The ECOLOOP consortium recently gathered in Tallinn for its latest General Assembly, hosted by the Estonian University of Life Sciences. The meeting provided an excellent opportunity for partners to review the project’s progress, coordinate upcoming milestones, and strengthen collaboration across work packages.
As part of the event, the partners visited the facilities of Fibenol, one of ECOLOOP’s key members based in Estonia. The visit offered valuable insights into Fibenol’s advanced biorefinery technologies and its contribution to the project’s ambition of building sustainable bio-based value chains.
At this stage of the project, several core digital and technical tools are reaching key phases of development. The Decision Support Platform, led by ETRA, is nearing completion and already receiving data from the Spanish and Slovenian pilot sites. The CO₂ Sequestration Tool, developed under the leadership of the Estonian University of Life Sciences, has officially been launched and is fully operational. The Financial Support System, created by AVA-ASAJA, is in its initial stage, with plans to evolve into an application integrating data from all project pilots. Meanwhile, the Soil Health Tool, coordinated by Fertinagro, is currently under active development to promote sustainable soil management practices.
In parallel, market analysis activities have begun to identify potential exploitation opportunities and ensure that ECOLOOP’s innovations deliver long-term impact beyond the project’s lifetime.
Pilot sites across Europe are progressing steadily. In Estonia and Slovenia, activities are advancing as planned, while the Bulgarian pilot is focused on building its agro-PV plant. In Spain, construction of the biogas plant is underway, marking an important step towards demonstrating integrated renewable energy systems at the local level.
ECOLOOP also continues to strengthen its communication and stakeholder engagement efforts. A new campaign coordinated by AVA-ASAJA will soon showcase success stories linked to the Spanish pilot, while in Estonia, a promotional video in Estonian has been released to present the local pilot and raise awareness about the innovative solutions being developed.
Finally, the visit to Fibenol’s facilities provided an inspiring example of how industrial expertise and research collaboration can accelerate the green transition. Within the project, Fibenol contributes its know-how by testing feedstocks from short-rotation forest plantations and integrating the findings to advance the production of sustainable biomaterials, closing the loop between agriculture, forestry, and energy.
