The European Hemp Pole bets on cooperation as the driving force behind the growth of the hemp-based bioeconomy.
To achieve the goal of developing a plant with multiple potential uses that can benefit the territories that choose to cultivate it, the implementation of structured, strategic initiatives—tailored to the strengths and weaknesses of those territories—is essential. Without such initiatives, no real transition is possible.

These structuring projects and strategies cannot succeed without considering the hemp plant's full ecological and economic potential—recognizing its value as a whole. This multi-valorization of hemp necessarily requires ecosystem-based cooperation involving multiple stakeholders and markets.

However, today, value creation is primarily framed in terms of bioeconomy, not cooperation. The concept of cooperative bioeconomy acknowledges that value arises not only through the transformation of biomass into new applications, but also through a new way of organizing economic actors. This involves effective cooperation within a multi-stakeholder, multi-market ecosystem—from upstream agriculture to all downstream valorization chains—based on three shared principles: open-ended cooperation, fair value distribution, and an ecosystem-based approach that includes territories, markets, value chains, and actor typologies.

This new approach aims to foster the long-term, stable development of a socio-economic ecosystem within a given territory.