The contribution of the project to the achievement of the general economic, social and environmental goals of Greece is expected to be important. Greece has large amounts of unexploited agricultural residues and the food, pharmaceuticals and materials industries are important for its economy and need to stay competitive in a global market. This project will have a threefold impact.
- aIt will add value to agricultural wastes, increasing farmers’ income and creating new jobs; a major concern in the current economic crisis from an economic and societal point of view.
- aThe development of a circular economy biorefinery will diminish the environmental impact that farming, pharmaceutical, materials and food industries have.
- aThe above industries will gain a competitive advantage since the biorefinery technologies can reduce overall cost and the environmental impact of their products.
The high added value product portfolio of the project means that they can be sustainably produced in low volumes. Therefore, the results of the project may be exploited by SMEs, an integral part of Greek economy. Also, it increases the likeliness of the technology moving to pilot scale demonstration en route to developing a commercial process.
