Pilots4U Newsletter

At the occasion of the Pilots4U Final Event, that was held on June 25^th in Brussels, both the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) and the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI-JU) expressed their strong support for the Pilots4U database. Direct weblinks have been established between the Pilots4U database and the BIC and the BBI-JU websites and both organisations strongly recommend using the database when looking for scale-up partners for bilateral as well as consortium-based projects.

Nelo Emerencia, Director Programming, Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC)  

We need to create a Europe for business and shift from a technology-based mindset to a business-based mindset! Both BIC and BBI-JU, which are industry-led initiatives, aim to accelerate this shift. Pilots4U is the result of the industry’s call for action to create an infrastructure to assist and accelerate upscaling towards commercial operations for the European bio-economy. Pilots4U is considered an important tool to speed up this shift towards a more business-oriented Europe.

Open access pilot and demonstration infrastructures allow industry to bring bioeconomy innovations from the laboratory into industrial practice by offering state-of-the-art equipment and expertise for scaling up of innovative processes. Early stage collaboration with such facilities substantially lowers the financial risk for the innovating company and speeds up the commercialisation of their new product or process.
 

Therefore, an instrument like the Pilots4U database, which brings together all open access scale-up infrastructure, is a key instrument for the European bio-based industries and will support them in finding the right partners to assist them in bringing their innovations to the market, faster and more efficiently.

The Pilots4U database is recommended by the BIC as the official instrument to look for scale-up partners in the bioeconomy sector. The database will be directly accessible from the BIC member area.  

Paloma Mallorquin, Project Officer, Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI-JU)

CSAs, like Pilots4U, have a strategic role in supporting the full deployment of the value chains in the bio-based industries by addressing the challenge of access to demo and pilot infrastructures in Europe.

Pilots4U addresses this specific need of the bio-economy sector by creating a network that will improve the access to existing bioeconomy related open access research infrastructures in Europe, and catalyse the expansion of capabilities of these infrastructures to meet the current and future needs of bio-based industries.