On 9 March, Corporación Tecnológica de Andalucía (CTA) organised the kick-off meeting of the Andalusian Bioeconomy Platform of the European SCALE-UP project. The platform, led by CTA, brought together eleven public and private entities that will analyse the potential of the Andalusian bioeconomy, focusing on the olive value chain. Through regular meetings, its members will work to facilitate knowledge exchange and capacity building for the sustainable rural development of the olive sector in Andalusia. 

 The SCALE-UP project, funded with nearly €3 million by the Horizon Europe programme, will generate new tools and partnerships to boost the development of the bioeconomy in six rural European regions, fostering the creation of new bio-based solutions. It will use six regional platforms located in Northern Sweden, Mazovia (Poland), the Atlantic Arc of France, Upper Austria, Strumica (North Macedonia) and Andalusia (Spain). These platforms will foster the exchange of knowledge on the bioeconomy, the creation of new cooperation networks and the implementation of innovation support services.

Members of the Andalusian Bioeconomy Platform

At the first meeting of the Andalusian Bioeconomy Platform, held in hybrid format at the CTA headquarters, its members were able to learn more about SCALE-UP, exchange presentations with the other entities and discuss their role in this initiative. So far, the entities that make up the platform are:  

• The agri-food companies Acesur, Agro Sevilla, la Cooperativa Agrícola San Isidro de Loja, Dcoop and Healthy Food Ibérica.
• The venture capital funds Alter Capital and Axon Partners Group.
• The academic institutions Centro Tecnológico CIDAF, the Instituto Universitario de Investigación de Desarrollo Regional of the University of Granada (UGR) and the Instituto Andaluz de Investigación y Formación Agraria, Pesquera, Alimentaria y de la Producción Ecológica (IFAPA). 
• The Consejería de Agricultura, Pesca, Agua y Desarrollo Rural of the Junta de Andalucía, as a public administration.

CTA, as a member of the consortium of this European project, will be in charge of leading the activities of the Andalusian platform. In addition, it will lead the project’s business development programme to be implemented in the different regions. With an emphasis on the principles of co-creation, transparency and open innovation, the work plan proposed by CTA will provide advice to entrepreneurs to assess market conditions in the bioeconomy, develop business plans and identify sources of funding for their bio-based solutions.

About SCALE-UP

The European project SCALE-UP (Concepts, tools and applications for community-driven bioeconomy development in European rural areas) has been funded by the European programme Horizon Europe. With a duration of 36 months and an end date of August 2025, the initiative integrates nine European entities from eight countries, such as:  

• Ecologic Institute (Germany) – Project coordinator 
• Association of Chambers of Agriculture of the Atlantic Arc (France) 
• Technological Corporation of Andalusia (Spain) 
• International Centre for Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (Croatia) 
• UNIMOS Foundation (Poland) 
• Food Cluster – Business Upper Austria (Austria) 
• Biomass Technology Group (The Netherlands) 
• WIP – Renewable Energies (Germany) 
• BioFuel Region (Sweden)