Biobord.eu is a platform created to connect bioeconomy developers around the Baltic Sea Region. By presenting your ideas, questions or calls for expertise, you may get in touch with just the right people to help you out! Here you can read the success stories of Biobord, how the forum and network of people around the Baltic Sea Region have made many things possible and successful!

Project partnerships can use an opportunity to create a closed group for internal matters and discussions, as well as be engaged in the joint environment which is made for all platform users.

BeUBio partnership, which consists of 8 partners from across the Baltic Sea Region, aims to promote youth involvement for transition to a bio-based economy and create synergies with other actors and initiatives addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. They needed a place for storing documents, to organize discussions and to place updates of the project issues, so everyone can follow the progress. They see Biobord as a professional environment where they can develop ideas about the project and spread the word. As the BeUBio project coordination is progressing and first tangible results are expected soon, Biobord will serve not only as a coordinating platform but also as the place for disseminating their results to the entire bioeconomy developer’s community of Biobord.

Companies can find inspiring ideas as well as support and improvement visions for their work.

A Polish company wants to follow solutions for the local food producers, inspired by an idea presented on Biobord Forum. They are planning activities to support local farmers in selling their products. In Poland, buying products from local farmers is not a tradition, however it is getting more and more popular. People realize that locally grown food creates important opportunities, provides health benefits and helps to reduce environmental impact. It is also important because it helps to bring the community together and it builds good relationship between consumers and local food producers. The company states: “Biobord is a great source of information and ideas for us. We appreciate the possibility of exchanging knowledge and experiences between the users. For us, Biobord is full of brilliant ideas and really inspiring!”

For researchers, it is important to keep updated on both other researches being conducted, and the industry/civil society’s needs. A great way of doing that is to get in touch with researchers and civilians elsewhere.

Arne Linløkken, a researcher at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, wants to develop methodology for testing water quality by satellite images and drones, and asked on Biobord if anyone was interested in collaborating on this topic. Mr Linløkken found what he was looking for when the Biobord team matched him with Tiina Siimekselä at JAMK for further discussions. We are now eagerly waiting to hear if they come up with a joint research idea and funding for their project!

Businesses are often in need for collaborators for both investments and innovations.

Lämpösi Oy in Jyväskylä, Central Finland, innovated a wood chip and pellet blower and a logistic system for small heating plants, and was searching for organisations interested in utilizing their delivery system, as well as retailers for marketing and sale. They made a post including a video presenting their product at Biobord.eu and found a new partner in Finland. Mr. Markku Miettinen, representative for Lämpösi Oy, states: “Biobord connected us with Keuruu Development Company and the future will tell what kind of cooperation it will bring on. It is proven that Biobord Forum really works, and we are already planning to make new posts on Biobord. I really count on its utility”.

Innovation requires that creative people are willing to share their ideas and thoughts.

Paper Province, Sweden, launched an international innovation competition “What WOOD you do?”, which focused on ideas within forest bioeconomy and used Biobord.eu to disseminate information about the competition. Several users of the platform responded, and both the represented universities of applied sciences and businesses were interested.

The competition gathered 53 innovation ideas from 10 countries! The final is taking place in Sweden in September 2020, with six finalists attending on a Hackathon to show their ideas and introduce them to business leaders, innovation experts and investors. We’ll eagerly wait for the results and great innovations that come out of the competition!

The Interreg project ecoINSIDE2 focuses, among other subjects, on solar power and had an idea on using this for wildlife warnings in off-grid areas. On Biobord.eu, they asked for expertise on this subject – and JAMK University of Applied Science replied that they had both students and lecturers with specialization in this field. Perhaps the future will give us better wildlife warnings also in areas without power grids?

As a part of their work with local food, Regional Council of Central Finland (RCCF) was collecting good practices of local food innovations and projects from other places and asked for this at Biobord. They got answers from both Estonia and Norway, who shared ideas and projects from their regions. Through this network, RCCF also got in touch with some of the distributors of local food, to learn from them. Enni Huotari from RCCF states: “Rural areas have quite similar obstacles to overcome while developing local food chains. Our post on Biobord gave new ideas to us, and I am positive that the answers we got are beneficial also for other members and regions of Biobord community.”

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups often need to expand the network to connect with potential partners with the right knowledge.

In Norway, the SME Bioenergi Innlandet needed increased knowledge about a delivery to a wood chip heating plant and asked Tretorget Ltd for help. Through their network at Biobord.eu, Tretorget managed to gain both expertise from JAMK and funding for this. Thus, Bioenergi Innlandet could fulfil their contract as planned, and the acquired knowledge strengthens their position for future assignments and contracts.

Educational organizations can benefit from the network and use it to gather information, people and other organizations together.

Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences (JAMK) is the lead partner of RDI2CluB and initiated to apply for an extension of the project. They asked the other project partners via Biobord.eu to collaborate, and via the platform we included new partners, developed a plan for the extension stage and wrote the application. The project extension was approved by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region secretariat just before the summer, and the project team looks forward to embarking on the new tasks.

Students may be in a need for experts to gain knowledge and a better understanding of the topics they study.

Elina Siivari, a Finnish student, is writing her master’s thesis on management in bio-sector organisations and needed to get in touch with potential interviewees for her research. She posted a call for experts at Biobord and got several answers from bioeconomy experts willing to share their knowledge and experience. We wish Elina the best of luck in working on her thesis!

These were the success stories from Biobord this time, we are eagerly waiting for more in the future! Many different kinds of actors can use Biobord Platform as a way to reach to success; finding funding, partners or a helping hand on the way!