Advances Circular Bioeconomy with Focus on Social Impact and Regional Empowerment
Dublin, Ireland | 30 July 2025
The VALZEO project, funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe, convened a strategic coordination meeting at the headquarters of SITES Ltd in Dublin, marking a pivotal moment in its mission to transform agricultural waste into high-value, sustainable bio-based materials. The meeting brought together leading researchers, innovators, and regional actors to reflect on project progress and align priorities for upcoming work packages, with a distinct emphasis on social sustainability, regional empowerment, and innovation-led collaboration.
Assoc. Prof. Roberto Boada, Principal Investigator of VALZEO and Associate Professor at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), underscored the project’s transformative potential:
“VALZEO is not only about creating new materials from agro-industrial waste, it’s about rethinking the value chain itself. We are building a blueprint for how circularity, social responsibility, and regional knowledge can reshape innovation in Europe’s bioeconomy.”
The day began with a presentation from Irina Vitchinka, who highlighted the pressing challenges facing the European bioeconomy in 2025, including resource scarcity, valorisation bottlenecks, and the need for cohesive governance and investment strategies. Her insights set the stage for meaningful dialogue on how VALZEO can contribute to solving these challenges through integrated, cross-sectoral approaches.
A key highlight came from Margaret Ridge of the North West Bioeconomy Hub, who shared success stories from Ireland’s Gaeltacht region. Rooted in traditional knowledge and community-led innovation, initiatives such as Pathways2Resilience and regenerative agriculture projects illustrated the power of bottom-up bioeconomy models to strengthen rural resilience and circular food systems.
VALZEO’s Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) framework was presented by Leonardo Piccinetti, CEO of SITES Ltd and leader of Work Packages 4 and 5. He outlined how VALZEO goes beyond conventional environmental assessments to evaluate the social dimensions of innovation, including worker wellbeing, community engagement, ethical sourcing, and transparent governance:
“VALZEO is proving that innovation can be inclusive. By embedding social sustainability into our core methodology and working hand-in-hand with local communities and SMEs, we are ensuring that the bioeconomy transition is just, measurable, and grounded in real needs.”
Participants also heard from consultants and core team members including Anna Piccinetti, Anas Khasawneh, and Francisco García, who contributed to discussions on stakeholder coordination, knowledge transfer, and the valorisation of agricultural residues such as rice husk ash into zeolite-based composite materials for environmental and energy applications.
The meeting concluded with a shared commitment to fostering citizen participation, regional knowledge ecosystems, and SME empowerment as core pillars of a resilient and just European bioeconomy. With momentum building, VALZEO enters its next phase focused on policy integration, cross-sector innovation, and social value creation.
Contact:
Maghraby Elseify
VALZEO Communication Team
info@valzeo.eu | www.valzeo.eu
Funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement No. 101086354
