Sustainable path creation for innovative value chains for organic waste products (SusValueWaste)

Status: Avsluttet
Prosjektnr: 485561
Start: 02.01.2015
Slutt: 30.08.2019
Finansiering: Norges forskningsråd

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Prosjektbeskrivelse

Waste and other residual materials from industries and households are of increasing value in today's economy. Substances that have long represented a cost to the economy are becoming a valuable resource, due to changes in technology that enable a greater share of their potential to be extracted.

Over the next four years, NIFU will work on a large research project on the transition to the bioeconomy. The project is funded by the BIONAER programme at the Research Council of Norway. The project is based on
interdisciplinary collaboration between research groups specializing in
innovation, environmental research, value chain analysis and relevant
technologies, located in Scandinavia.
The project will address the potential for value added and improved
sustainability in the valorisation of organic waste streams, residual feedstock
and by-products by analysing value chains inside and across different sectors of the bioeconomy.
The researchers will identify main possible conflicts of interests,
inconsistencies of the political framework, and regulatory requirements for
possible future paths towards a sustainable path creation for innovative organic waste value chains.
The project will help policymakers better govern and regulate the organic waste industry and the industry actors to identify and exploit new opportunities in the bioeconomy. The researchers address challenges and bottlenecks for innovation and value creation in the relevant value chains (i.e., fertilizer, biomaterials, biogas) with regard to political framework, sustainability, technologies, and resources, such as capital, competencies, labour force and market opportunities.
It contributes to the further development of the Norwegian bioeconomy by collaborating with close to ten companies engaged in organic waste activities. It addresses value chain development and the circular bioeconomy by combining value chain analysis, innovation systems and transition theory and environmental life cycle assessment.