Estonia: research-business partnerships in the bioeconomy

This is a story about Estonian efforts in valorising bio-resources, in particular red seaweeds, and boosting the blue-bioeconomy

October 3, 2022

Among the three Baltic countries, Estonia has the strongest marine culture. Given the geographical position, the country’s coastline is five times longer than its landline. Despite marine characteristics, the Estonian bioeconomy is yet driven by primary activities on the land – biomass production from agricultural fields and forests. The valorisation of leftover or side-products from bioresources is yet limited. In the BioBaltic project, Estonian partners draw attention to the untapped potential of marine bio-resources, taking red seaweed, as an example. By exploring innovation ecosystem models, project partners aim to identify ways of valorising marine bio-resources and developing a bioeconomy in Estonia.

This storymap welcomes you to dive in the Estonian bioeconomy journey.

The Baltic Pearl

Estonia

Estonia is a country in the Baltic region, bordered by the Baltic Sea in the West, Latvia in the South, the Gulf of Finland in the North and lake Peipus and Russia in the East. Across the Baltic Sea, Estonia is also connected with Sweden and Finland.

Main facts: Area: 45,338 square km (equal to Denmark) Population: 1 328 439 (2022) Capital: Tallinn

More than half of the country’s territory is covered by forest. As a result, Estonia has the 4th best air quality in the world. The population density in Estonia is ~29,3 people per km², making Estonia the seventh most sparsely populated country in the EU.

Estonian Bioeconomy

Production of biomass

Estonia is a strong biomass producing country:

79% of Estonia’s land is currently used for the production of wood and agricultural biomass and it has gradually increased over the last 20 years.
69.3% of agricultural land is arable land, 30% is permanent grassland and the area under other permanent crops is ~0.7%.

The total turnover of Estonian bioeconomy companies in 2017 was 5 billion EUR (10% of all private sector turnover) and export reached 2,1 billion EUR (17% of all Estonian exports).

Added value in bioeconomy companies in 2017 mounted to 1 billion EUR, which makes up 11% of all added value in Estonian companies and 12% of labour is employed in the bio sector.

This indicates a huge untapped potential for increasing biomass processing and generating added value. However, to enable a higher level of sophistication and value creation, Estonia needs to overcome a key challenge: to develop capabilities within the labour market and business community.

Flow chart of the agricultural resources

Agriculture

Currently, the main use of agricultural resources is for food, feed and the export of raw materials (cereal, milk). The valorisation of agricultural bioresources into extracted food additives or industrial use (i.e., for chemical, pharmaceutical, textile or leather production) is yet limited. It is a great challenge and opportunity for Estonia.

Estonia is a large cereal producer. Annually, the country produces 900–1600 thousand tons of wheat and barley, of which 66% are exported.

Oilseed crops make up another important crop category, of which 24% is exported.

In the last decade, the cultivation of legumes and fodder maize has increased significantly, with the production of 70–120 thousand tons and 320–470 thousand tons per year, respectively.

Grasslands, with the help of knowledgeable and skilled agronomists, provide high-quality plant biomass (3200–4300 thousand tons) that is used as cattle feed mainly. This enables the production of a significant amount of milk and meat in Estonia.

Milk and a wide variety of milk products is a large sub-sector today, and there is still potential for increasing export to ca 200 kt per year. In contrast, Estonia is dependent on the import of vegetables and meat.

Despite the existing potential, there are no sizable efforts for valorising the leftovers and side-products from agriculture.

Some of the challenges are that farmers do not reach the critical mass on their own to invest in valorisation. Also, the coordinating efforts are challenged by the scattered distribution of farms throughout the country. Thus, it is generally regarded to be easier and more cost-effective to compost.

Nevertheless, the Estonian cereal production could provide nearly 500 kt of straw for further valorisation, leaving 60 % for soil improvement.

Marine resources

Baltic herring and European sprat are dominating sea resources. At the same time, the consumers prefer European perch, pikeperch, and northern pike. The fish resources have been used very effectively in Estonia. The industry prepares a wide array of products, from fresh to cooled, dried and salted fish products. Frozen fish is the most exported product.

The fishing activity also contributes to the removal of nitrogen from the Baltic Sea. The Baltic herring alone is responsible for an annual amount of 643 and 115 tons of nitrogen and phosphorus removed from the sea respectively. A new opportunity lies in shellfish production, where today there are only a few such farms.

Algae provide several opportunities. Estonian coastline has lots of brown seaweed bladderwrack. Its annual growth is approximately 500 kt per year. Even though it is consumed in the food chain, there is about 10-20% that reaches the shores of Saaremaa and Western Estonia which are mostly unused. One exception is the red seaweed, which is used industrially in Saaremaa.

In order to utilize the marine bio-resource potential in Estonia, future developments should focus mostly on valorising the existing fish stocks, in addition to algae and shellfish.

Wood sector

The wood value chains in Estonia are diverse, with ranging uses from energy, construction, etc. However, similarly to agriculture, valorisation is limited – most of the raw materials are exported and ~50% of wood biomass is used for the energy sector.

Although the Estonian wood industry is relatively traditional, the sector also significantly enhances the recovery of by-products and residues, which is an important basic principle of a sustainable circular economy.

35% of the wood assortment is coniferous logs, which are an input in the production of sawn timber. Sawn timber is produced around 1765 thousand m³ per year, of which 1097 thousand m³ per year is exported. The main raw materials to be exported are round wood (so-called paper wood, sawdust; export volume 2557 thousand m³) and wood pellets (export volume 2749 thousand m³).

Valuable products from sawn timber and logs, such as wooden houses, joinery, and wooden building components (incl. Glulam), wooden furniture, plywood, veneer and particle board and fibreboard, are also exported to a significant extent (between 54-80%).

The local market for wood products is small. 120 thousand m³ of sawn timber and 520 thousand m³ of paper, paper and cardboard products are consumed in Estonia.

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Bioeconomy agents

Estonian bioeconomy development is led by bioeconomy agents that include leading education & research institutions, start-up communities, and various initiatives and events.

Education & research

The Estonian University of Life Sciences (EMÜ) has a key role in bioeconomy development through research and education around the sustainable use of natural resources and rural life and economy. It provides higher education based and develops science and technology in agricultural sciences, veterinary medicine, forestry, environmental sciences, and engineering and technology. EMÜ created its first course called Bioeconomy in 2017 for agronomy students only. Students were challenged to think through the valorisation opportunities of bio-resources. In 2020, a module was added to all BSc curricula in EMÜ to increase the basic knowledge of bioeconomy of all students. Programmes provide a holistic view, interdisciplinarity and enhance cooperation between institutes and between students.

EMÜ Centre of Bioeconomy Focuses on interdisciplinary collaboration initiatives within the university and with other research institutions, companies and organizations. It also initiates and coordinates interdisciplinary research and development of new innovative technologies, seeks funding, organises seminars, public discussions and other scientific events.

Tallinn University of Technology and Estonian University of Life Sciences ( TalTech ) is the only flagship university conducting research and providing higher education in engineering and technology, information technology, economics, science, and maritime.

TalTech offers a Master's curriculum for green energy technologies and an international master's program BIOCEB (Erasmus+). The scientific teams work together with the industry on the development of biopolymers and other high-tech materials from wood and industrial waste. Other related courses offered include synthetic biology, sustainable food production, etc. Since 2021, it has had a Vice-Rector position for Green Transformation.

Tehnopol Science and Business Park has the vision to make the Estonian economy more sustainable by supporting start-ups and SMEs. As the largest science park in the Baltics, Tehnopol provides enterprises with everything they need to develop and scale up, including real-life test environments, office space, business counselling and innovation testing.

Interesting Start-ups

Estonia has a strong start-up community with a high potential to support and foster the green transition. Here we collect some interesting cases:

Myceen is growing carbon-negative materials combining mushroom mycelium and industrial by-products. The company focuses on furniture and interior products while exploring the seemingly endless possibilities with fungi. Myceen is using mycelium, the vegetative part of a fungus, to grow compostable materials that can replace plastics and composites while valorising the wood and agricultural industry’s by-products. Mycelium consists of a network of hyphae that provide nutrients for the fungus. This network can bind loose matter into solid, non-flammable, carbon-negative material with good acoustic properties.

Woola is producing postal packaging of leftover sheep wool. In collaboration with local farmers and shearers, Woola is setting up an industrial-scale leftover wool supply chain. Today 90% of the material being either buried or burnt in Estonia. In late spring 2021, Woola launched a pilot program for people to return their used wool envelopes back to the company to keep the material in the loop.

Suckõrs makes fully biodegradable drinking straws from reed that grows naturally on the shores of Estonia. Harvesting reed cleans up coastal areas and improves the growth conditions of other species. When processed responsibly, items made of reed are fully biodegradable, maintain high functionality, and lessen the global waste pollution caused by the use of synthetic materials.

Okka is producing acoustic and decorative panels made from pine needles. Considered a useless side product of the forestry industry, pine needles serve as a good noise absorbent. The pine needles come from the State Forest Management Centre sustainably managed forests. Moreover, pine needles are plucked by young people with intellectual disabilities from the Maarja Village for a fair reward, for whom it is both a therapy and a way of feeling useful.

Proprotein uses synthetic biology to create a yeast strain that can synthesize dairy proteins. These proteins are suitable for making animal-free cheese, yoghurt, or other dairy products. The company is developing a technology to produce dairy proteins by fermentation with yeast, without the need for cattle farming. The aim is to satisfy the protein need of the growing human population by providing nutritious and tasty dairy products in an environmentally friendly way.

Mää aims to increase earnings from local sheep breeders by producing higher-added-value products from wool. The company produces wool pellets targeted to gardeners that serve as long-term fertilizers and help with snail control in gardens. In cooperation with the Estonian University of Life Sciences, Mää is also developing new products from wool.

Single.Earth helps preserve existing ecosystems using global Digital Twin models. Their main goal is to develop scalable business models that support nature conservation. Single. Earth’s ambition is to help mitigate the destruction of ecosystems that support life.

Fibenol is a 100% private equity-based company focused on creating sustainable biomaterials. The company uses renewable secondary biomass that creates novel value chains that do not just replace but redefine recyclable materials. The goal is to open up new frontiers for many industries.

eAgronom brings digital solutions to farmers to help them make better decisions, simplify labour-intensive tasks, and increase leisure time. eAgronom provides versatile tools to analyse data collected by the farmer, helps with complying with laws and regulations, and generally supports producers with information about what happens in the fields to improve management practices.

Äio tech designs microbes used in the sustainable production of healthy food and feed ingredients. The company uses by-products to "brew" fats and oils and converts sawdust into food. The oils and fats obtained are used to substitute non-sustainable alternatives, such as palm and fish oil. These oils and fats contain proteins, omega-3, antioxidants, and pigments. An additional benefit is that Äio tech processes are not season or climate-dependent nor do they need arable land.

Helis Heiter is a culinary creative and event studio created by a food designer with the same name. They work at the intersection between food, art, and design. One of the products, Vi, received a prize at the Estonian first-ever Food Hackathon in 2021 (“ Greener food for a greener planet ”) co-organised by Garage48, together with the university, authority, and science partners. Vi offers a healthy alternative to sodas using residues from apple peels, cores, and pulp.

Gelatex Technologies is the inventor of the fastest and most cost-effective technology for nanofiber production called halo spinning, which can be used to produce a range of products. Gelatex's main focus is making high-performance edible plant-based 3D scaffolds and microcarriers for scalable cultured meat mass production. In addition, the technology can be used for regenerative medicine, biodegradable filtration materials or energy storage applications.

Gelatex co-founders inspecting produced material

Initiatives empowering start-up development

Several initiatives take place in Estonia that boost the bioeconomy development through the start-up community:

Hackathon is a solution-based start-up competition that brings together teams with the common goal of quickly solving problems based on local industry and private sector needs. Bioeconomy hackathons in Estonia focus on food, wood, and blue economy areas. Following the competition, selected companies/initiatives receive support for developing ideas and turning them into prototypes, including full-scale mentoring by national and international experts supported by local entrepreneurs. Some of the most prominent hackathons include:

Hacking Food . “Garage48 Food - greener food for a greener planet” – The first Estonian food hackathon in 2021
Hacking Wood . “Garage48 Future of Wood” is a makeathon series where people with varying expertise and backgrounds develop wood-based solutions
BioHackathon : for students, start-ups, and innovators in the field of life science
Marinehäkk: organised by TalTech (2021 & 2022) - blue bioeconomy hackathon
EMU initiative - Engaging youth in the bioeconomy sector. Idea-based approach - “Emerging sprout” (“Tärkav idu”) for student and early-stage researcher teams to lay eyes on the bioeconomy and identify the potential.
Mentoring for youth - for students, young researchers and start-ups created with university support.

sTARTUp Day is a start-up-minded business festival bringing together start-ups, traditional entrepreneurs, investors, innovators, and students all over the world into the ‘smart city’ of Tartu and online. The event provides an inspiring-educational stage program, organises matchmaking opportunities, hands-on seminars with professionals and speed dating. Additionally, it provides a large demo area with innovations (i.e. products, pilots and prototypes), and vibrant side events, such as international pitching competitions.

Entrepreneurship education programme “Edu ja Tegu” The programme has been prepared for the implementation of the Estonian Lifelong Learning Strategy. The aim and task are to develop young people’s entrepreneurial competencies in line with the labour market needs. The programme gathers various stakeholders, including the Education and Youth Board, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Economics and Communication, the Ministry of Finance, Junior Achievement Estonia, eight Estonian universities, and county development centres. The programme is co-financed by the European Social Fund and the Government of Estonia.

Bioeconomy events

GreenEST Summit is an international green-tech conference and the flagship event that brings together public and private sector experts, cleantech companies and investors from all over Europe to discuss how to address the green revolution. In 2021, the core themes were set as raw materials, green business models & investors, bioeconomy, smart city, energy and just transition. The conference brought together public and private sector experts, green-tech companies, start-ups and investors with a special focus on Baltic and Nordic countries.

TEUK - renewable energy conference. TEUK, which stands for investigation and usage of renewable energy sources, is the annual conference on renewable energy organised by the Estonian University of Life Sciences. It brings together researchers, entrepreneurs, and politicians to discuss the most pressing matters and new developments.

Strategies & vision

At the start of this project, Estonia did not have a national bioeconomy strategy, neither at the national nor at the regional level. However, during the implementation of the project, and partly via the awareness raised by project partners, the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture coordinated the formulation of the national circular-bioeconomy roadmap - available here.

There are also different government strategic documents related to forestry, agriculture, food, and fisheries support the bioeconomy development. The most relevant are the ‘2014-20 Rural Development Plan’; the ‘National Development Plan of the Energy Sector until 2030’; the ‘Agriculture and Fisheries strategy 2030’; and the ‘General Principles of Climate Policy until 2050’. Additionally, Estonia participates in the macroregional bioeconomy initiatives BIOEAST and Bioeconomy in the Baltic Sea Region.

The mandate for bioeconomy related activities is divided into various government divisions, including the Ministries of Rural Affairs, Environment, Economic Affairs and Communications, and Education and Research. So far, the Ministry of Rural Affairs has been the most active in coordinating efforts with little or no interest from other ministries.

Project vision

Bioeconomy as a unique field of innovation and the core of future economy is not recognised and gets lost in the more generic circular economy and energy transition approach.

We as project partners and stakeholders - want to change that and give the spotlight and status to the bioeconomy that it deserves. We deliberately focus on companies because we see that pressing from the regulator side (public authorities) will take too much time unless the companies themselves will demand action. Thus, we contact established and start-up companies, inspire and educate, and then profile and provide tailored networking and training opportunities.

Designing that supportive ecosystem, companies would feel more motivated to try new ventures, reach out to partners and seek funding.

Challenges

In Estonia, there is little support for the valorisation of agricultural bioresources, to produce, for instance, food supplements, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, textiles, or leather products. One limitation is the divided mandate and management of biological resources between different ministries which has resulted in the development of several uncoordinated strategies. There is however an ongoing debate about the possibility of drafting one comprehensive strategy that could have a more significant effect on valorisation initiatives.

Limited investment in R&D, both by private companies and public schemes, slows down the development of novel bio-based products and services. National funding schemes for universities are devoted to enhancing bioeconomy development from a production perspective. However, Estonian universities are small, have few experts and limited capacity.

Despite the relatively high supply of bio-raw materials, the ability of the Estonian bioeconomy to generate added value per employee is about a third below the EU average. In 2015, Estonia generated 23.000 euros per employee per year compared to the 34.000 euros as the EU-28 average.

Opportunities

After re-independence in 1991, Estonian farmers, foresters, and fishermen had to restart production ‘from scratch’. As of today, Estonia has developed a strong foundation in its primary production, the first step in the value chain. People working in agriculture and food systems, the wood sector, and the marine area are highly motivated and possess a great skillset. They are focusing more on generating higher added value from bio-resources by engaging in higher steps of the supply chain, in secondary and tertiary production.

The strong start-up community and consumers' positive attitude towards local products and new strategies represent great potential for innovation. One well working initiative is the Junior Achievement Programmes in secondary schools, in which students are encouraged to create student enterprises and propose ideas for the valorisation of local resources. Furthermore, some regions have enthusiastic leaders, who are trying to work more strategically with the valorisation of local resources.

Case study

Seaweed valorisation through partnership of RDI institutions and enterprises

Red seaweed (Furcellaria lumbricalis) in the Baltic Sea is a unique renewable bio-resource that has traditionally been used as fertilizer and gelling agent in the food industry (e.g. production of marmalade). Red seaweed is common in the seashores around Estonia and the Baltic Sea and has a high potential to boost the blue-bioeconomy locally and regionally. In the BioBaltic project, Estonian partners explore the entire seaweed value chain in connection with the business model development and institutional innovation capacity building. During the case study, they defined the factors needed to build up an effective partnership between RDI institutions and enterprises within the value chain. The results of the case study could also serve as a model of the innovation ecosystem, and its replicability towards the other blue bioeconomy value chains like shellfish farming, microalgae etc. will be evaluated.

Field study to Saaremaa - 5-6 May 2022 Kuressaare

Although seaweed has been used to produce marmalade already for decades, the Estonian company EstAgar is the only producer of furcellaran, the extraction from red seaweed, in the world today. Additionally, EstAgar is also investing in developing innovative technologies and products based on furcellaran.

Polli Horticultural Research Centre of the Estonian University of Life Sciences together with co-operation partners have established a Competence Centre for Knowledge-Based Health Goods and Natural Products called Plantvalor . The competence centre focuses on the research and product development of plant-based material into food and non-food products. This includes the extraction of bioactive ingredients used in functional foods, eco-cosmetics, household chemicals, pharmaceuticals etc. One of the many research objects of the Plantvalor is red seaweed and the development of technology that could be used to produce red colour pigment (R-phycoerythrin) on an industrial scale for food, cosmetics and biotechnology industries.

In a collaboration between different businesses and research institutions, Plantvalor has built up a partnership in order to explore the possibilities for red seaweed usage. The partnership includes EstAgar (production of seaweed, development of products) and Vetik OÜ (developing red seaweed products for skincare) and also RDI institutions (Tallinn University, Estonian University of Life Sciences). In addition, participation in the Baltic Blue Biotechnology Alliance+ international networks and co-operations are also established which gives strength to this collaboration.

The full case study reports are available in English and Estonian below:

Case study report [ENG]

Case study report [EST]

Project activities

Visits and meetings in Karlstad, Sweden

Over the course of 3 days, we had numerous meetings with academia, experts, public sector and companies, also site-visits.

First peek into the larger conceptual and strategic framework in Värmland. It is important to agree on common pathway and then actively promote it. Karlstad University, Region Värmland and industry, all triple helix partners incorporate the strategy into their plans and activities, this keeps the strategy work alive and connected to real life.

The biggest Cluster in Sweden – Paper Province – was worth visiting. Hearing about their structure, success and plans and making contact with some of Paper Province Cluster members like Compare, Biosorbe, Sting Bioeconomy, Blue Ocean Closures and MeWab/TotalBIO.

Presentations by Paper Province cluster members, Sting Bioeconomy and Compare

There is a lot happening within forest-based bioeconomy and clusters, networking and co-operation plays key role to accelerate this transition. Strong and well-anchored vision is helpful to steer developments and measure success. Innovation takes time and even the biggest and well-established clusters have challenges to keep sustainable bioeconomy agenda on top of business decisions. We met with some companies in the cluster:

Compare - ICT cluster which turned to regional/international tech innovation platform
STING Bioeconomy - Incubator for companies working in the bioeconomy,
Biosorbe - scaling up in the region, a biobased absorbent
Blue Ocean Closures - scaling up in the region, fiber-based screw cap solution

The future of stuff is in the lignin. There are various approaches to wood fractionation. Site visits in Lignocity with RISE and LIXEA.

Visiting Icelandic Ocean Cluster

We travelled to Iceland to get to know the organizations and companies that help Iceland become a leader in sustainability in the world.

The purpose of Business Island or Íslandsstofa was to market Icelandic companies in other parts of the world, support their entry into new markets and bring more investments to the country. All their activities are focused on sustainability - both in the environmental and social sense - a desire to unify.

Accompanied by representatives of the Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tehnopol, Est-Agar, Pärnumaa, TFTAK and the Ministry of Regional and Agricultural Affairs, we had two interesting and busy days ahead!

Islandsstofa. When they asked their stakeholders, how should Iceland profile itself, the unified answer was sustainability. This is the starting point to the work !

In windy Reykjavik, we started in Festa - midðstård um þíðbærni, a sustainability center that brings together companies that want to bring sustainability to the heart of their entire business, and not deal with it only in the marketing department. Festa brings companies together so that they can learn from each other's success stories, do less harm to the environment with their business activities, and contribute more to taking care of it.

Meeting with Matís, we learned how they support raw material valorisation, public health and food safety through food science and biotechnology. Matís is equivalent to Estonian research institute TFTAK. They are to the great extent responsible for many ground-breaking bio innovations in Iceland, heavy research loaded spin-offs like Kerecis.

Exploring the corridors of bio innovation in MATIS. Light-spectre based bone extractor for Fish fillet.

Lastly, we visited the Icelandic ocean cluster Íslenski Sjávarklasinn, where the guiding principle is "100% fish", that is, all fish are used in production, making cosmetics, medicine, accessories, snacks and even clothes from by-products. The mission of the Icelandic Ocean Cluster is to create value by connecting entrepreneurs and knowledge from the maritime industry.

Ocean Cluster visit showed us the true potential of Fish. All of this can be made from Fish, reaching to 5000 EUR economic value for one Fish.

Range of products from seaweed and wild herbs in Islensk Hollusta.

BioBaltic's last day in Iceland was particularly rich in experience. In addition to the extreme weather conditions, we were able to experience great flavors and taste a bit of culture.

This day started with a visit to Íslensk hollusta, a company engaged in the processing of seaweed, herbs and berries, where we tasted dried, salted, pickled and processed seaweed in all sorts of other ways. It is a family business that has greatly expanded its range of products over the years, now offering different forms of seaweed for restaurants as well as teas and alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. The main thing is that their production is completely waste-free!

Next, we drove out of town to a dairy farm where Biobu organic yogurt is made. We were able to stroke the adorable cows and calves, watch the milking robot work and taste the farm's products. This farm is located in an extremely beautiful place, and the family has planted a forest around their home, which is very rare in Iceland.

The stormy day ended at Norræna húsið The Nordic House, a subsidiary of the Nordic Council of Ministers, where we admired their interesting building, designed by Alvar Aalto together with his second wife Elissa, and a large library that offers works in most Nordic languages (except Icelandic) as well as, for example, Latvian in the language. In addition, there is an extraordinary children's library and a beautiful exhibition curated by Estonian artists. Various concerts, exhibitions, conversation evenings and other events take place in the Nordic House, and it is one of the best examples of cultural diplomacy.

Within the framework of the BioBaltic project, representatives of the Estonian representative office of the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Estonian University of Life Sciences/Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tehnopoli, Est-Agar, Pärnumaa, TFTAK and the Ministry of Regional and Agricultural Affairs visited Iceland.

Learn more about why Iceland is striving to be the greenest country in the world and how they intend to do it, by watching this video from our study visit.

Utilising 100% fish has been their motto from the start, which makes a lot of sense from sustainability and economic perspective. Building trust among stakeholders once again proved to be a key for success. This is what the cluster enables now with over 70 companies housed. Four new clusters following their principles have been established. Will Estonia be the next?

BioBaltic Estonia in Iceland - November 2023

Local stakeholder meeting: 17. February held in Tehnopol Tallinn

Nordic-Baltic Bioeconomy Innovation Network Estonian kick-off event was held in Tehnopol, Tallinn, on the 17th of February "The leap of bio-business development: from wool to algae".

The aim of the event was to promote bioeconomy innovation and collaboration between different stakeholders like academia, private and public sectors and introduce Estonian bioeconomy SMEs and their business models, failures, and success stories. With this event, we aimed to foster the discussion around the bioeconomy field and show that it has a much bigger role to play in the sustainable economic model than is currently attributed to it. By growing the bioeconomy network, we aim to provide support to entrepreneurs and interest organizations in acquiring new knowledge, making contacts and getting to know the market.

Recording of the event

Pictures from the local stakeholder event

Impact and outcomes

Apart from international project applications and increased collaboration between organisations focusing on sustainable future, the Estonian BioBaltic project had the following impacts and outcomes:

Kick-off event

17 February 2022 with >400 participants. Title: Towards the bio-business: from wool to algae (Bioettevõtluse arenguhüpe: villast vetikateni). Focus group: bioeconomy stakeholders (incl. Start-ups, SMEs, etc).

Mapping bioeconomy companies and other stakeholders

A comprehensive list of SMEs, start-ups, Industry and public bioeconomy stakeholders

Case study

Red seaweed (Furcellaria lumbricalis) value chain analysis in Estonia.

Story map preparation

Estonia: research-business partnerships in the bioeconomy.

International conference

13-14 October 2022 with ~150 participants. Scientific conference, ERM, Estonia

Stakeholder meeting vol 2

21 November 2022 with >50 participants

Title: Towards the bio-business: Entrepreneur's footprints on the bioeconomy road map (Bioettevõtluse arenguhüpe: Ettevõtja käpajäljed biomajanduse teekaardil)

Focus group: bioeconomy stakeholders (incl. Start-ups, SMEs and public sector).

Circular Bioeconomy study course (3 years)

Bachelor of Science in Agriculture; BSc; or Bachelor of Science in Natural Sciences; BSc has to be confirmed, 180 ECTS, opens 2024 spring. Development of the focused micro-degrees (private and public sector etc).

Study trips

Sweden study trip, March 2023 (Paper Province, Karlstad University, LignoCity (RISE, Lixea, Nordregio).

Iceland study trip Business Iceland, FESTA (sustainability centre), MATIS (Food and Biotech R&D), Islensk hollusta, Nordens Hus, Crisscross, Ocean Cluster.

Development of the national circular-bioeconomy roadmap

Participation in workshops and preparation of the road map, coordinated by the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture.

The road map is available here.