The conference introduced the circular economy principles, objectives and supporting activities to entrepreneurs. This included demonstrating through various inspirational examples and practical solutions why it is worthwhile to move towards practicing business models in a circular economy. The conference brought together different actors, such as entrepreneurs, experts, and the public sector, to share knowledge about the circular economy. The Conference was divided into two parts: on the 5th of November was the Conference day, and on the 6th of November various workshops were carried out.

In the framework of the Conference, Biobridges organised a co-creation workshop “From the bioeconomy through a value chain perspective and opportunities for the stakeholder engagement”. The workshop focussed on the opportunities and bottlenecks of the European and Estonian bioeconomy. It was discussed how to create a bio-based value chains and implement it with the support of different stakeholders. With a combination of business design thinking, interactive exchange, and exciting ideas, the workshop aimed to answer the central questions of the circular and bio-economy - how to valorise biomass and how to build value chains between different bioeconomy stakeholders?

The workshop provided participants with the opportunity to co-design innovative concepts, practical solutions, and network building. The business owners, amongst the participants, were able to analyse their bio-based businesses within a group, find the weak-spots, outline the challenges/bottlenecks in the value-chain that inhibit the acceleration/expansion of their bio-based business, analyse what causes it and how to overcome these challenges, find solutions together with the group, as well as think who to contact with, collaborate and cooperate with to overcome the challenges.
The workshop helped to identify the resistances and barriers in the bio-based value chains and come up with solutions, and facilitated networking to create new cross value chains and future collaborations in bioeconomy.