Green Growth Platform as a consortium partner in the Horizon Europe`s project BioRural organized its first out of three national multi-actor innovation workshops. The theme of this workshop was inland raw material production (feedstock), with a focus on the implementation of small-scale bio-based solutions in the agri-food industry in North Macedonia`s rural areas.

The workshop took place at the Faculty of Agriculture part of the “University of Goce Delcev” in Shtip and was attended by relevant stakeholders from the academia, technology, governmental bodies, and policy makers engaged in the agri-food sector as well as students of agriculture.

The BioRural project`s goals and activities were presented by the president of the Green Growth Platform – Natasha Ristovska PhD along with an overview of the local bioeconomy compared to the EU`s. This bioeconomy overview was derived from the results of a survey of actors from all bio-economy sectors that was part of previous working packages of the BioRural project.

A representative from Eco Solar – Zoran Trajkov presented the company’s profile and activities. Their specialty being production of solar air-dryers to be utilized in the food processing industry is an excellent example of applying the principles of circular bioeconomy in this particular value chain.

The workshop ended with a practical exercise targeted at the implementation of potential bio-based solutions in several different value chains such as primary agricultural production, viticulture and wine production and livestock and meat production. The purpose of this activity was catching grass-root level ideas and inventions for small scale bio-based solutions in the country`s rural areas.