BioValueAI: Digital Innovations For A Circular Bioeconomy

BioValueAI is a European research project that explores how artificial intelligence and digital technologies can support the transformation of the biobased industry towards more sustainable, circular, and competitive value chains. The project addresses current challenges such as fragmented data structures, limited use of AI in biobased processes, and the need for reliable sustainability assessment tools.

Within BioValueAI, GROWNlab focuses on hemp-based value chains and the development of data-driven approaches for material valorisation. Hemp offers high potential as a renewable raw material for sustainable products, but its natural variability, processing conditions, and quality differences remain major challenges for industrial application. GROWNlab investigates how this variability can be better understood, characterized, and translated into meaningful decision-making tools for future hemp processing and product development.

A central part of GROWNlab’s work is the generation and interpretation of experimental data along the hemp value chain — from raw material and retting characteristics to fibre quality, processing behaviour, and material performance. By combining material characterization, sustainability thinking, and AI-supported data analysis, GROWNlab contributes to the development of digital tools that help identify suitable application pathways for hemp-based resources.

The project aims to support more efficient use of biomass, improve the valorisation of agricultural and industrial side streams, and in our use case, strengthen the role of hemp in circular biobased material systems. Through its interdisciplinary approach, BioValueAI connects researchers, industry partners, policymakers, and citizens to ensure that technological innovation is developed responsibly, transparently, and with societal relevance.

For GROWNlab, BioValueAI represents an important step towards linking experimental material research with digital intelligence. The goal is to turn complex biological and material data into practical knowledge for more sustainable hemp-based products, processes, and value chains.