Technological Corporation of Andalusia (CTA) has gathered 30 experts from European entities linked to the Bioeconomy in a co-creation workshop to accelerate the development of the sector and its employability. The aim of the workshop has been to analyse how to attract students, unemployed and professionals to the bio-based industry, a growing sector that demands professionals with a new profile that involves several academic disciplines and business skills.

This workshop is part of the European UrBIOfuture project that is co-funded by the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), CTA and Sustainable Innovations Europe (SIE) are the Spanish partners of this initiative, which integrates a total of 9 entities from 6 European countries.

According to the most recent estimates of the European Commission (EC), the European Bioeconomy employs 18 million people and generates 2.3 billion euros of turnover. However, one of the challenges for its development is the educational gap between the professional profile demanded by the sector and the existing educational offer.

The UrBIOfuture project is conducting an analysis of this educational gap to propose a training program aligned with the needs of the industry. In addition, UrBIOfuture will organise some promotional events to inform students, unemployed and profesionals of the high demand for qualified professionals due to the industry growth.

The Bioeconomy holds huge economic potential for agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food, bioenergy and new industries that depend on biologically based products. Through the development of biodegradable, compostable and biobased alternatives, the Bioeconomy also provides solutions to the problem of plastic pollution. In this sense, the European Union plans to invest 10,000 million euros in Bioeconomics research by 2027.

The UrBIOfuture project is led by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and began in May 2019 with the aim of promoting European education in Bioeconomy through the creation of university careers, new training programs and research activities in the sector.

In addition to the UAB, the UrBIOfuture consortium consists of 4 research and technology organisations (CNR, VTR, VITO and IHE Delft); 3 clusters (ABP, CTA and PSTP) and a Spanish SME (SIE).