It is evident that the process of green transition reshapes national, regional, and local economic landscapes, and triggers change in ecosystems of various industries, thereby highlighting the urgent need to plan efficient and fair strategies to minimise the costs of job destruction and maximise the benefits of job creation in a socially fair way and a geographically equal way, in the wider patterns of reskilling. ISABEL's main objective is to provide a threefold solution to the aforementioned problem related to JCD with the use of new technologies such as AI and Large Language Models (LLM) that will 1) enrich our understanding of the socially and geographically uneven implications of this process across Europe, 2) broaden our knowledge on the factors underlying this process, and 3) highlight pathways of minimising the effects of job destruction and maximising the benefits of job creation, in a socially and spatially fair way. The latter include upskilling and reskilling of workers and the reallocation of labour, based on existing and forecasted skills shortages, using AI technologies to support these tasks. To achieve its main goal, ISABEL will examine the above elements at 3 different levels: i) the aggregate European level, among the EU, UK and Serbian Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics 2 regions (NUTS2), using secondary data, ii) at 6 countries of focus -Denmark, Greece, Poland, UK, Serbia, Spain, collecting and analysing primary data, and iii) Living Labs focusing on 6 regions with diverse socio-economic features.

On average, each European citizen produces approximately 200 kg of municipal biowaste per year, representing between 118 and 138 million tonnes of biowaste annually arising in the EU. The main municipal biowaste management systems currently existing in Europe represent one-way flow systems in which materials and resources are underused, limiting its potential recovery into high-value products. VALUEWASTE proposes an integrated approach in urban biowaste upcycling for the production of high-value biobased products, developing the first complete solution to fully valorise biowaste that can be replicated across Europe. We will implement three new value chains that will use urban biowaste as raw material for its valorisation into high-value end products in a cascading process, generating economic, social and environmental benefits: food & feed proteins and other ingredients, and biobased fertiliser. VALUEWASTE will be developed at two very different European locations, Murcia (ES) and Kalundborg (DK) with the purpose of finding a solution both technical and socially adapted to the different socio-economic contexts exiting across Europe. Social initiatives will be created to increase consumer awareness and acceptance of urban biowaste-derived products. End-user products applications and new market opportunities will be demonstrated. Outcomes of the project will contribute to new standardisation, and will be useful information for EU policy makers in terms of waste management and in the adoption of new policies.