BRILIAN Social Innovation Actions (Progress Report) D2.4

This deliverable presents the progress of the BRILIAN project’s social innovation activities aimed at fostering stakeholder engagement, social acceptance and market uptake of bio-based solutions in rural areas. It applies a Social Sciences and Humanities approach to explore the needs, perceptions and barriers affecting key actors across bio-based value chains, including primary producers, agro-industries, valorisation units, consumers, researchers and policymakers. The report combines a preliminary market acceptance analysis of BRILIAN bio-based products with an assessment of local stakeholder perceptions in the project’s pilot regions. The analysis highlights common factors influencing the adoption of bio-based solutions, including costs, product performance and availability, regulatory complexity, trust, clear communication and opportunities for cooperation. The deliverable also describes the establishment and development of BRILIAN’s Advisory Board of Farmers (ABF), a multi-stakeholder platform designed to facilitate dialogue, knowledge exchange and engagement with the project. It summarises the engagement activities implemented so far, lessons learned and challenges encountered across the pilot regions and the BIOEAST macro-region. Finally, it identifies opportunities for strengthening stakeholder participation, supporting replication and increasing awareness and acceptance of sustainable bio-based value chains during the remaining project period.