COPILOT invites Bioeconomy Innovators and Pilot and Demo Infrastructures to CO-CREATE the next DATABASE & PLATFORM of European Open Access Pilot and Demo Infrastructures for the Bioeconomy.

Ghent, 27 August 2024.

COPILOT – a Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking CSA project coordinated by the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant – has opened two Open Calls with the aim to select the members for two co-creation groups for the platform and its activities: Open Call 1 will select 10 Pilot and Demo Infrastructure, Open Call 2 will select 15 Bioeconomy Innovators.

The 25 selected organisations will receive 6k€ each for their efforts in co-creating this future-proof platform, as well as its programmes and business model. In return they need to perform mandatory actions such as attending co-creation workshops, testing the beta-version of the new platform and its business model, shaping, organising and/or attending activities related to the “Scale-up & Growth” and “Exchange & Connect” Programmes the project is offering with the aim to train, nurture and grow the COPILOT stakeholder communities, boosting as such, the growth of the European bioeconomy.

All information on the application procedure can be found on the “Pilots4U powered by COPILOT”  website. Deadline for application is October 10th, 2024 at 5 pm CET. Applicants will be informed about their selection by November 2024, but already need to add, upon application, a “Placeholder” in their agenda’s for the co-creation workshops scheduled on December 4th, 2024 in Ghent (Belgium) until they receive final confirmation of their selection. These first co-creation workshops are organised back-to-back to the Pitch Perfect and Boost the European Bioeconomy 2024 event organised in Brussels (Belgium) on December 2nd and 3rd, 2024.

COPILOT will build further on the legacy of the Pilots4U project that developed a globally renown Pilots4U database of Open Access Pilot and Demo Infrastructures for the European Bioeconomy. Through co-creation, COPILOT will update and expand the database while implementing new software to make it future-proof and allow features in support of a smart business plan to make the platform self-sustainable beyond the project duration. Furthermore the project will grow, train and nurture the stakeholder communities linked to this database by means of a “Scale-up & Growth” and a “Exchange & Connect” Programme.

Notes to editors:

COPILOT is made possible thanks to funding from the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU), it is coordinated by Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (BBEPP), an open-access pilot facility for development and scale-up of biobased processes. BBEPP also coordinated the Pilots4U project (2017-2019), a BBI-JU project that created a database and network of European Open Access Multipurpose Pilot and Demonstration Infrastructures which can be searched and consulted at: https://biopilots4u.eu/. COPILOT will further build on the legacy of the Pilots4U project with the aim to further stimulate the growth of the European bioeconomy.

The consortium partners are:

The project kicked off in June 2024 and ends in November 2026, the total project budget is €1,499,576.5. More information can be found on the following webpage: www.copilot-project.eu.

More information, questions and/or interviews

The following people can be contacted for interviews and further information about the project.

  • Stef Denayer, Pilots4U Stakeholder Relations Manager: Denayer@bbeu.org; +32 475 82 03 00
  • Yang Zou, COPILOT Project Coordinator and Platform Manager: Zou@bbeu.org; +32 489 95 12 68
  • Katrien Molders, Communication Manager Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant: Molders@bbeu.org; +32 486 95 11 09.

The project is supported by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking and its members.

 

Disclaimer Art 17.3. Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CBE JU. Neither the European Union, nor CBE JU can be held responsible for them.

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