Shared Island Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative

Funding is available for consortia of research institutions, SMEs and local authorities, each including partners in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, to develop all-island bioeconomy demonstrator facilities focused on the production and application of bio-based materials.

The Government of Ireland’s Shared Island initiative aims to harness the full potential of the Good Friday Agreement to enhance cooperation, connection and mutual understanding on the island and engage with all communities and traditions to build consensus around a shared future.

The Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (DAFM) is inviting applications for funding under a call for proposals on a Shared Island-basis for Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiatives under the Shared Island Initiative, co-funded by the Government of Ireland (Department of the Taoiseach and Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine) and DAERA in Northern Ireland.

Funding will be provided to develop two new all-island bioeconomy demonstrator facilities, to support integration of bio-based research and innovation in the agriculture and marine sectors across the island of Ireland.  These initiatives will be focused on ‘the production and application of bio-based materials including biobased chemicals, materials, food and feed ingredients and soil nutrients’.

The strategic objectives of this initiative are to:

• Accelerate the innovation process and the development of bio-based innovative solutions.
• Accelerate market deployment of innovative bio-based solutions including to-export markets.
• Ensure a high level of environmental and climate performance and sharing of knowledge of bio-based industrial systems.

To achieve these objectives this call for proposals will support the:

• Acceleration of the innovation process and development of bio-based innovation and solutions by funding actions focusing on testing and up-scaling the use of novel technologies for converting bio-based feedstock into useful, innovative, environmentally sustainable, and circular solutions.
• Acceleration of the market deployment, including to-export markets, of innovative bio-based solutions by promoting and supporting actions to scale up innovative bio-based processes, products, and applications.
• Development of a high level of environmental and climate performance and sharing of knowledge of bio-based industrial systems.

This call invites applications which are aimed at supporting bioeconomy development, demonstration and deployment initiatives that respect the principles of circularity, sustainability, and planetary boundaries and which also have the potential to be economically self-sustaining.

Support will be provided for ‘Innovation Actions’, primarily consisting of activities directly aiming at producing plans and arrangements or designs for new, altered, or improved products, processes, or services. They may include prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation and market replication.

Specific call topics are aligned with three pillars of activity (feedstock, processing and products) and cross-cutting actions on communication, finance, and environmental sustainability.