International conference “Promoting collaboration for a sustainable and circular bioeconomy“
CIRCLE final conference, held on 10 April, 2024, brought together experts with different professional backgrounds and academic disciplines from across the Baltic-Nordic region and Ukraine to share knowledge on a sustainable and circular bioeconomy and discuss different ways of promoting it. In line with the project’s focus, the conference seeked to explore collaboration among different stakeholders, and the factors facilitating and hampering the development and wider adoption of circular practices. Conference presentations addressed both the supply and demand side of circularity of bio-resources by considering the perspectives of producers and consumers, and also identifying the key policy implications.
Key topics of the conference included:
- Circular bioeconomy resources and products,
- Circular business models in the bioeconomy sector,
- Philosophical and ethical aspects of the circular bioeconomy,
- Collaboration for the circular bioeconomy: business, multi-actor and academic perspectives,
- Policies, regulatory frameworks and institutional environment for the circular bioeconomy development.
Conference programme
Moderator: Anda Adamsone-Fiskovica (Baltic Studies Centre)
| Time (EET) | Title of the presentation | Presenter |
|---|---|---|
| 09.30-09.40 | Welcome and introduction to the CIRCLE project | Talis Tisenkopfs, Baltic Studies Centre |
| 09.40-10.00 | How to ensure better interaction of policy domains for the circularity of bioresources? | Aivars Lapins, OECD; Ministry of Agriculture, Republic of Latvia |
| 10.00-10.20 | Factors enabling and hampering circular business models | Mikelis Grivins, Baltic Studies Centre |
| 10.20-10.40 | No such thing as waste in primary food sector | Kadi Kenk, Estonian University of Life Sciences |
| 10.40-11.00 | Cascading byproduct use in agriculture, forestry, and food companies: experience from Baltic-Nordic countries | Talis Tisenkopfs, Baltic Studies Centre |
| 11.00-11.10 | STRETCH BREAK | |
| 11.10-11.30 | Waste and self-awareness in the Anthropocene | Mintautas Gutauskas, Vilnius University |
| 11.30-11.50 | Narratives of nature in the context of circular economy | Artis Svece, University of Latvia |
| 11.50-12.10 | The curious ambivalence of working with a boundary concept | Artis Svece, University of Latvia |
| 12.10-12.30 | Panel debate I (referees of PART I of the conference) moderated by Talis Tisenkopfs (Baltic Studies Centre) | |
| 12.30-13.30 | LUNCH BREAK | |
| 13.30-13.50 | Estimation and bio-valorisation of food industry by-products in Northern Europe | Raimonda Soloha, University of Latvia |
| 13.50-14.10 | Assessing the socio-economic benefits of insect meal as a fish meal substitute in livestock and aquaculture | Alberts Auzins, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Economics |
| 14.10-14.30 | Prospects of biomethane production in Ukraine | Georgii Geletukha, Bioenergy Association of Ukraine (UABIO) |
| 14.30-14.50 | Some thoughts about sustainable food production in terms of circular bioeconomy | Reelika Rätsep, Polli Horticultural Research Centre |
| 14.50-15.00 | STRETCH BREAK | |
| 15.00-15.20 | Status quo of the Norwegian Circular Economy: A dissemination of the Circularity Gap Report | Alexander F. Christiansen, Circular Norway |
| 15.20-15.40 | Investigating cross-sectoral flows of bioresource residues in the Baltic-Nordic region | Pia Piroschka Otte, Institute for Rural and Regional Research RURALIS |
| 15.40-16.00 | Consumer perspective on the circular economy: Practices, motivations, and challenges | Renata Bikauskaite, Vilnius University |
| 16.00-16.20 | Circular economy initiatives and practices in the Baltic-Nordic region: Excerpts from the CIRCLE project’s policy briefs | Jostein Brobakk, Institute for Rural and Regional Research RURALIS |
| 16.20-16.30 | Panel debate II (referees of PART II of the conference), moderated by Mikelis Grivins (Baltic Studies Centre) | |
| 16.40-16.45 | Closing remarks |