The European Commission (EC) president Jose Manuel Barroso and Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn announced the launch alongside industry representatives.
The EC will provide over €250m in the coming year, with the private sector anticipated to contribute about three times as much.
The PPP will create new partnerships between sectors like agriculture/agrofood, chemicals, energy, pulp and paper, and technology providers via financing research and innovation projects.
The initiative will create several new jobs, spark rural growth, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly.
Novozymes president and CEO Peder Holk Nielsen said Europe is not ahead of the curve when it comes to realizing the great potential around the creation of the biobased economy – the only viable alternative to the existing oil-based society.
"With this unprecedented public-private commitment, however, we demonstrate the EU wants to take the lead in this transition towards a biobased economy," Nielsen added.
"For Europeans, it is an opportunity to secure thousands of rural jobs and sustainable growth in our regions, while reversing the investment trends currently going to other parts of the world."
