Bioeconomy for Change… for chanvre
With 500 members—including local authorities, start-ups, SMEs, mid-cap companies, large corporations, financial institutions, consultants, and research organizations—covering everything from upstream agriculture to product marketing, Bioeconomy for Change brings together all stakeholders around projects such as the Hemp European Hub, of which it is a partner.
Bioeconomy for Change, or B4C, brings together stakeholders, unites and structures networks. A growth accelerator, B4C saves time. Since 2005, Bioeconomy for Change has supported over 350 projects. This represents an investment of more than €2.5 billion in the regions.
After seventeen years under the banner “Industrie Agro Ressources,” IAR became Bioeconomyfor Change in early 2022. “We wanted to emphasize the word ‘bioeconomy’ in the sense of ‘all value chains, including the production of bio-resources, food, and animal feed. We wanted a name that was almost a movement, one that our members could identify with: I am B4C!” explains Antoine Peeters, Deputy Director General of B4C, with the four Cs standing for climate, competitiveness, citizenship, and connection.
Networking and cross-functionality
With nearly 80 events per year, Bioeconomy for Change promotes cross-disciplinary collaboration by connecting stakeholders and providing expertise in five areas: bioresource production (producing more and more sustainably), food (plant proteins, insects, etc.), plant chemistry (biomolecules), materials (bio-based sports and leisure buildings), and bioenergy (methane production, biofuels, etc.).
“We bring innovations to life with support in monitoring, reporting client needs, and setting up projects. We assist with financing and decision-making, and also communicate with local authorities and regional governments.”
The European potential of hemp
“The players involved in the Hemp European Hub are our members: La Chanvrière, Troyes Champagne Métropole, FRD, etc. It is natural for us to support this structure, which brings together all the leaders in the hemp industry,” continues Antoine Peeters, who is a member of the partnership committee. B4C also led the technical group on “Food, cosmetics, and health.” “In our group of 35 people, sharing experiences is beneficial and conducive to the development of hemp.”
Create a dynamic service offering
“Hemp is a resource with great potential and opportunities for development. The projects are in place and there is a desire for the Hemp European Hub to move beyond the project stage. We have all the advantages of a sovereign bioeconomy: local resources and jobs that are difficult to relocate and therefore sustainable. Interest in hemp in major sectors such as plant proteins and plant chemistry is literally exploding. One of the challenges is therefore to move from a dynamic between actors to a dynamic of services for the entire sector. There is expertise to serve the rest of the country, then Europe. Now we need to develop the Hemp European Hub offering.
