The transition to a circular bioeconomy and sustainable food systems has high potential to contribute to societal challenges such as climate change, substitution of fuel resources and to contribute to healthy food and diets, which is why innovation in the bioeconomy should be accelerated.
However, there are several challenges in relation to getting a wider uptake of the innovation generated in the bioeconomy sector. One key barrier is that actors from different sectors, such as agriculture, food and chemistry still have limited exchange with each other, and that "sectoral silos" exist. Moreover, bioeconomy is not an own dedicated policy field – the public funding and regulation is therefore scattered and partly incoherent across ministries or geographical levels.
Sven Wydra, Project Coordinator of ShapingBio