POWER4BIO online cross-visit to the Nitra region presented the priorities of bioeconomy development and examples of good practice

23 and 24 September 2020

An online cross-visit to the Nitra region took place on 23 and 24 September 2020 as part of the POWER4BIO project. The event provided participants with an opportunity to exchange knowledge, a space for dialogue and presented the state and development of the bioeconomy in Slovakia and the Nitra region.

During the first day, experts and policy makers presented the position of the bioeconomy in the updated research and innovation strategy at national and regional level, activities and projects implemented by the Bioeconomy Cluster and the BIOEAST initiative. The program also included an interactive part using mind-mapping software. On the second day, examples of good practice in the field of organic farming, plastic recycling and the production of nutritional supplements were presented. A portfolio of support services for entrepreneurs provided by the Slovak Business Agency was also presented, and at the end, the participants were introduced to innovative start-ups, finalists of the EIT Food RIS Innovation Prizes 2019 and 2020.

POWER4BIO project activities take place in ten regions of nine countries. Five regions from Western and Southern Europe have medium to very high levels of bio-economic maturity, five regions from Central and Eastern Europe have low to medium levels of bio-economic maturity.

According to the project manager Danka Moravčíková, the goal of the POWER4BIO project is to strengthen and support regional actors in the transition to the bioeconomy by providing the necessary tools and guidelines for the development and implementation of reliable and sustainable regional bioeconomy strategies. The outputs of the project will be verified in the ten participating regions, which will guarantee their reliability and easy adaptability in other European regions as well. The POWER4BIO project will result in the development of new regional bioeconomic strategies and plans in five regions of Central and Eastern Europe and the review of existing strategies in five regions of Western and Southern Europe.

Within the Nitra cross-visit, all participants were asked to contribute to the discussion “Nitra – region with a flavour of bioeconomy: what could be done?”. The facilitators collected the participants’ feedback in the following mind map:

Selected presentations held in the Nitra online cross-visit can be downloaded here: