Istanbul, Türkiye | 15–17 September 2026
Following its successful relaunch in June 2026 and the Virtual Kick-off Meeting held on 23 June, the ROBOCOOP-EU project – Circular Bioeconomy Business Models Owned by Agro-Cooperatives brought its consortium together in Istanbul, Türkiye, from 15 to 17 September 2026 for its first in-person workshop since the project restart.
Hosted at The Marmara Pera Hotel, the three-day workshop, entitled “Co-creation and Fostering the ROBOCOOP-EU Community of Practice,” represented an important step in translating the renewed project momentum into coordinated scientific, technological, business and stakeholder-oriented action.
Unlike a conventional consortium meeting, the Istanbul event was designed as an interactive, results-oriented working workshop. Partners assessed progress achieved since the relaunch, reviewed milestones and deliverables, showcased emerging results, addressed technical and organisational bottlenecks, and agreed on priority actions towards project completion in August 2027.
A central feature was the integration of the project’s different dimensions. On 15 September, plenary discussions provided an overview of project progress and Work Package achievements, followed by a dedicated session addressing modelling, flowsheeting, scale-up and techno-economic assessment and their interaction with other technical activities.
On 16 September, parallel working sessions connected two complementary project pathways. The technological track brought together WP2–WP6 around pilot validation, scale-up, deliverables and scientific integration, while the WP7–WP8 track focused on Living Labs, cooperative business models, exploitation, communication, stakeholder engagement, capacity building, regional replication and impact. Both streams reconvened to establish cross-WP solutions and a common implementation roadmap.
A strategic outcome was the development of the ROBOCOOP-EU Community of Practice (CoP) as a platform for knowledge exchange, stakeholder engagement, exploitation and longer-term collaboration beyond individual project activities.
The workshop concluded on 17 September with a technical and networking visit to the Basaksehir Living Lab, combining interaction with a local innovation ecosystem with opportunities for knowledge exchange and future collaboration.
By bringing technological development together with sustainability, cooperative business models, Living Labs and exploitation, the Istanbul Workshop is expected to strengthen the pathway from project results to practical impact, supporting more circular, resilient and competitive bio-based value chains.
Project: 101112407 — ROBOCOOP-EU — HORIZON-JU-CBE-2022
Event: Co-creation and Fostering the ROBOCOOP-EU Community of Practice
Dates: 15–17 September 2026
Venue: The Marmara Pera Hotel, Istanbul, Türkiye
