Taoiseach and Ministers Heydon and Muir announce €9 million Shared Island funding for two bioeconomy demonstration projects
- Foilsithe: 3 Meán Fómhair 2025
- An t-eolas is déanaí: 3 Meán Fómhair 2025
Awards of €4.5 million each from the Shared Island Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative will support two bioeconomy projects with collaboration across the island of Ireland
The €9 million fund is enabled by the Government of Ireland’s Shared Island Fund, and co-funding from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland
Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD, and Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland, Andrew Muir MLA, have today announced €9 million in funding for two bioeconomy demonstration initiatives.
Marking the announcement, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said:
“I am delighted to announce the award of funding for two new biorefinery demonstrator projects, as part of the Shared Island Initiative. Across the island, the challenges and opportunities we face across many sectors are comparable and connected, including on climate action and sustainability. This new programme deepens our cooperation with the Northern Ireland Executive on a shared goal. I look forward to seeing the contribution that each project will make in supporting expansion and development of the bioeconomy across the island of Ireland in the years ahead.”
Funding of €4.5 million is being awarded to the ‘Recycling Phosphates and Nitrogen from Agricultural Residues (REGENERATE)’ project led by Greenville Energy, based in County Tyrone. The project will bring together a range of partners from across the island of Ireland and will develop and produce a sustainable and bio-based fertiliser product. REGENERATE is committed to creating economically and environmentally sustainable products which can enhance industrial competitiveness while contributing to carbon reduction targets.
A further €4.5 million is being awarded to ‘All Island Marine Bio-based Refineries for Circular Blue-Bioeconomy (AIMBIO)’, which is led by Teagasc Ashtown. Through collaboration and engagement with diverse stakeholders across the island of Ireland, the project will demonstrate the conversion of untapped resources from aquaculture, fisheries, and aquatic processors, into high-value ingredients for applications in the food, feed, bio-based chemicals, and cosmetics industries.
Commenting on the two newly-funded initiatives, Minister Heydon stated:
“The bioeconomy has the potential to offer new and exciting opportunities for our agriculture, food, forest and marine systems, as well as for strengthening our food security and reducing our reliance on critical dependencies. To unlock these opportunities, there is a need to scale up bioeconomy processes and technologies, to accelerate the commercialisation of bio-based products and solutions, and to create new value chains in which farmers, fishers and the agri-food industry can play a leading role.”
“I am pleased to announce these two new demonstration projects which will help to bridge the investment gap between research and commercialisation. Both projects have the potential to serve as flagship demonstrator projects for Ireland’s growing bioeconomy and to provide a blueprint for similar activities to be replicated across the island for the benefit of rural and coastal communities.”
Minister Muir commented:
"The projects which have been awarded this funding will play a pivotal role in highlighting the role of the bioeconomy in driving sustainable growth and innovation within our agriculture and marine sectors. This is an exciting and important step in addressing the climate challenges we face which will also reinforce our Programme for Government commitments. I am delighted to announce this funding which will put into action bio-based innovation which can help drive economic, environmental, and social benefits.”
“I also welcome the ongoing collaboration with partners from industry, academia and government across the island of Ireland. This collective effort demonstrates how together, we can make strides towards a greener and more resilient future.”
The projects will pilot and demonstrate the bioeconomy in action on a collaborative basis across the island of Ireland. The two awards arise from the €9 million Shared Island Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative competitive call. This funding is enabled by €7 million from the Government of Ireland’s Shared Island Fund, and co-funding of €1.5 million from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and £0.5 million from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland.
ENDS
Notes to Editor
Project details
Recycling Phosphates and Nitrogen from Agricultural Residues (REGENERATE)
- The island of Ireland faces a shared challenge around nutrients in its soils, particularly phosphorus in our soil. Nitrogen emissions in the form of ammonia from the excess spreading and land application of nutrients, pollute the air, impact biodiversity and can also run off into our waterways causing eutrophication. However, this situation also presents a significant shared opportunity, as, when managed effectively, these excess nutrients hold great potential for enhancing soil health and generating new, circular products.
- REGENERATE aims to address these nutrient challenges through the demonstration of a scalable, circular, agricultural model that optimally harnesses and separates local agricultural residues from digestate to maximise the value derived from these nutrients.
- It brings together leading academic experts, industry partners, local farmers and end product users across the island to develop and produce a sustainable, circular, self-sufficient waste-to-fertiliser value chain.
- The materials used as feedstock will be locally sourced agri-residues, livestock manures and milk processing waste. Digestate will be processed in a state-of-the-art anaerobic digestion biorefinery plant and on composting sites to extract essential nutrients, remove contaminants, and create a value chain which produces critical inputs for soil health, and value-added peat replacement products.
- REGENERATE is committing to creating economically and environmentally sustainable bio-based products which can enhance shared island competitiveness while contributing to carbon reduction targets.
All Island Marine Bio-based Refineries for Circular Blue-Bioeconomy (AIMBIO)
- The AIMBIO initiative aims to address challenges in reducing waste and achieving circularity in the Irish Blue Bioeconomy by bringing together scientific and industry actors from across the island of Ireland to develop commercial bioeconomy solutions that enhance resource efficiency in the marine sector.
- The key objective of AIMBIO is to convert aquatic biomass into a range of bio-based ingredients and products, fostering sustainability and minimising waste.
- AIMBIO will adopt an all-island approach to examine untapped side streams from aquaculture, fisheries, and aquatic processors, transforming them into high-value ingredients for agri-food applications, including food, feed, chemicals, cosmetics, and nutrition.
- The initiative will develop, demonstrate, optimise, and validate technologies and processes across three integrated demonstration sites in Ireland. Process efficiencies and economic feasibility will be evaluated through this integrated biorefinery approach.
- Local partners will valorise side streams and marine biomass, assessing the sustainability impacts—climate, environmental, social, health, and economic—of the innovative solutions.
- Through collaboration and engagement with diverse stakeholders, AIMBIO will generate shared learnings and benefits that contribute to sustainable development at local, regional, and national levels. The initiative will accelerate Ireland’s transition to sustainable, healthy, and inclusive marine bio-based production systems, serving as a flagship demonstrator for the island’s growing blue bioeconomy.
- Additionally, AIMBIO will contribute to a more resource-efficient Irish marine sector, with significant replication potential in other rural areas across the island of Ireland
The Shared Island Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative
- The initiative aims to support bioeconomy piloting and demonstration actions across Ireland and Northern Ireland.
- This initiative recognises that both jurisdictions on the island are facing similar climate and sustainability challenges, have similar agriculture, land use and marine activities and have significant potential to unlock opportunities within the bioeconomy.
- The call sought to support innovation for the agri-bioeconomy in Northern Ireland and for the blue bioeconomy in Ireland. A north-south collaborative approach was essential in all applications.
- The initiative was open to fund stakeholders along the entire bio-based value chain, including SMEs, Research Performing Organisations, local authorities, primary producers, and others.
- More details on the call can be found at Shared Island Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative
The Bioeconomy
- The bioeconomy is a “multi-layered” concept referring to the sustainable and circular use of renewable biological resources from land and sea - like crops, forests, fish, animals and micro-organisms - to produce new food, feed, bio-based chemicals and materials, and bioenergy.
- The bioeconomy encompasses many sectors and associated services and investments that produce, use, process, distribute or consume biological resources, including ecosystem services.
Support for bioeconomy piloting and demonstration
- Support for piloting and demonstration activities is a key objective of the Bioeconomy Action Plan 2023-2025.
- The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has already invested €13 million in bioeconomy demonstration activities since 2023 via €10 million announced under EU Just Transition Fund Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative and €3 million announced for integrated anaerobic digestion and green biorefining demonstration initiative
- The Department currently has a second funding call, worth a further €10 million, open under the EU Just Transition Fund Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative: 2025 EU Just Transition Fund Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative (Call 2)
The DAERA Innovation Strategy 2021-2025
- The DAERA Innovation Strategy, guides how DAERA can encourage and support innovation within the Department and in the sectors within its remit. The strategy covers cross-sector issues including sustainability, Green Growth and climate change and has a particular emphasis on three overarching technological themes which have been identified as being at the forefront of innovation change with the sectors under DAERA’s remit. These themes are Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Transformative Bioeconomy. The strategy applies to DAERA and all areas within DAERA’s remit including agri-food, fisheries, environment, forestry, and rural development.
- The Shared Island Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative aligns with the DAERA Innovation strategy key priority theme of Transformative Bioeconomy.
- As part of a £12m investment, DAERA has announced other innovative demonstration projects as part of the Sustainable Use of Livestock Initiative SBRI Phase 2 DAERA awards £4m to Mid Ulster based successful Sustainable Utilisation of Livestock Slurry SBRI Phase 2 company | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs and DAERA awards £4m to first successful Sustainable Utilisation of Livestock Slurry SBRI Phase 2 company | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.