Future Opportunities and Developments in the Bioeconomy

Global Expert Survey:

National bioeconomy strategies have been published by several nations around the globe.

There is, of course, a difference between the developmental stages of the various countries, their specific needs and their corresponding desire to advance the transformation from a fossil-based economy towards an economy based on renewable resources.

Nevertheless, within the next 20 years the maturing bioeconomy will succeed in the energy, agricultural, and the food & feed sector. In addition, several new products, such as chemicals based on renewable materials, will reach the market.

New technologies, such as genome editing in plant breeding, metabolic engineering or further digitalization of the primary sector, will pave the way to enhancing further developments. This trust in future innovation is noticeable across all respondent groups.

A majority of participants stress the need to develop novel (biobased) products and to optimize the current agricultural status quo in order to feed the world population. Most often, respondents want to confront this challenge by increasing yields and optimizing land use with the help of technological advances.

The strong belief in innovation is confirmed when looking at the SDGs, which were ranked as most essential in the context of future bioeconomy success stories. The answer is SDG 9 on industry, innovation and infrastructure.

Many experts stressed the need to reduce waste or better valorize it. They even viewed the reduction of food waste and losses along the supply chain as the most important approach to feeding the growing world population. Whether this is a realistic assumption should be analyzed in a global assessment of food waste.

Research could also be used to develop better supply chain management and holistic strategies for approaching the future bioeconomy. Updated bioeconomy strategies should deal with conflicting goals and their implication for future developments at an early stage.

Regional aspects should also be borne in mind as they may reduce the challenges when moving forward. Since SDG 12 on responsible consumption and production received most support from HighTech countries, future research could be targeted at whether this willingness to refrain from eating meat exists only among experts or also when asking the general public.

At the same time, it might be worthwhile to enquire whether new innovations, such as in-vitro meat, are regarded as acceptable alternatives. The necessary policies should complement these efforts but they should bear in mind that the needs of the less developed and emerging countries differ from those of the industrialized, technologically highly developed countries. In line with the observations of this global expert survey, future efforts should particularly include a triangle of educational, financial and political measures to promote the bioeconomy’s market success.

Knowledge and funding were assessed as crucial to advancing the bioeconomy. Sufficient funding and access to capital should therefore be high on national agendas, e.g. for basic and applied research.

https://gbs2018.com/Bioeconomy_Global_Expert_Survey_PDF