A NETWORK OF BIOECONOMY OPEN ACCESS PILOT AND MULTIPURPOSE DEMO FACILITIES
Pilots4U aims to setup one very visible, easy accessible network of open access pilot and multipurpose demo-infrastructures for the European bio-economy with Europe-wide coverage and protecting IP rights of users. Since pilot- and demo equipment is very expensive and requires specific expertise, open access infrastructures are the most cost-effective manner to support the deployment of industry-driven innovations in the market.
To assure that the network meets the needs of the European bio-economy industry (SMEs, start-ups, Large enterprises), current European pilot and demo-capabilities are compared with the needs of the European biobased industry. Up to six business cases of investments in additional equipment, facilities or capabilities will be evaluated, and the first steps will be taken to attract financing. Different cooperation schemes for the open access pilot- and demo-network will be considered.
Pilots4U will be coordinated by Bio Base Europe Pilot plant. The project consortium has all the required players to succeed: Six partners are coordinating bio-economy pilot or multipurpose demo-infrastructure networks, and therefore assure the involvement of over 40 infrastructures:
The cluster organisation CLIC Innovation is representing industry that is contributing in cash to the project.
The European Regions, Research and Innovation Network with 150 member regions will attract interested European stakeholders (infraststructure owners and users) to get involved in the project.
NNFCC's Role
NNFCC are leading two work packages to identify the needs of
the European industry regarding open-access pilot and demo- infrastructures via
an online survey, and to compare such needs with the currently available
European assets in order to identify vulnerabilities. This comparison will
include an initial ‘strengths and weaknesses’ analysis, which will be discussed
with several groups of experts and the findings will be used to build business
cases of investment across Europe. We are also contributing to other work
packages including: assisting the mapping of existing European pilot and demo-
infrastructures, promoting the project, and acting as a link between the
BioPilotsUK network and the Pilots4U project.