Jeisel Goyanes and Carla Sebastiani, from Sustainable Innovations, partner of the BIOSWITCH project

What’s your role within the BIOSWITCH project?

In this project, we have two different and interlinked roles. On one hand, we are the leaders of communications and dissemination activities, meaning that we have designed and implemented a Communication Plan with different activities aimed at spreading project results and contributing to reaching all the relevant stakeholders

On the other hand, we are the exploitation managers and data protection officers of the BIOSWITCH project, overseeing the exploitation of the main results of the project, drafting business plans, and data & IP protection strategies.

How does your entity contribute to the bioeconomy? 

Sustainable Innovations is an innovation consultancy firm that has dedicated a lot of effort to create a positive impact regarding sustainability in Europe. We are very active in the bioeconomy sector, having participated in several EC funded projects, taking the results further with our Communication, Dissemination, Capacity Building and Exploitation expertise, we continuously contribute to boosting the bioeconomy industries’ growth all over Europe.

What do you expect to achieve within the framework of the BIOSWITCH project?

As part of our dissemination strategy, we expect to raise interest and commitment from brand owners and to increase the bio-based products demand from consumers considering their added value. As exploitation managers, we aim to support the BIOSWITCH toolbox viable exploitation strategy at the EU level.

In general terms, as communication, dissemination and exploitation leaders we expect to ensure the successful exploitation of the project results and to provide a high-standard performance, ensuring that every task runs as smoothly as possible and seamless collaboration with our consortium partners.

Where do you think the main change should be produced to boost bio-based alternatives in replacement for fossil-based ones?

The implementation of policy and legislative tools that encourage all industries to consider the benefits of this alternative over fossil-based is key to continuing with the transition. Even if consumers are getting there already, from our perspective, we should keep raising awareness and promote the different benefits of these alternatives, so we can help to increase the demand for bio-based products, which could also increase brand owners’ interest in taking this journey.

The BIOSWITCH Toolbox, which has been developed in the framework of this project, could be a good starting point for different stakeholders to understand how to take this path and contribute to the bioeconomy.