On July 14–15, 2026, the official kick-off meeting of the international project V-FOREST took place, with Ecomaat participating as a leading industrial partner. The project is supported by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) and co-funded by the European Union under grant agreement No. 101290488.
The goal of V-FOREST is to implement innovative, eco-friendly, and commercially viable biotechnological methods for processing underutilized woody biomass into the cosmetics industry.
International Consortium
The project brings together 7 organizations from 5 European countries:
- Åbo Akademi University (Finland) – chemical valorization (converting low-value raw materials into products with higher economic value) and fractionation (separating a mixture into individual components/fractions based on their physical or chemical properties)
- ITENE (Spain) – biotechnological processes and techno-economic assessment
- CO2DRY and VERTORO (Netherlands) – extraction and fractionation
- ROMSILVA (Romania) – sustainable harvesting and procurement of raw materials
- Ecomaat (Bulgaria) – development and commercialization of the final cosmetic products
- STRATECO – life cycle assessment (LCA)
The Role of Ecomaat
Ecomaat fully leads Work Package 4 (WP4): “Development of innovative cosmetic products” (months 27 – 48). The main activities of the team include assessing the bio-ingredients received from partners (lignin, nanocellulose, probiotics, bacteriocins), developing concepts and formulas for 2 completely new cosmetic products, testing and quality control, regulatory compliance with EU standards, and market launch, including packaging design and marketing strategy.
Project Goals
V-FOREST sets ambitious targets: reducing carbon emissions by at least 40% compared to conventional, fossil-based practices, as well as cutting production costs for bio-based ingredients by ≥20% through smart process planning that incorporates AI-assisted simulation models.
