The European Rural Bioeconomy Network launches its first guides to document innovative solutions

November 10, 2025

The ERBN network, which began its journey in January 2025 within the European project thERBN – Thematic European Rural Bioeconomy Network, Its objective is to connect knowledge agents with the primary sector and accelerate the adoption of circularity practices in rural areas.

In this first phase, AVEBIOM, as co-coordinator of the project strategy, has promoted three lines of action:

Identify the most urgent needs to valorize agricultural, livestock and forestry organic waste.
Analyze national knowledge transfer systems (AKIS, in Spain SCIA) and their capacity to bring innovation to the field.
Develop methodological guides that help identify and communicate the most effective circular bioeconomy solutions.

A practical guide to communicating innovation from the local level

In this last line of work, AVEBIOM has coordinated together with Agri-food Cooperatives of Spain the elaboration of the Practical Guide No. 2: “Documenting Innovative Solutions for Circular Bioeconomy”, a tool designed so that technicians, advisors, cooperatives and small rural businesses can communicate innovative practices without needing to be communication experts.

“The guide offers a simple and effective method for documenting and sharing innovations with the primary sector, using accessible resources such as videos, podcasts or practical summaries, made with free or low-cost tools,”, explains Daniel Garcia, Innovation Technician at AVEBIOM. “"The goal is to maintain that one-on-one tone that farmers and ranchers value so much, and which is key to promoting the adoption of new practices.".

The guide emphasizes clarity, practical utility, and a visual approach, showing step-by-step how to prepare a short video, testimonial podcast, or practical summary that highlights the economic and environmental benefits of the solution.

Accessible communication to drive the adoption of innovations

The Guide No. 2 It stems from an observation: many innovative solutions fail to reach a wider audience due to a lack of resources or because their communication is too technical. Therefore, it proposes a combined communication model (video, podcast, summary, and graphic material) that allows for the agile and engaging transfer of the pioneering users' experiences to other stakeholders in rural areas.

Its practical application is designed to transfer technicians, agricultural and forestry advisors, cooperatives, technology centers and rural agents, as well as for researchers and project developers that seek to bring the results of their initiatives to the field.

Knowledge transfer starting in January 2026

The approach used to develop the guide is inspired by previous project methodologies such as BioRural, RuralBioUp, MainstreamBio, COOPID o BRANCHES, and especially in the portal experience FarmDemo, which promotes peer learning through demonstration projects.

Since October 2025, the project partners have begun to document and collect real innovative solutions, which will be shared with the primary sector from January 2026 onwards at transfer events across Europe.

All the material will be available in multilingual format through the future ERBN platform (heir of the BioRural Toolkitand on the portal EU-FarmBook, the leading European website for disseminating practical information on agri-food innovations.

Bioeconomy at the service of rural areas

With this guide and the implementation of the European Rural Bioeconomy Network, AVEBIOM positions itself as a transfer agent between innovation and the primary sector, helping to document, make visible and replicate solutions that already work on farms, cooperatives or small rural businesses in other territories.

“The success of the circular bioeconomy depends on solutions actually reaching the people on the ground, those who manage organic waste every day. thERBN allows us to build that bridge between innovation and practice”, he emphasizes Daniel Garcia.

A series of three practical guides

The Practical Guide No. 2 It is part of a series of three complementary publications produced within the framework of the project thERBN:

Practical Guide #1 – Identifying Grassroots Circular Bioeconomy Solutions, which offers a methodological framework for identifying innovations arising directly from practice in rural areas.
Practical Guide #2 – Documenting Innovative Solutions for Circular Bioeconomy, focused on how to communicate these innovations in an accessible and effective way.
Practical Guide #3 – Training and Knowledge Sharing Methods, dedicated to training methods and knowledge exchange among farmers, ranchers, advisors and researchers.