New cooperations arise from sharing ideas and diferente perspectives.
With this in mind, the key found by Biobridges project is a high commitment to build networking events among different stakeholders, in order to enhance the dialogue among them and to establish a real exchange able to overcome the obstacles that affect their collaboration, as mapped in the value chain collaboration challenges model. Starting from the model, Biobridges organized more than 20 events at regional, national and European level, generating intense synergies and new cross sector interconnections.

In the first case, two Croatian company meet thanks to an interview conducted by one of the Biobridges partners and decided to establish a new joint company to set up a semi-industrial multi-product 3rd generation bio refinery for the production of microalgae for food, feed and nutraceuticals markets.

The other two interconnections come with the design of two new formats: Bridge2brands and Bridge2values.

Bridge2brands has been created to overcome a shortcoming of the Biobridges workshops. In fact, even if these events were able to generate new dialogues and cooperations among various stakeholders, an important actor of the value chain was reluctant to participate: the brand owners, that was asking for a tailored approach. Indeed, Bridge2brands is a common path in different steps, aiming to understand brands’ needs and to “walk” with them towards more sustainable solutions. Two big companies experienced the format: P&G and FCA. Starting from their needs, two calls for innovative solutions were launched: 50 companies (coming from the 96 applications received) were selected to pitch their ideas to the two brands and had the possibility to establish new collaborations.

On the other hand, Bridge2values is a new methodology created to enable the identification of common challenges affecting the establishment of a value chain, as well as the co-creation of solutions to address them, promoting and sharing good practices. The format has been tested in the wool value chain, at national and European level. In the next article, you will find more detailed information about it, keep reading!
If you want to discover more on cross sector interconnections established, the formats designed and recommendations to create a favorable framework for new cooperation have a look at the Biobridges’ document Good practices, procedures and recommendations for boosting inter-sectorial cooperation!