A new collaborative project aimed at developing a low carbon roadmap for Ireland’s bioeconomy, will be led by Munster Technological University (MTU) with Teagasc, NUI Galway and the Central Statistics Office of Ireland.

INFORMBIO, funded through the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s Competitive Research Call, will develop a first Foresight Analysis for Ireland’s bioeconomy, aimed at understanding the available bioresources and value chains which can best contribute to Ireland’s 2050 climate neutrality target.

INFORMBIO is one of 24 successful projects from 131 applications funded to a total of €20.1 million under the Dept. of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine’s 2021 research call.

“Given the enormous potential of Ireland’s land and marine biological resources, the circular bioeconomy has emerged as one of the key opportunity areas to decarbonize primary sectors, and the economy as a whole, in a cost-competitive manner," Project Coordinator James Gaffey, co-director of the Circular Bioeconomy Research Group at Shannon ABC in MTU, said.

"By integrating bioresource and residue modelling, value-chain analysis, techno-economic assessment, life-cycle assessment, and climate scenario modelling, INFORMBIO, for the first time, attempts to quantify and model the potential of a circular bioeconomy to contribute to Ireland’s climate and sustainability targets.”

David Styles, NUI Galway, will lead on life cycle assessment of priority bio-based value chains co-developed with expert stakeholders.

The INFORMBIO project will also position Ireland as a front-runner among EU member states, by developing a prototype national bioeconomy monitoring system, enabling Ireland to track the development and progress of the bioeconomy against key bioeconomy indicators.

Réamonn Fealy, working with Teagasc colleagues Maeve Henchion and Jesko Zimmermann in AFBSA, will lead on the design of a prototype monitoring system to benchmark Ireland’s bioeconomy.

The project is funded through the Dept. of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine’s Competitive Research Call, with a budget of €996,429.91 and will run until February 2026.