The EIB report on  Access-to-Finance Conditions for Investments in Bio-Based Industries and the Blue Economy was published on 31 May 2017. This report is based on a study carried out by EY with the support of Trinomics. Trinomics carried out desk research, data collection and interviews with project promoters in the Blue Economy in Europe. The study finds that projects and companies active in the Bioeconomy face issues accessing private capital, with the main funding gaps appearing in (i) BBI and BE projects scaling up from pilot to demonstration plants and (ii) particularly in BBI, moving from demonstration to flagship/first-of-a-kind (FOAK) and industrial-scale projects.

The study puts forth a number of recommendations to address these funding gaps, among which is the development of a new dedicated risk-sharing instrument addressing the specific needs of project promoters in this sector. The set-up of such an investment platform is currently being considered for approval by the European Investment Bank and the European Commission as part of the new InnovFin programme.