circulaR bioecOnomy Business mOdels owned by agroCOOPeratives

The bioeconomy roll-out on a large scale needs the establishment of new models and interactions between the primary sector and other stakeholders toward co-participated bioindustries.

In this sense, ROBOCOOP-EU proposes a breakthrough cultural change in the agrosector, by deploying effective regional and circular bio-based Business Models for the valorisation of waste streams from 3 agricultural sectors: grape, olive and stone fruit. This will expand real scenarios of commercial opportunities to diversify the economy of small and medium scale farmers and cooperatives, enabling a more versatile biorefinery with a portfolio of biobased products. This model will allow the integration of secondary streams in a holistic closed loop, thus improving the ecological footprint and revenues with social impact.

ROBOCOOP-EU will: involve 8 actors of the primary sector in the establishment of biobased value chains; avoid 25-30% of GHG emissions by means of supply chain and logistic optimisation; design 1 zero-waste multi-feedstock biorefinery at industrial scale (based on existing processes for biocompounds extraction and 2nd streams valorisation); validate 17 new products (3 food formulations, 3 feed additives, 5 cosmetics and nutraceutics, 1 plasticiser and 5 biofertilisers).

In order to achieve a successful implementation of the business models in its 3 regional hubs (Extremadura, Apulia and Western Macedonia), ROBOCOOP-EU will integrate multidisciplinary knowledge by developing co-creative spaces called “Living Labs”, where partners and stakeholders will discuss and validate the most consensual pathway towards sustainable and profitable co-participated biorefinery and seek for public and private fund scheme workable scenario.

ROBOCOOP-EU consortium is composed by 20 multisectorial partners, specifically designed to cover the entire bio-based value chain in non-competitive and complementary position, which in turn will ensure an effective dissemination and exploitation of results.