BORN project completes its first year: advancing sustainable materials for the future of food packaging

The EIC Pathfinder project BORN – BiObased theRmal-resistaNt food packaging has completed its first year, establishing solid scientific foundations for the development of a new generation of biobased and biodegradable materials for sustainable food packaging.

Launched on 1 October 2025, BORN is a three-year European project coordinated by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Italy, with an EU contribution of €3.29 million under the European Innovation Council (EIC) Pathfinder programme (Grant Agreement No. 101223095).

During its first year, BORN has made encouraging progress towards overcoming some of the limitations that currently restrict the wider use of biobased and biodegradable polymers in demanding applications. Research has addressed material design and development, processing, characterisation, sustainability and end-of-life, identifying promising directions for further development and optimisation.

BORN brings together eight partners from six countries, combining complementary expertise across the material and packaging value chain. Its interdisciplinary approach considers the entire life cycle of food packaging, from material conception and development to production, use and end-of-life.

The first year has also seen strong scientific dissemination and engagement through international conferences, seminars and other events, alongside the continued development of the project’s website, newsletter and social media channels.

A further achievement was the award of an EIC Booster Grant of €50,000, providing additional support to strengthen the exploitation and innovation potential of BORN’s research activities.

Beyond its own research, BORN is actively contributing to the EIC Pathfinder Project Portfolio “Nature-inspired Alternatives for Food Packaging and Films for Agriculture”, which brings together six projects selected from 105 proposals to foster collaboration, knowledge exchange and shared portfolio objectives.

The joint activities are guided by the EIC Pathfinder Strategic Plan “Nature-inspired alternatives for food packaging and films for agriculture”, available through the https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2826/7623167. More information on the Portfolio and its joint activities is available on the EIC Circular Bioplastics website.

As BORN enters its second year, the consortium will build on these foundations, further developing and assessing the most promising approaches towards high-performance, biobased and biodegradable materials for more sustainable food packaging.

“The first year of BORN has established a strong scientific foundation and provided encouraging initial results. We have identified promising research directions that will now be further developed as the project moves towards its ambitious objectives.”

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.