B-Resilient: Building the biomass resilience of food producing and processing SMEs through green and digitalised value chains

ended

Taking into account the challenges experienced in the agri-food ecosystem and building on opportunities identified during the COVID19 pandemic, the overall objective of the B-Resilient project is to empower food producing and processing SMEs (FP² SMEs) to become more resilient by means of an optimum use of biomass. Since biomass is the key component of the agri-food ecosystem and the bioeconomy, the project will focus on maximising usage of available feedstock and the valorisation of side-streams into bio-based ingredients in a wide variety of ways, building on zero-waste and circular concepts. Noteworthy, the needs and opportunities in the agri-food sector overlap/intersect very much with those in other sectors dealing with formulation of new/improved/more fossil-free and locally sourced products as a key step: all industrial sectors working with bio-based ingredients, i.e. ingredients and building blocks derived from biomass. The project will open up opportunities for FP² SMEs for new (European & international) values chains and to deploy new bio-based business models and services, creating business continuity for their own and for other value chain actors. Further, digital technologies will be adopted to enable the creation of new (circular) solutions and augment their economic and ecologic sustainability. The project will thereby contribute to building resilience within the agri-food ecosystem and accelerate the transition of the SMEs towards a green and digital economy, hence meeting the key objectives of the updated EU Industrial Strategy.