International cooperation in research and innovation for the future European forest-based sector

1. International cooperationin research and innovationfor the future European forest-based sector The BIOEAST Initiative and the Forestry Working Group Barna Kovacs BIOEAST Secretary General Brussels, 05 January 2019

2. BIOEAST Initiative Central-Eastern European Initiative for Knowledge-based Agriculture, Forestryand Aquaculturein the Bioeconomy Shared strategic research and innovation framework for working towards the development of a sustainable bioeconomy in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. WhyBIOEAST: Lowperformance of knowledge-based agriculture, aquaculture and forestry inthe bioeconomy, significant internal disparities in terms of research and innovation performance,and low participation of CEE region in H2020. Aquaculture

3. BIOEAST macro-region Baltics: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania Central-EasternEurope (Visegrad 4): CzechRepublic, Hungary,Poland, Slovakia South-EasternEurope: Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Slovenia

4. The pushing factors (outside) are calling for: strategic thinking at national level • To solve „food first” issues • To ensure sustainable yields • To have cascading approach for biomass use • To secure circularity • To sustain the diversity of production systems

5. The (internal) national level factors not necessary pushing for complex strategic thinking • Lack of societal understanding and participation in addressing challenges • Traditional knowledge transfer process • Sector based, parallel processes (ex. agro-food sector) • Often missing evidence based policy-making • Market driven economy (mostly profit driven, some times technology driven, but less governance) • Missing macro-regional approach for the sustainability (economic, environmental, societal)

6. OBJECTIVES of the macroregional BIOEAST Initiative: • Initiate cooperation: establish a multi-stakeholder network to facilitate joint actions; • Provide an evidence base: establish data-driven support for implementation of policies; • Support strategies: create the cross-sectorial approach for the development of a national circular and bioeconomy strategies; • Focus on research: map specific challenges for a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda; • Improve skills: train a new generation of dedicated multi-stakeholder actors; • Develop synergies: promote regional, national, EU and international funding opportunities; • Increase visibility: draw attention to specific challenges of the CEE regions.

7. Three political agreements of the Agri Ministers 26. October 2016: VISEGRAD 4 Group + 3 Countries: on stronger inclusion into H2020 21. September 2017: VISEGRAD 4 Group + 4 Countries: on broadening the remit of the BIOEAST initiative beyond HORIZON2020 13. June 2018: VISEGRAD 4 Group + 7 countries (V4: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia): on the Vision for BIOEAST

8. BIOEAST mission I. to assist Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries to operationalise their Visionfor 2030 drawing on their potential and offering opportunities for: 1. A sustainable increase of biomass production, to become competitive and leading, high quality, food and feed producers worldwide; 2. A circular (“zero waste”) processing of the available biomass, to become key players in thedevelopment of new bio-based value chains; 3. Viable rural areas: to develop an innovative, inclusive, climate-ready and inclusive growthmodel;

9. Intervention logic of the BIOEAST Vision

10. NextSteps • 8. November 2018 BIOEAST conference: http://bioeast.eu/article/bioeast-bioeconomy-in-the-forefront-of-national-policies-conference 3 Studies: available on the webpage containing data and state of play of CEE bioeconomies 2. BIOEAST CSA call in HORIZON 2020 WP2019 3. Establishing Thematic Working Groups 4. Macro-regional Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for addressing the goals and challenges of the Initiative

11. Agricultural land abandonment: EU is expected to continue at a rate of 0.2% in utilised agricultural area (UAA) per year until 2030. Literature not clear about situation in BIOEAST countries • Yield development : Production of major crops is expected to increase significantly in BIOEAST countries, almost entirely through increased yields (e.g., for wheat and maize, increases of 15% and 50% respectively are projected for 2026). For instance Global yield gap atlas explains the difference between actual yields and agro-climatically achievable yields in the same region. For the BIOEAST countries, several examples underpin the existing gap from the north-western EU countries. • Residues: Potential from forestry and agroforestry residues could be further exploited. • Animal production: Higher productivity through an improved input/output ratio would therefore require less feedstock (available for other uses)

12. BIOEAST macro-region • Lowshares of turnover in thetotal EU-28 bioeconomy • Highshares in employment (mainly in theprimarysectors) • Biomass-richregionwithtraditionallyhighimportance of primarysectorsagriculture, forestry and fishery • Unused and underutilisedbiomasspotentials • Insufficientinfrastructure, missinglinksbetweenindustries Position of the BIOEAST macro-region in the EU-28 bioeconomy involved in SCAR study: State of play of Central and EasternEurope´s bioeconomies

13. Source: Nova Institute, 2018

15. Analysing the potential: Jobs in an economic context Bioeconomy employment multipliers (persons per million €) Location quotients (job concentration) for the bioeconomy Source: Mainar, 2017 Source: Ronzon, 2018

16. BIOEAST region and the Forestry sector • Forests in the BIOEAST macro-region cover an area of • 37.8 million hectares, i.e. 34 % of the total land surface • Forest cover in the BIOEAST region is about 23 % of the EU total forest area • 30.1 million hectares are considered as forests available for wood supply • Importance of sawmilling and cascade use of wood for wood products manufacturing and energy is clearly visible (material uses of wood grew at a rate nearly four times as high as that for the EU as a whole, while energy uses grew 30 % slower)Some aspects of the forest-based bioeconomy in theBIOEAST region – JRC Research brief

17. Woodybiomass flows in the BIOEAST region for 2015 (JRC) • The sawmill industry is the largest industry user and the main supplier of by-products • The industry use of wood has grown much faster then that for the EU as a whole (2009-2015) • Energy use of wood, has grown slower then that for the whole EU

18. Net trade in BIOEAST region 2009-2015 (JRC)

19. CEE forestry sector challenges • CEE Forestry sector is well linked with the concept of sustainability, but needs to further open towards a cross-sectoral, new value-chain approach to be a proactive player in the bioeconomy • The „decarbonization” narrative in the climate-change discussion and the link to it of the forestry sector in the CEE still need to be discussed and developed. • Currently the forest-based sector in CEE is characterized by Complexity and Fragmentation • A shift from purely national, monodisciplinary research funding towards inter- and transdisciplinary research programmes is a big change for the CEE macro-region • There is a need for policy coordination to apply coherent and specific approach within CEE macro-region • To bridge the current gaps in the knowledge a better integration of political and socio-economic sciences are needed

20. It can be seen that there are very few collaboration ties with Eastern European countries; and this feature is present throughout all supply chain categories www.nlcsk.org

21. www.nlcsk.org

22. Theneed for BIOEAST Forestry Working Group • To bridge the current gaps in the knowledge a better contribution of economics, social and political sciences are needed • Public-private partnerships and improved science-policy-public interface are crucial for both knowledge generation and successful implementation of actions • Participatory approaches are platforms for awareness raising and capacity building • Reduced fragmentation, created synergies and complementarities between sectors and countries, added value to regional national and EU investments maximise the underutilized potential of the CEE macro-region acting together at macro-regional level and, to a wider extent, at EU level

23. BIOEAST Forestry Working Group (BFWG) • BFWG communication channels establishment • (Mai – September 2018) • Slovak Ministry of Agriculture take upthe coordination of the BFWG • (September – October 2018) • BFWG Kick-off meeting, BFWG ToR draft, nomination procedures • (Brussels, October 2nd, 2018) • BFWG presentation during BIOEAST conference „Bioeconomy in the forefront of national policies, BFWG final ToR • (Budapest, November 8, 2018) • BFWG active participation to FTP Conference 2018 Vision 2040: The future role of the forest bioeconomy in Europe, FTP + SCAR interlinks • (Vienna, November 20, 2018)

24. BIOEAST Thematic Working Group

25. Thank you for your attention!www.bioeast.euBarna Kovacs PhDSecretary Generalbarna.kovacs@mfa.gov.hu