Abstract
Abstract The goal of this paper is to investigate the transition towards a bio-based economy as part of a broader sustainable transition in Europe. To analyse the challenges and opportunities associated with the bio-based economy, we applied the Strategic Niche Management approach to investigate the drivers that boost the emergence of the bio-based economy, the factors hindering it, as well as institutional changes which are at the base of the socio-technological transition. Although considered as just one piece of the sustainability puzzle, the bio-based economy behaves as a socio-technical system on its own, providing valuable hints on systemic transitions.
Highlights
Back in 1789, Thomas Robert Malthus announced that a problem of natural resources availability would emerge
Among others we shall mention: i) abundance of natural and biological resources that fuel the bio-based industry, ii) strong primary economic sector that can benefit from technological development for increasing productivity, iii) important chemical and other industrial sectors that seek a decoupling of own development from their dependence on fossil fuel resources, and iv) specialised higher education, as well as research and innovation activities within regions that increase knowledge on innovations for the bio-based economy as we will discuss further on in the paper
The bio-based economy, a system fuelled by radical socio-technical innovations, is discussed in an Strategic Niche Management (SNM) perspective, in order to provide some hints on the challenges and opportunities associated with the establishment of such an economic system, and in particular with the transition from the use of fossil-based resources to renewable and natural ones
Summary
Back in 1789, Thomas Robert Malthus announced that a problem of natural resources availability would emerge. A systemic transition toward a circular economy can be a solution to reduce the burden of growing population and people needs over global natural resources (Rockström et al 2009; Rashid et al 2013; Robért et al 2013; Broman et al 2017; Broman and Robért 2017; Korhonen et al 2017; D’Amato et al 2017; EC 2014; CIRAIG 2015; The Fourth BioEconomy Stakeholders’ Conference 2016) Such transition would entail progressively moving towards a model in which: (1) natural and renewable resources (biomasses) replace fossil-based resources; (2) the production focuses on recovery of inputs along the whole value chain, including re-engineering efforts to produce goods from recyclable materials; (3) consumption aims at reducing, reusing, and sharing goods rather than owning them.
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