The HOOP Dictionary

When investors and financiers (such as institutional investors, funds, banks, etc.) are asked to look into a project they would typically check the “bankability” of the project. There is no “one size fits all” definition for the bankability of a specific project since it depends on the investor and financiers requirements, for instance in terms of sector, scope, technology, size of the investment, legal and regulatory framework or risk management. From an assessment perspective, a bankable project involves a solid financial, economic, and technical plan, with a risk allocation scheme appropriate for the nature of the project, the risks involved, and the interests of the investors and financiers, implying an acceptable credit risk.

Reference status of the Lighthouse Cities/Regions before the application of HOOP Assistance from a point of view of urban circular bioeconomy development.

Best Available Technologies, are those both technically and economically available techniques which are the best for preventing or minimising emissions and impacts on the environment.

Bio-based products are those wholly or partly made from materials of biological origin, excluding materials embedded in geological formations and/or fossilised. As they are derived from renewable raw materials such as plants and organic waste, bio-based products can help reduce CO₂ and offer other advantages such as novel product characteristics (e.g. biodegradable plastic materials).

The bioeconomy covers all sectors and systems that rely on biological resources (animals, plants, micro-organisms and derived biomass, including organic waste), their functions and principles. It includes and interlinks: land and marine ecosystems and the services they provide; all primary production sectors that use and produce biological resources (agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture); and all economic and industrial sectors that use biological resources and processes to produce food, feed, bio-based products, energy and services.

The main dialogue platform for the stakeholder engagement in the HOOP lighthouses to foster co-creation and local engagement will be the so-called urban Biowaste Clubs, which will include all key local stakeholders, such as representatives of the municipality, of waste collectors or of citizens’ initiatives. These actors will decide upon and – together with the HOOP partners – implement pilot actions that:

1. Increase consumer awareness and acceptance of urban biowaste-derived products
2. Change behaviour towards better recycling rates, in order to increase quality and quantity of the biowaste collected
3. Implement best practices in biowaste collection, transport, sorting, pre-treatment and characterization
4. Promote new, circular business models and foster social innovation
5. Initiate new local and national policies and initiatives and
6. Set milestones for national action manuals

Ultimately, the members of the local Biowaste Clubs should become national biowaste ambassadors and help spread the key learnings and success stories across the HOOP pilot countries and beyond.

European Comission initiative supporting the implementation of local and regional circular economy solutions, funding, documents and latest. This initiative intends to expand circularity beyond traditional resource recovery in waste and water sectors towards a circular economy at urban and regional level. The CCRI is part of the new circular economy action plan. It will implement circular solutions at local and regional scale and help deliver on the European Green Deal and the EU bioeconomy strategy.

A circular economy is an economic system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources. Circular systems employ reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling to create a closed-loop system, minimising the use of resource inputs and the creation of waste, pollution and carbon emissions. The circular economy aims to keep products, equipment and infrastructure in use for longer, thus improving the productivity of these resources. Waste materials and energy should become input for other processes: either a component or recovered resource for another industrial process or as regenerative resources for nature (e.g. compost). This regenerative approach is in contrast to the traditional linear economy, which has a “take, make, dispose” model of production.

A circular business model is the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers and captures value with and within closed material loops. New Circular Economy Business Models (CEBMs) are considered very important for the transition to the Circular Economy, that is why the literature on CEBMs is increasingly growing in the last ten years.

Within HOOP, the Circular Investors Board (CIB) comprises a balanced group of more than 20 key actors in the field of private and public investment for the circular economy at regional, national and European levels. The CIB provides HOOP with insights from investors and supports project partners in creating tools and concepts to measure the maturity and bankability of technologies/projects (attractiveness towards investors). Learn more.

Circular processes create value from waste from an economic, but also from an environmental and waste management perspective. The Circular Valuation Method will be developed in HOOP to account for all the ways value is maintained, restored or created in the Urban Circular Bioeconomy. It will be a tool to analyse the level of circularity of a project/process, based on a variety of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) indicating whether a technology/project is worth implementing. It thus helps benchmarking different technologies assessing the ones that create the most value for the society.

Related to the circular economy, circularity encompasses the following principles and always ensures that none of them are compromised at the expense of others:

• Materials: infinite recyclability
• Energy: 100% clean and/or renewable
• Water: sustainability harvested or recycled
• Society: cultural/social fabric of life preserved
• Health: human health and happiness improved
• Prosperity: better understand of living

Methodology developed in HOOP for evaluation of circularity performance and sustainability based on the outputs from environmental and techno-economic assessments from mother projects. This methodology will consider both economic and environmental aspects and their relationships in a unified approach to develop circular economy indicators.

HOOP will develop a circular ranking system for cities as an instrument to understand their current position/performance in regard to the implementation of circular measures at city level. It will serve as the baseline to efficiently launch green policies at city level and to effectively boost and implement investment projects for the production of urban biowaste & wastewater-based products.

Citizen Science can be described as the participation of the public in scientific research. Citizens can be involved in the whole research process in different ways, from the very definition of the research question in highly inclusive projects, to data collection, data analysis, and co-creation of actions with engaged stakeholders. Their level of involvement depends on the selected engagement model and the objective of the research, which may entail different levels of participation.  Muki’s Haklay created in 2013 an engagement ladder to list four levels of participation in citizen science, in which level four is the most comprehensive (citizens are involved in problem definition, data collection and analysis), while level one is the most basic (citizens participate passively in data gathering).

These practices can produce new sets of data or complement existing data sets, which otherwise may be impossible to obtain, thus contributing to the advancement of science in alignment with society. Citizen science practices empower citizens and increase science literacy and critical thinking of society as a whole. Citizens are able to participate in decision-making processes of their concern and can play a more active role in sustainable development. Their deep engagement in science through their contributions may also lead to processes of awareness raising and behavioural change. Citizen generated data may also contribute to informing improved and inclusive public policies, as reported by the Joint Research Centre, and supported by the European Commission.

Studies consisting of a detailed techno-economic evaluation of a project together with the assessment of the risks associated with it. These studies are usually developed as first step to determine the technical feasibilty and financial viability of a project.

A city, region, or public organisation managing waste in a given territory (city or group of cities), that joins the HOOP network of cities in order to follow the development of the project. Follower cities will be given access to a dedicated platform where they will be able to access relevant information, documents, and contacts with other cities, including lighthouses. Besides, follower cities will be invited to punctually join HOOP’s events, both online and “physical”, (e.g. biowaste clubs, national replication workshop, etc.), both to share their own experience, and to participate in capacity-building sessions.

Technique for assessing the environmental aspects and potential impacts associated with a product (or action) by: compiling an inventory of relevant inputs and outputs of a system; evaluating the potential environmental impacts associated with those inputs and outputs; and interpreting the results of the inventory analysis and impact assessment phases in relation to the objectives of the study. (adapted from ISO 14040)

Internal Management Bodies with the aim of managing the Project Development Assistance (PDA) provided to each Lighthouse City/Region within the HOOP project. They are formed by key council staff and HOOP technical partners. These committees will ensure communication with Lighthouse Cities and Regions providing and compiling the information needed for the development of the tasks and helping them to define their investment projects.

HOOP partners will provide Project Development Assistance (PDA) to eight pioneering Lighthouse Cities & Regions, who are committed to developing large-scale urban circular bioeconomy initiatives. The eight cities and regions are: Kuopio (Finland), Bergen (Norway), Almere (The Netherlands), Albano-Laziale (Italy), Porto (Portugal), Western Macedonia (Greece), Murcia (Spain) and Münster (Germany).

Horizon 2020 projects SCALIBUR, VALUEWASTE and WaysTUP! are developing technoligies to valorise urban biowaste and wastewater and provide the background information for the implementation of HOOP project.

Open Market Consultation (OMC) is a procurement preparatory phase and a ruled two-way dialogue process which allows public procurers to assess the TRL (technology readiness level), the risks associated with a specific procurement procedure before launching it and to provide suppliers with an opportunity to help shape and validate plans and requirements. The OMC is conceived with the assumption that the (public) need analysis and definition is a pre-requisite and with the following objectives and in a manner to produce benefits for the procurers:

• Raise the profile of the procurement opportunity to a more diverse and a broad range of tech supplier base, including SMEs and larger established suppliers,
• Provide early visibility of operational risks: deployment barriers and constraints to be managed and well addressed where designing the procurement and preparing the tender documents,
• Provide early insight into business opportunities and the strategic drivers behind them,

Provide a discussion space on innovation and associated risks allowing suppliers to assess risks and related options.
The dialogue is determined to produce also benefits for suppliers (without precluding or distorting competition):

• Issues or concerns can be raised without companies feeling their position in the future procurement is threatened,
• Allows suppliers to interact with potential supply chain and/or commercial partners.

The open market consultations must be advertised – in advance – in the Official Journal of the European Union using the TED website at least in English and in the other languages of procurers for the purpose of complying with the EC Treaty principles including those of transparency, non-discrimination and equal treatment.

Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW), also known as ‘biowaste’, is defined as biodegradable garden and park waste, food and kitchen waste from households, restaurants, caterers and retail premises, and comparable waste from food processing plants. It does not include forestry or agricultural residues, manure, sewage sludge, or other biodegradable waste such as natural textiles, paper or processed wood. It also excludes those by-products of food production that never become waste.

Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) is a specific approach to implement a public procurement of R&D services that follows three principles defined in the European Commission’s PCP communication (COM/799/2007) and the associated staff working document (SEC/2007/1668). The three principles are: competitive development in phases, sharing of IPR risks and benefits (IPR ownership is allocated to the contractors and the procurer obtains usage and licensing rights) at market conditions and separating the PCP from the subsequent purchase of commercial volumes of solutions. PCPs are exempted from the EU public procurement directives and WTO GPA. The 2014 R&D&I State aid framework defines PCP as the public procurement of research and development services where the contracting authority or contracting entity does not reserve all the results and benefits of the contract exclusively for itself for use in the conduct of its own affairs, but shares them with the providers under market conditions. The contract, the object of which falls within one or several categories of research and development defined in this framework (i.e. fundamental research, industrial research and experimental development), must be of limited duration and may include the development of prototypes or limited volumes of first products or services in the form of a test series. The purchase of commercial volumes of products or services must not be an object of the same contract.

Technical, legal, environmental, economic & financial and administrative assistance that will be provided to the Lighthouse Cities and Regions within the HOOP project, for the development of urban circular economy projects, bridging the gap between the plans/strategies and the investment.

Tool used for assessment of the technical feasibility of a technology through its implementation under representative conditions. This tool provides an assessment of the functionality of a technology under the specific conditions required. It is typically the first step to technology innovation.

Public Procurement of Innovative solutions (PPI) happens when existing public procurement procedures (e.g. open, negotiated, competitive dialogue) are used to buy innovative solutions which are not yet available on large scale commercial basis (new to the market). In public procurements of innovative solutions, the public procurer is an early adopter of innovative solutions. Early adopters are typically referred to as the first 20% of customers on the market that buy an innovative solution (i.e. a new or significantly improved product, service or process). This includes procurements of products, services or processes that have already been demonstrated on a small scale, and may be nearly or already in small quantity on the market, but that have not been widely adopted by the market yet. This also includes existing solutions that are to be utilised in a new and innovative way. Early adopters can trigger wider deployment of innovative solutions, because their purchase signals to mass markets that there is a sufficient level of customer acceptance for the solutions.

The Quadruple Helix Model of innovation recognizes four major actors in the innovation system: science, policy, industry, and society. This model is used to promote dialogue among actors, increase transparency, and to co-design innovative solutions that are relevant to all the stakeholders involved.

This model will be used in HOOP by involving 1) citizens, local communities and NGOs/associations; 2) Public Sector, local governments, public institutions and environmental authorities; 3) Private Sector, industries and SMEs & 4) Academia in the stakeholder engagement activities. Learn more.

Stakeholder engagement can be defined as a guided process during which all relevant actors are included in frequent exchange and join forces to achieve a common goal. Stakeholder engagement is, thus understood, firstly, as an ongoing, inclusive dialogue among all actors that can contribute directly or indirectly to fostering a sustainable biowaste value chain, and secondly as a process of agenda-setting and collective implementation of pilot activities that are shaped according to the stakeholders’ needs and expectations.

Stage of a technology, science or knowledge in the present moment, including the latest advances and developments. In the framework of HOOP it provides an overview of urban circular bioeconomy technologies with a multidisciplinary approach.

Methodology to evaluate the degree of maturity of a technology. It has 9 levels depending on the state of development of the technology from the idea to its implementation in full-scale operational conditions.

A web-based platform developed to provide the HOOP resources and information for follower cities.  This platform will centralise the registration of follower cities and monitor their progress of the network. It will manage the Circularity Label system and it will provide guidelines to create a Project Development Assistance (PDA) from scratch as well as to provide existing decision-making and evaluation tools.

Sewage sludge is the residual, semi-solid material that is produced during sewage treatment of industrial or municipal wastewater. Sludge is rich in nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous and contains valuable organic matter.

Assessment of materials, water and energy flows in a Lighthouse City/Region seen as a living organism. It evaluates the inputs (raw materials, goods, water and energy), outputs (waste, emissions), generation of by-products and its reuse, considering the technical (infrastructures, industries) and socio-economic conditions of the Lighthouse City/Region.

An online space hosted on the Urban Circular Bioeconomy Hub and specially targeting follower cities, providing them with access to resources and interactive services related to four thematic areas of urban circular bioeconomy: stakeholder engagement, collection and transport, sorting, characterisation and valorization. The Virtual Academy will gather both outputs from the HOOP project and resources from other initiatives.

Actions or processes done to obtain value (material or energetic) from waste. Material valorisation includes operations to use the waste for its original or a different purpose and processes to obtain new products or raw materials from it. Energy valorisation implies the generation of different forms of energy (heat, electricity) by its trasformation directly or indirectly.