Why Multi-Stakeholder Engagement Is Key for Circular Bioeconomy and Stronger Regional Ecosystems in Europe – CSCP
The circular bioeconomy is central to the European Union’s ambition to reduce dependence on fossil resources, strengthen competitiveness, and create sustainable opportunities across urban, rural and industrial territories. Yet this transition is not only a technological or policy challenge; it is also a governance challenge that depends on the ability of regions to connect diverse actors around shared priorities and practical solutions. For this reason, multi-stakeholder engagement is not a side activity, but a key element for implementing the circular bioeconomy and strengthening regional ecosystems across Europe.
Regional circular bioeconomy ecosystems do not emerge automatically from biomass availability, research capacity or policy ambition. They are built through interaction among the actors who produce, process, govern, finance and use biological resources. Farmers, municipalities, cooperatives, SMEs, industries, researchers, investors, public authorities and civil society organisations all influence whether circular bioeconomy opportunities are translated into value chains, business models and place-based innovation. When these actors remain disconnected, biomass may be available but value chains do not form, technologies may exist but are not adopted, and strategies may be drafted without ownership or implementation. Multi-stakeholder engagement helps close these gaps by creating spaces where actors can align interests, exchange knowledge, identify barriers and jointly shape pathways for action.
This is especially important in Europe, where bioeconomy development takes place in very different territorial contexts. Some regions are shaped by agriculture, others by forestry, food systems, marine resources, urban biowaste streams or emerging bio-based industries. In all these settings, strong ecosystems depend on collaboration across sectors and governance levels. Identifying key actors, bringing them together, and enabling structured and impact-driven collaboration helps regions move from fragmented initiatives to more coordinated innovation systems by strengthening trust, supporting shared learning, and making the transition more place-based, inclusive and implementable.
Our CSCP experience in projects like HOOP, CEE2ACT and NEXRUR illustrates this clearly. Together, these three projects show that multi-stakeholder engagement strengthens circular bioeconomy ecosystems across connected territorial scales: communities, cities, and countries.
In HOOP (2020-2025), this approach was applied at the city level. The project supported eight European cities and regions in developing circular bioeconomy solutions based on urban biowaste and wastewater sludge. The CSCP played a central role in designing and facilitating stakeholder engagement, especially through the creation of Biowaste Clubs (https://www.cscp.org/cscp-clubs/). The clubs brought together municipalities, businesses, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to discuss local opportunities, barriers and value chain solutions. HOOP showed that urban circular bioeconomy initiatives require more than technical planning; they need local ecosystems that connect waste management, innovation, governance, finance and public engagement.
While HOOP focused on cities and regions, CEE2ACT (2022-2025) addressed mobilisation and engagement at the national and macro-regional level. The project supports 10 Central and Eastern European countries in establishing National Bioeconomy Hubs that bring together actors from policy, science, business and practice. CSCP leads stakeholder engagement activities and helps create structures through which countries can better organise their bioeconomy transitions. This perspective is highly relevant for regional ecosystem development, as local initiatives need enabling frameworks, better coordination and stronger links to national strategy. By creating spaces for dialogue, exchange and roadmap development, CEE2ACT helps reduce fragmentation and strengthens the institutional backbone regions need to connect local innovation with broader policy support.
The ongoing NEXRUR project (2025-2029) adds a third dimension by addressing the community level. Through community cases and stakeholder panels, NEXRUR supports farmers and rural communities in developing and scaling sustainable business models for innovation in the upstream of the value chains. The CSCP contributes by leading the development and facilitation of stakeholder panels that promote dialogue, co-creation and cooperation among community actors, businesses, researchers and policymakers. This is essential because no circular bioeconomy ecosystem can become resilient without meaningful community involvement. Community-level mobilisation helps ground innovation in territorial needs, strengthen local ownership, and increase the likelihood that new bio-based and circular business models will be socially accepted and economically embedded.
Examples like HOOP, CEE2ACT and NEXRUR show that strong regional circular bioeconomy ecosystems in Europe are built through multi-level collaboration. At the community level, it ensures that innovation remains rooted in local realities and shaped by those directly affected. These levels reinforce one another and create the conditions for more connected, adaptive and resilient regional ecosystems. At the city level, stakeholder engagement helps organise value chains and develop investable circular solutions. At the country level, it provides coordination structures and strategic dialogue to support regions more effectively.
For Europe, the message is clear. Accelerating the circular bioeconomy requires investment not only in technologies and infrastructure, but also in the stakeholder processes that allow circular bioeconomy ecosystems in Europe to form and mature. Our CSCP experience, including in projects like HOOP, CEE2ACT and NEXRUR shows that strategic multi-stakeholder engagement is one of the most effective ways to strengthen the regional foundations of the circular bioeconomy by connecting actors, building trust, fostering shared ownership, and translating strategic ambition into place-based innovation. In this sense, multi-stakeholder engagement is not simply a method for engagement, but a strategic lever for building resilient, inclusive and innovation-oriented circular bioeconomy ecosystems across Europe.
Written by Kartika Anggraeni, Project Manager at CSCP