wool quality. As a matter a fact every point of a sheep's life affected wool and it's quality. The cutting and its timing are also important. By timing the cut, the length of the wool is made as desired, but it can also affect the cleanliness of the wool. After cutting, the raw wool should be sorted, stored and packed correctly.
It is already possible to utilize first class wool quite well in Finland, but the potential for productization of second-class wool was highlighted in the discussion. However, wool that is not suitable for handicraft use can be used, for example, as a soil improver, insulation material, filling for blankets or in the care of horses' feet. Except for the dirtiest wools, almost all wool is suitable for some purpose and should be better utilized.
Whatever the quality of the wool is, it should be sent for processing soon after cutting and sorting. Transporting the wool to the spinning mill is one of the most expensive point in the entire wool chain. In addition to the kilometers traveled, transport costs are also affected by the weight and volume of the
cargo. Wool is lightweight raw material, so weight often does not pose problems in logistics. The volume can be influenced by tightly packing the wool, for example with a wool press, whereby the volume of the package can be minimized. From a logistics point of view, wool is a good product to transport, because more often the limiting factor in freight is weight, so wool could fill the free transport capacity without exceeding the weight limits.
There would be much room for improvement in farm logistics in Finland. Often, wools would be transport by the return loads of trucks if driven organizer would know when, what, how much, and where it should be transported. Logistics was found to be not only the transfer of goods but also the transfer of information, and it is precisely that information that should be made to flow better between the various parties. The lack of a unified system was perceived as a problem for data transfer. An efficient operation would require an information system that would transfer the information on outgoing batches of wool would be made available to transport operators. In that way driven organizer could take the wools into account in their route planning.
From the perspective of an individual farm it would be worthwhile to pack the wool to transport at the same truck that brings other goods, such as feed loads, arrive at the farm. In this case, the wool load would go from the farm to the terminal, where it would be easier to arrange its onward transport to the right destination. This would increase the efficiency of both, the animal farm and the transport companies. However, the operation would require agreements between different actors.
The debate also raised the idea that spinning mills would take over the collection of wools, making operations more systematic. Through the spinning mills, the information would transfer to transport operators, which could plan their routes according to their needs. The activity could also combine common wool sorting or packing points, where farmers could bring their wool for packing. With the points, the wool would be pressed into tight packaging, thus would minimize the need for space. This function requires some author to perform it. It remained unclear what would be the right author for this.
The collection of wool was also proposed to be arranged by the spinning mills. The spinning mills could sell a service where a person they hired would go around the farms cutting, sorting, packing and picking up the wool. However, cutting is seasonal and this would require more than one or two teams to operate. However, the operation would be good option for those farms which use cutting services.
The capacity of Finnish spinning mills also sparked debate. There are several spinning mills in Finland, but still the sheep farmers must wait a long time to get their wool spun. The discussion highlighted the efficiency of the operation of the spinning mills. Could the spinning mills improve their efficiency? If a new spinning mill is planned, the activity could be identified for a different purpose than the production of traditional yarn. It was generally hoped that unused spinning mills machines would be better placed on the market to be put into service if they are not currently in use.
The branding of Finnish wool should be increased and co-operation in its production should be improved. Cooperation would require good communication and information flow in order to work. With a better flow of information and a smooth co-operation, Finnish wool and wool products could be exported to the world where good markets were seen. In Finland, almost everyone knows how to make handicrafts, so their appreciation is not in the same category as abroad. The purity of Finnish nature, northern exotics, the ecology of wool products, the ethics of the production chain and the traceability of wool should be utilized in marketing.
Cooperation would require some author to organize activities and the flow of information. Cooperation should also be cross-professional, so that the strengths of different sectors could be harnessed for the use of the wool chain. When considering the profitability of Finnish wool, all factors should consider. For example, support policy with animal welfare compensation, can improve the profitability of wool. It must also be remembered that poor quality wool is not well compensated. When wool is made of better quality, its demand increases, and the price paid for it is higher. It is therefore hoped that the authors of wool chain will have open minds, big and maybe even crazy ideas and cooperation, as well as the courage to go beyond Finland's borders.
Wool production in Finland is challenging. Finnish wool has good properties and is produced sustainable, but it is not profitable for sheep farmers. Spinning mills currently pay the producer so little compensation for raw wool that it does not necessarily cover even the costs of cutting the wool of the sheep, let alone the sorting costs of wool. With a view to further processing of wool, production should be developed in terms of sheep breeding, feeding and care, as well as in terms of barns conditions, wool sorting and logistics. If the raw wool were of high quality, clean and properly sorted, the spinning mills could also cost a better price for the sheep farmers.
We started the discussion of these starting points in a panel discussion organized by the RDI2CluB project managed by the Institute of Bioeconomy at JAMK University of Applied Sciences on Tuesday, September 15, 2020 in BioPaavo in Saarijärvi. The panel was attended by sheep farmers Pia Niemeläinen from the Niemelä sheep farm and Maija Suutarinen from the Hakamaa sheep farm, logistics lecturer Ilkka Suur-Uski from JAMK University of Applied Sciences, sheep and goat production expert Milla Alanco-Ollqvist from ProAgria and entrepreneur Eeva Piesala from Piiku. Annemari Sinikorpi from the
Institute of Bioeconomy at JAMK University of Applied Sciences was the moderator of the panel discussion.
Biobord-platforms offers a transnational discussion group for sheep farmers and other stakholders related to sheep industry. Join the discussion!
https://forum.biobord.eu/t/results-of-the-panel-discussion-challenging-finnish-wool-production/1744?u=riikkakumpulainen
Rural RDI milieus in transition towards smart bioeconomy clusters and innovation ecosystems, RDI2CluB –project, is co-financed with the European Regional Development Fund.