Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

The bioeconomy serves the goals of resource saving and of reducing environmental pollution and is, therefore, in accordance with principles of sustainable development. Since private markets alone fail to serve these goals successfully, the government is called for to promote the bioeconomy in order to ensure a sustainable development of the economy.

In this chapter the concept of sustainability, which is essentially an intertemporal concept, is introduced. Thereafter, the basic principles of resource economics, i.e., the optimal use of natural resources over time, are discussed using a simple intertemporal model. Reasons for market failure in the environmental sector are discussed along with various governmental instruments and policies to address the different kinds of market failure.

To improve sustainability, the global economic system has to undergo severe transformation processes. This chapter deals with the possibility of an innovation-triggered transformation towards a knowledge-based bioeconomy, which is supposed to overcome the current lock-in into a fossil fuel-based CO-intensive production. To do this, a neo-Schumpeterian view is applied that highlights the complex interplay in knowledge generation and knowledge diffusion processes between firms, consumers, and government institutions. By applying the neo-Schumpeterian approach, it becomes obvious that innovation and economic growth are part of the solution and not part of the sustainability problem. The shift from quantitative growth to qualitative development makes the difference and affects all agents and institutions in an economic system, which needs to be designed as a dedicated innovation system supporting the transformation towards a knowledge-based bioeconomy.

The transition towards a bioeconomy in a challenging and complex environment requires substantial interaction and collaboration between different players on various levels. In this chapter, the concept of a bioeconomy professional is discussed. This actor provides an integrative and connecting role for which the development of basic and key competences is required. The concept of T-shaped profiles, built up from disciplinary expertise and the ability to integrate different disciplines and players holistically, is considered an outstanding feature of bioeconomists. To achieve such profiles, interdisciplinary approaches and new learning environments are required during education process. Bioeconomists have relevant roles in all different stages of the value chain as well as in initially setting them up. Finally, various opinions of experts in bioeconomy fields are presented to get an overview of the potential career opportunities for such professionals.