Green Growth Platform organized it`s second national capacity building workshop as part of the BioRural project. The workshop was focused on biomaterials and bio based industries. It was held at the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce and was attended by various relevant stakeholders form the field such as representatives from academia, governmental bodies, industry, NGOs and students of technology.
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.
The theoretical part of the workshop included three very insightful lectures by esteemed professors from the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy – Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje closely related to the theme of the workshop. Vesna Rafajlovska PhD presented the numerous possibilities emerging from bio-waste valorization and the bio-materials that can be produced from such technologies followed by a presentation of an existing project aimed at the reduction of plastic waste by producing green composite materials with valorization of lignin by Jadranka Blazevska Gilev PhD. Finally, Jana Klopchevska PhD gave a clear overview of the national-bio economy of biomaterials.
The workshop ended with a practical exercise targeted at the implementation of potential bio-based solutions in several different value chains such as forestry and wood industries and fertilizer production. The purpose of this activity was capturing grass-root level ideas and inventions for small scale bio-based solutions in the country`s rural areas.