CommBeBiz - Bridging the gap between bioeconomy research and business
A network to support EU-funded research projects
Aim of the project
CommBeBiz is a network of support for EU-funded projects in the bioeconomy. The overriding objective of CommBeBiz is to significantly improve the knowledge transfer between research and business, policy makers and social innovators. Support for researchers to communicate with the wider European community is a key feature of CommBeBiz, an action funded under Horizon2020.
CommBeBiz works with FP7 and H2020 project partners at all stages of their ideas and research development to enable more effective and speedier transfer of knowledge to the marketplace, to policy-players and for the public good.
CommBeBiz targets five specialist bioeconomy segments: Food, Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, and Biotechnology.
A range of support actions is available to all EU-funded bioeconomy projects depending on the needs and preferences of individual project partners. These include:
Networking;
Visibility through publications and case studies;
Training & Capacity Development in research & business communication – through webinars and face-to-face sessions with experts in EU research;
Assessment of projects’ market and social innovation potential by technology transfer and innovation experts;
Business Coaching – the CommBeBiz Awards selects fifteen projects per year to receive an individual action plan for achieving investor readiness or excellence in social innovation;
Meet/Match with industry, entrepreneurs and policy-players - at face-to-face events and online.
Solutions provided by PRACSIS
PRACSIS’ main task is to communicate and to support communication and best research results to European SMEs, industry and policy makers in the areas of food, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and biotechnology, with the aim of accelerating knowledge transfer and to speed up the pace of innovation.
In this framework, PRACSIS implements the following activities:
Showcasing of bioeconomy project outcomes: Drafting of project, policy and environment briefs, including Innovation Catalogues featuring bioeconomy business success stories.
Dissemination of bioeconomy stories to various stakeholder groups such as media, expert associations, business branches and policy makers. Together with the project partners in CommBeBiz, PRACSIS is exploring various channels to disseminate the articles and stories on bioeconomy results, jointly produced and edited with the researchers.
Enabling training and testing: PRACSIS organises and holds webinars with policy and business experts in the bioeconomy to facilitate exchange between researchers and the experts who evaluate the projects` results measured against a “reality check” of their market and policy potentials.
Organisation of the yearly CommBeBiz event, a high level event where policy makers, food scientists and industry representatives along the value chains meet and share information on bioeconomy-related topics. PRACSIS is in charge of designing and setting the tone of key notes and moderating speakers.
Partners
Minerva Ltd.
Minerva is a UK-based SME that supports organisations across health, care and science to build capacity, competence and confidence, delivering communication and dissemination strategies. Minerva has over five years of experience in communications and media relations with a number of EC-funded projects in Food Quality and Safety.
European Business and Innovation Centre Network (EBN)
EBN is a community of 260 EU Business and Innovation Centres and associated organisations whose role is to support entrepreneurs, innovators and SMEs to start and grow businesses, and contribute to economic development.
Teagasc is the agriculture and food development authority in Ireland. Its mission is to support science-based innovation in the agri-food sector and the broader bioeconomy that will underpin profitability, competitiveness and sustainability.
Project Details
Client:
European Commission, DG RESEARCH
Services/Activities:
Communicating the Bioeconomy