This introduction to the Handbook on the Bioeconomy aims to familiarise the reader with the concept of bioeconomy and to summarise the main content of the papers collected in this book. Defining the bioeconomy goes much beyond the identification of the economic sectors involved. It also implies...

This chapter emphasises the strong interlink between the diversity of bioeconomy visions that emerged around the world in recent decades and the framing of bioeconomy statistical frameworks. Today, two main visions of the bioeconomy coexist. One is science and technology centered, depicting the...

In this chapter, we show how the evolution of the bioeconomy depends on the interactions between economic and political systems. The concern about climate change, new biotechnology capabilities, and the desire to improve the rural sector's well-being led to the bioeconomy's emergence. The idea...

The cross-cutting perspective of bioeconomy guides the transition away from non-renewable resources and towards biological resources,including the use of bio-based products, processes, and practices.Different countries and regions have quite different resource endowments and socio-economic...

The future progress of bioeconomy processes ultimately depends on consumers’ willingness to adopt and pay a price premium for novel bio-based products. In order to better understand whether and how consumers are willing to adopt such products, it is pivotal to understand under which...

The main objective of this chapter is to review key topics in production economics applied to the bioeconomy. First, we address the representation of harvesting natural resources and illustrate the implications for their optimal use and sustainability. Second, we deal with the topic of increased...

The synthetic biology potential refers to the possibility of redesigning existing natural biological systems not only to enhance the efficiency of processes but also to allow reactions not possible before. This explains the rapidly expanding number of applications and also increases the...

With the increase in demand and need for sustainable biomass production, food and feed availability, and alternatives for renewable energy, the bioeconomy is at the centre of sustainable and circular economic development. For this reason, the supply side of the bioeconomy market needs...

Innovations are a major driver of the growth of the bioeconomy. The innovation systems framework provides a useful tool to analyze the opportunities and constraints to bioeconomy innovation at the international and national level. After the introduction, this chapter first presents a review of...

Achieving higher degrees of sustainability requires paradigmatic changes in production and consumption patterns, policy, culture, and institutions, thus necessitating a fundamental socioeconomic transformation. A successful shift from a petroleum-based economy to a bioeconomy will play an...