Advancing Circularity in Rural Bioeconomy via Regional Symbiosis
“Advancing Circularity in Rural Bioeconomy via Regional Symbiosis” (“Rural Symbiosis”) is the name of the new INTERREG Baltic Sea Project which started on July 1st, 2026 with the participation of the Foundation for Education and Social Dialogue “PRO CIVIS”.
Rural Symbiosis is understood as a collaborative approach in which businesses, farms, communities, and other local actors in rural areas share resources, knowledge, infrastructure, and by-products so that one actor’s output becomes another actor’s input, creating economic, environmental, and social benefits for the given region.
The Project addresses a critical challenge in the Baltic Sea Region: the underutilisation of agricultural and forestry side-streams. Although biomass residues and by-products hold significant potential, small rural enterprises often lack the scale, logistics, and cooperation needed to valorise them. Traditional, centralised industrial symbiosis and innovation models do not fit the dispersed and seasonal realities of rural biomass, leaving valuable resources treated as low-value waste.
Rural Symbiosis Project demonstrates practical symbiosis models through open innovation events, stakeholder workshops, study visits, and crucially, by building the capacity of such multiplier organisations as regional authorities, development agencies, research centres, and business support organisations.
In the Project’s consortium PRO CIVIS Foundation is responsible for providing a framework (on-site co-creation workshops) for regional adaptation and adoption of the demonstrated best practices and for enabling technologies discovered and assessed in the inter-regional learning activities of open innovation processes and study visits.
Further key Project’s deliverables include 1) the Rural Symbiosis Toolbox—a set of actionable methods to foster cooperation, generate innovative valorisation solutions, and strengthen rural economies; 2) regional rural symbiosis roadmaps for participating regions, which will provide tailored guidance to embed project outcomes into long-term regional strategies, ensuring lasting impact beyond the Project’s lifetime.
The Rural Symbiosis Consortium is composed of nine partners from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Finland and Poland. Apart from PRO CIVIS Foundation the Świętokrzyskie Region is represented in the Rural Symbiosis Project by Center for Business Promotion and Entrepreneurship in Sandomierz, as well as by three associated organisations, i.e. Marshal Office of the Świętokrzyskie Region, REAL S.A. Fruit Processing Plant based in Bilcza, and REFAL LLC Group of Fruits and Vegetables Producers based in Sandomierz.
The Project, which is co-financed by INTERREG Baltic Sea Region 2021/2027, will be implemented until June 30th, 2028.
The contact person for the Project is:
Damian Kuznowicz
Project Manager at the Foundation for Education and Social Dialogue „PRO CIVIS”
d.kuznowicz@procivis.org.pl
