A group of seven European hemp organizations will look at strategies to finance innovative initiatives in a webinar scheduled for Tuesday, July 5.
The webinar is initiated by HempClub, a joint project launched this month by Horizon Europe and Circular Bio-Based Europe, two European Union funding programs. The project finances research and innovation to exploit hemp and other renewable resources for sustainable products, while aiming to increase competition among market participants.
The online event will offer recommendations and guidelines for how to take advantage of partnering and funding opportunities and present successful case studies.
Infrastructure needed
“If the industry is to realize its true potential for economic development and sustainability, both public and private financing is needed to support the innovative entrepreneurs working in the hemp space and to build out the required infrastructure,” said Hana Gabrielova, CEO at Hempoint, a participant in the Czech Hemp Cluster. “Those entrepreneurs also need strong management skills to navigate the nascent industry and to align hemp with the many industrial sectors where it holds promise.”
The HempClub project, funded by the COSME Programme of the European Union, brings together clusters and associations operating in the bioeconomy, advanced manufacturing and hemp production sectors to create EU value chains for biobased applications and new business opportunities for primary producers and chemical companies.
The seven groups are: Lombardy Green Chemistry Cluster, Italy; Czech Hemp Cluster; ProduTechCluster, Portugal; Spring Italian Circular Bioeconomy Cluster; Standortangentur Tirol GmbH: Cluster Mechatronics Tirol, Austria; Ind-Agro-Pol, Romania; and Federcanapa, Italy.
Unique potential
“With its unique chemical properties, environmental benefits, high yield and wide range of applications, hemp is a valuable crop for the bioeconomy, contributing to achieving climate neutrality, although still representing a niche crop in Europe,” the host organizations said.
The webinar is designed specifically to:
- Improve management of the clusters through multidisciplinary training among at least 14 managers to achieve the Cluster Excellence Label certification for at least four clusters.
- Strengthen the clusters by improving the portfolio of business support services. At least 14 new services will be developed involving a minimum of 300 EU small and medium enterprises.
- Facilitate B2B and C2C collaboration to strengthen interregional strategies by defining 20 new interregional cooperation projects and creating two value chains in the hemp sector.
- Organize at least 80 short-term exchanges to enhance collaboration and networking activities among European organizations.
- Promote internationalization, technology and knowledge transfer.
Next Tuesday’s webinar is free and open to the public.
