Join the BIOEAST Open Innovation Challenge
Circular Change is proud to announce and support the BIOEAST Open Innovation Challenge (OIC) – a call to co-create innovative solutions for a sustainable bioeconomy across the 11 BIOEAST countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
What is the OIC?
The Open Innovation Challenge is an initiative under the BIOEAST Initiative and the BOOST4BIOEAST project, coordinated in Slovenia by Circular Change. It brings together Challenge Owners – organisations facing developmental, technological or organisational challenges – and innovators who can offer fresh solutions.
The call is open to:
Students and academic researchers
Entrepreneurs and start-up teams
Scale-ups, SMEs and corporates
Innovation networks and NGOs
Two Challenge Owners from Slovenia
We are proud to highlight that two Slovenian organisations are acting as Challenge Owners in this edition of the BIOEAST OIC. Both Slovenian Challenge Owners are participating in Theme 5: Innovative Wood Technologies. This thematic area addresses the need to strengthen innovation in forestry and wood processing, with a particular focus on hardwood technologies and the potential of re-used wood. The theme aims to support data-driven decision-making along the hardwood value chain, foster higher value-added products, align silviculture methods with technological advances, and establish reliable systems for assessing the safety, performance and traceability of re-used wood in construction and design.
The BIOEAST OIC is an excellent opportunity to connect with regional partners, test your ideas and contribute to systemic innovation in the bioeconomy.
Learn more and apply here:
Anteja ECG is looking for cost-effective foresight tools and methodologies that can help monitor and forecast market trends and emerging technologies. The goal is to provide hardwood value chain actors with better insights to support informed, data-driven decisions for the future of their businesses and resource management. The emphasis is on methodological and process-oriented solutions rather than ready-made commercial tools.
Avenia M – Non Tox Uni Kum is focusing on how to establish a re-used wood value chain, including systems for assessing safety, structural performance and toxicity. The challenge calls for solutions such as indicator sets, testing protocols, screening methods for harmful substances, digital platforms for mapping wood sources, as well as business models for circular procurement, traceability and certification. The aim is to unlock the environmental and economic potential of re-used wood by creating robust standards and practical tools for its safe application.
Both organisations will not only host their challenges, but also take part in evaluating all submitted solutions under Theme 5 and contribute to selecting the winning proposals.