The PECT Ebre Bioterritory begins

20/10/2021
Biosphere Reserve
Finançament FEDER

On Tuesday, October 19, the Ebre Bioterritori specialization and territorial competitiveness project (PECT) began, which is coordinated by the Baix Ebre County Council and financed 50% through European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) of the European Union, within the framework of the ERDF operational program for Catalonia 2014-2020.
The use of the natural capital of Terres de l'Ebre to increase the competitiveness of Ebrenca companies through the promotion of sustainable business models is the common thread of the project.
The project kick-off meeting was attended by the seven partners (Baix Ebre County Council, COPATE, La Rápita City Council, URV, Eurecat, Innomnium Civic Foundation and CENFIM) at the Baix Ebre county headquarters. Each of the partners promotes an operation, as can be seen in the attached table below:

  • O1. Coordination (Baix Ebre County Council)
  • O2. Civic entrepreneurship to promote territorial sustainability in Terres de l'Ebre (Innomnium Foundation)
  • O3. Living Lab Delta del Ebro (Eurecat)
  • O4. Innovation Laboratory for Environmental Education (URV)
  • O5. Promotion of the "Terres del Ebro, Biosphere Reserve" brand (COPATE)
  • O6. Identification, characterization and communication of product sustainability attributes for habitat companies (CENFIM)
  • O7. Blue Economy Center (City Hall of La Rápita)

COPATE promotes operation 5, called "Promote the Tierras del Ebro, Biosphere Reserve" brand. The “Tierras del Ebro. Biosphere Reserve” Brand was created and registered in 2015 by COPATE, the managing body of the Reserve; It is regulated by a Regulation of use and there are currently 165 accredited products and services corresponding to a similar number of different companies.
The Brand is the main instrument by which the territorial assets internationally recognized by the UNESCO designation and the universal values ​​of the United Nations SDGs are incorporated into the quality of the products and services produced in this territorial area. In Terres de l'Ebre, with an entrepreneurial ecosystem made up basically of SMEs, the Brand is especially useful for providing added value to the agri-food, furniture and tourism sectors, where quality and uniqueness are factors of first order competitiveness in markets increasingly global. The brand enables products and services to be chosen for what they implicitly represent: sustainability, quality and environmental and territorial commitment, localism and identity. Therefore, the Brand contributes to generating a productive environment where quality, sustainability and innovation, not only technological but also social, are the main drivers of the value chain, and stimulate continuous improvement processes that are contributing to a change in the behavior of the productive sectors of Terres de l'Ebre.
This Operation represents a transformation to give a definitive boost to the Brand and overcome the initial phase, characterized by the need to quickly add value to territorial activities but which now needs to be professionalized. The potential of the Brand makes it necessary to create structures and strategies that must consolidate it as the fundamental instrument at the service of companies in the territory to improve their projection, penetration and position in local and national markets and in consumer segments sensitive to values. represents.
The objectives of this operation are the following:

  1. Transform the “Terres de l'Ebre” Brand. Biosphere Reserve” in an instrument associated with the recognition of the quality of the products and services developed from the implementation of the results of the innovation processes of the territory, increasing its visibility in the market.
  2. Transfer knowledge and facilitate the implementation of innovative elements in production and commercial processes, responding to the specific needs of the agri-food and tourism sectors.
  3. Create a network of companies that adopt a collaborative culture to promote actions of common interest aimed at creating and marketing new products and services that transfer to the market the knowledge generated in the previous stages of the innovation process.

This operation consists of 3 actions, which the COPATE technical office is working to implement during 2022:

  1. Creation and implementation of the Strategy and Brand Plan of “Terres de l'Ebre. Biosphere Reserve"
  2. Creation of the Product Catalog and the EbreBiosfera MarketPlace
  3. Creation of the Support Office for the “Tierras del Ebro, Biosphere Reserve” brand.