‘Innovation happens when you bring people together,’ says BioDirect project lead Stephen Barry-Hannon.
When people talk about the circular bioeconomy, they’re talking about an economic system that uses renewable biological resources for industry in ways that are sustainable, maintain diverse ecosystems, and reduce waste and pollution.
The aim of this approach is to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and synthetic materials to support climate and biodiversity goals, to grow sustainably, and to create a safer and healthier planet.
A group of researchers and industry experts believes there is huge potential to drive circular bioeconomy practices across the island of Ireland.
Led by Stephen Barry-Hannon at Munster Technological University (MTU), this group ran a year-long project called BioDirect to bring together researchers, funders and industry to understand and tackle the challenges preventing this transition and accelerate solutions.
Over the course of the project, more than 200 stakeholders, including SMEs, big business, researchers and support organisations, got involved to make cross-sector connections and develop circular innovations.
Such was the success of the project the group are back for more, having just launched BioDirect 2.0, which promises to be bigger and more ambitious than ever.
BioDirect 2.0 is a two-year project supported, like its predecessor, by InterTradeIreland’s Synergy Programme, and co-ordinated by the Circular Bioeconomy Cluster at MTU with lead partners Ulster University, AgriTech Ireland and Advanced Technologies in Manufacturing (ATIM) Cluster, which is hosted by the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS).
The project is mainly focused on four interconnected sectors: agriculture, manufacturing, textiles and construction.
“Sectors often act in silos,” Barry-Hannon tells SiliconRepublic.com. But he thinks there’s real potential for circular projects if people collaborate. “It’s essential that sectors talk to each other and create opportunities that way.”
The idea of bringing so many partners together is to get as many diverse perspectives as possible, he says. BioDirect 2.0 also includes BioOrbic, ClimateKIC, Construct Innovate, the Centre for Advanced Sustainable Energy at Queen’s University Belfast, Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR), International Synergies, High Performance Building Alliance and government departments, north and south.
From left: Joanne McEvoy, InterTradeIreland; Catriona Power, Circular Bioeconomy Cluster; Caitriona Mordan, ATIM Cluster; and Stephen Barry-Hannon, Circular Bioeconomy Cluster. Image: BioDirect
Many of the companies involved last time around are eager to participate again, Barry-Hannon says. And he expects there to be even more interest this time. He had to order more food at last year’s final conference because so many people showed up – “a good complaint to have” – so the group has high expectations for BioDirect 2.0.
Sectoral opportunities
Agriculture, in particular, is seen as a sector that has real potential to decarbonise and benefit from circular economy practices. AgriTech Ireland’s Kieran O’Donoghue says the cluster got involved with BioDirect because it’s an all-island platform “to bridge agriculture with the wider circular bioeconomy”.
“The agri-food sector produces a significant share of Ireland’s bioresources, so it has a crucial role to play in transforming waste streams into valuable bio-based products and materials,” he says.
O’Donoghue says that farmers and agri-businesses are under increasing pressure to produce more outputs while also cutting emissions, protecting biodiversity and meeting sustainability targets. He thinks the way to achieve that balance is through “smarter resource use, precision farming and better waste valorisation”.
“Sustainability must make economic as well as environmental sense,” O’Donoghue says. “When technologies deliver clear cost–benefit outcomes, farmers are far more likely to adopt them, leading to meaningful, scalable impact across the sector.”
Manufacturing is another sector with strong potential to decarbonise. ATIM Cluster manager Caitríona Mordan says that BioDirect is an example of the kind of “interdisciplinary collaboration needed to drive real change in sustainable manufacturing”.
“As a cluster, we believe that the future of industry lies in the convergence of innovation, sustainability and shared expertise.”
Mordan says that scaling sustainable technologies in Ireland is difficult, particularly for SMEs, due to limited resources and infrastructure, and the green skills gap.
“Our involvement [in BioDirect] ensures that midlands-based companies are not only part of this transition but are actively shaping it through access to new technologies, talent and international networks.”
Similarly to O’Donoghue, Mordan stresses that the challenge for circular innovation is to ensure that it’s commercially viable. “Sustainable solutions must be both environmentally sound and economically feasible,” she says.
Barry-Hannon emphasises that this is a key element of the BioDirect project. He says the overall goal is to come up with “more profitable ways to innovate, reduce costs, accelerate time to market, differentiate in the market and create new revenue opportunities for businesses”.
Circularity built in from the start
According to Barry-Hannon, to work most effectively, circular bioeconomy principles need to be considered at the earliest stages of product development. As such, BioDirect will deliver training to participants to help them develop innovations with circular principles at their core.
In fact, BioDirect will host eight industry roundtables and two policy roundtables over the two years, as well as two innovation challenge competitions, with support and mentorship offered to competition winners.
Barry-Hannon says there were 85 solutions submitted for the challenge competition last year. One product that came out of it was a fertiliser decision support tool. Generally, he explains, farmers blanket a whole field in fertiliser even if there are areas that don’t need it. The decision support tool uses various data and AI to help farmers decide which areas to fertilise, saving time and resources.
One of the key findings from the first BioDirect project was that participants want to see policy innovations to help them develop circular practices and products. As a result, policymakers from governments north and south are going to be involved in workshops for BioDirect 2.0 and the team has developed a policy innovation toolbox as a resource for participants. One of the overall aims of the project is to create a new policy framework based on learnings and feedback from the two years of engagement.
Ulster University’s Prof Alison Gault, whose research sits at the intersection of textile innovation, heritage and sustainability, says that her work over the years with textile and fashion companies has “not only highlighted the appetite within industry for more sustainable material systems, but also the infrastructural and policy gaps holding this transition back”.
“BioDirect 2.0 offers a platform to address those challenges at system level, getting everyone in the room to tackle these (as designers would describe) ‘wicked problems’.”
Ulster University brings expertise in sustainable materials research, circular design and regional innovation to the project, Gault says.
For Gault, the transition to a circular bioeconomy is essential “if we are to move away from linear, extractive manufacturing models that undervalue natural materials and displace production from local communities”.
She says that a circular approach supports regional development and creates connections with the land and nature.
“For fibres such as wool, this means no longer treating it as a waste product but recognising it as a renewable national asset with cultural as well as economic value.
“A culturally aware bioeconomy ensures that innovation is not detached from place, knowledge or identity, instead it builds on them to create futures in which environmental care, rural livelihoods and design innovation are interdependent rather than competing priorities.”
To get involved in BioDirect 2.0, you can sign up here.
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