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Accelerating the tech-driven bioeconomy: The catalytic role of a global policy framework

    1. The bioeconomy is here

    The bioeconomy provides solutions to urgent world challenges. From curing diseases to the production of chemicals and fuels to sustainable food production, the bioeconomy is everywhere.*1 As digital technologies advance alongside the ability to read, write, edit and, increasingly, functionalize DNA, the application areas for the bioeconomy are expanding rapidly – extending into areas that seemed unthinkable even a decade ago.*2 Owing to its inherent programmability, the “tech-driven bioeconomy” is providing significant commercial opportunities to deliver better outcomes for people and the planet.
    Governments play a key role in infusing innovation into society and directing investment in sustainable commercial alternatives. Based on the potential of the bioeconomy to boost economic growth and deliver societal benefit, governments around the world have been drafting national bioeconomy strategies since the early 2010s. Sweden, the United States, Germany, the European Union and South Africa were some of the first to publish national bioeconomy strategies starting in the early 2010s (Callout 1). Many countries have since followed suit.

    Yet, we have only scratched the surface of the bioeconomy’s significant potential; the bioeconomy remains on the sidelines of the commercial mainstream. Why haven’t corporations and regions more significantly embraced bio-based solutions on a commercial scale? What are the key barriers preventing the bioeconomy from truly flourishing? What collective sets of actions will propel the bioeconomy away from an abstract concept championed by specialists into the go-to commercial alternative that delivers better societal and planetary outcomes?
    This article provides an overview of national strategies, as well as the key barriers preventing the bioeconomy from entering the commercial mainstream and becoming widespread across regions and societies. It also examines the potential of policy to amplify bio-innovations and unlock national strategies, and outlines key steps for enhancing commercial implementation, ultimately setting the stage for stakeholders to align on collective actions and accelerate the global transition to a bio-based economy.

    *1
    Accelerating the tech-driven bioeconomy.(2024, June 24). World Economic Forum.https://www.weforum.org/publications/accelerating-the-tech-driven-bioeconomy/
    *2
    How we can deliver a better tomorrow through generative biology.(2024, May 28). World Economic Forum.https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/05/overcome-barriers-to-generative-biology/

    2. Drivers and focus areas for national strategies

    The applications of the bioeconomy are limitless – from providing more environmentally conscious options for ingredients*3 to improving the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy*4 to the production of more sustainable textiles*5. Bio-innovation can deliver both customizable and increasingly sustainable solutions with improved performance. With governments taking notice of the tremendous potential of the bioeconomy to deliver innovative and sustainable outcomes, the bioeconomy has made its way onto national agendas – over 60 national strategies have been published to date, and counting(Figure 1).


    Source: Made by WEF
    Figure 1: National bioeconomy strategies

    Figure 1 Legend: Countries that have published dedicated strategies, or those that make mention of the bioeconomy, are illustrated here. While respective strategies are at varying phases of maturity, many countries have gone on to publish multiple iterations of their national strategies, updating or expanding their initial strategies to reflect new developments, goals or challenges. The dynamic and evolving nature of this map underscores the importance of continuously evolving bioeconomy strategies to address new challenges and opportunities, and revisions are often made to incorporate technological innovation, sustainability considerations, climate change and global economic shifts.

    There are several underlying reasons why countries publish bioeconomy strategies. These can be summarized under five categories(Figure 2):

    • Innovative and sustainable societies.
    • Economic opportunities.
    • Security of essential resources.
    • National competitiveness.
    • Environmental sustainability.

    Source: Made by WEF

    Figure 2: Drivers propelling the development of national strategies

    Figure 2 Legend: Countries across the globe are seeking to capitalize on the unique potential of leveraging biology as commercial technology. Each of the categories illustrated highlights the respective areas of opportunity, with the specific opportunities in each category detailed in (Table 1).


    Source: Made by WEF
    Table 1: Drivers fuelling bioeconomy development

    As each category demonstrates, the opportunities from transitioning to a bio-based economy are both significant and numerous. Among countries that have published bioeconomy strategies, individual approaches vary significantly from region to region, as do the specific application areas targeted. Put another way, just as the definition of the bioeconomy – what is in scope and what is not – is highly variable, depending on region, so too are the focus areas of national strategies.
    Most national strategies today include some combination of the following focus areas(Figure 3):

    • Bioenergy and biofuels
    • Agriculture, food production and food security
    • Healthcare and biomedicine
    • Environmental protection, remediation and resource management
    • Industrial biotechnology
    • Forestry and fisheries
    • Climate change mitigation

    Source: Made by WEF

    Figure 3: The focus of national bioeconomy strategies

    Figure 3 Legend: The focus of national bioeconomy strategies varies by region and typically includes some combination of the applications listed. The specific elements included in national strategies are determined by systemic, geographic and political factors.

    *3
    Knychala M.M., Boing L.A., Ienczak J.L., Trichez D., Stambuk B.U. Precision Fermentation as an Alternative to Animal Protein, a Review. Fermentation. 2024; 10(6):315.
    https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation10060315
    *4
    Zhu, B., Yin, H., Zhang, D., Zhang, M., Chao, X., Scimeca, L., & Wu, M.(2024). Synthetic biology approaches for improving the specificity and efficacy of cancer immunotherapy. Cellular and Molecular Immunology, 21(5), 436–447.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41423-024-01153-x
    *5
    Walker, K. T., Li, I. S., Keane, J., Goosens, V. J., Song, W., Lee, K., & Ellis, T.(2024). Self-pigmenting textiles grown from cellulose-producing bacteria with engineered tyrosinase expression. Nature Biotechnology.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02194-3

    3. The situation today: Barriers preventing a commercial bioeconomy

    While national strategies have gone a long way in raising its public profile, the bioeconomy today drives only a small portion of economies globally. For example, the bioeconomy continues to represent only a small portion of gross domestic product(GDP)for many regions, hovering around 1-5% for many countries. There are several reasons why the bioeconomy has yet to enter the commercial mainstream, and many of these challenges have plagued the bioeconomy for decades(Callout 2).

    Foremost challenges include high costs, lengthy time to market, lack of streamlined regulation for commercialization and testing, the current investment climate around biotech,*6 and a lack of supportive policies to level the playing field with incumbent technologies and products.*7
    While not an exhaustive list, each of these challenges is impeding momentum towards a truly commercial bioeconomy.
    The majority of these challenges aren’t unique to the bioeconomy – most emerging technologies face similar obstacles as they are adapted for commercial scale. But given the significant regional investment in establishing and maturing national strategies and the high stakes in addressing urgent global challenges, regions must take concerted steps to shift the focus from developing national strategies to commercial implementation and society-wide application.

    *6
    Senior, M.(2024). Biotech financing: darkest before the dawn. Nature Biotechnology.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02357-2
    *7
    Accelerating the global transition to a bio-based economy: The Strategic role of Policy.(2024, September 25). World Economic Forum.https://www.weforum.org/publications/accelerating-the-global-transition-to-a-bio-based-economy-the-strategic-role-of-policy/

    4. Where to, now? From publishing strategies to delivering action

    Many innovations wouldn’t be where there are today without enabling supportive policies. For instance, the 2015 “Digital Single Market” law in the European Union created a harmonized regulatory framework that helped mainstream e-commerce, cloud computing and digital services.*8 Likewise, enabling policies will be critical for actioning upon national bioeconomy strategies.
    The establishment of a coordinated and actionable set of recommendations will go a long way to support commercialization and maximize the impact of regional bioeconomies. To facilitate action, recommendations must be clear-cut and interpretable by anyone, anywhere. They must also be applicable anywhere across the globe regardless of regional circumstances, and attractive to all stakeholders independent of background and affiliation. The development of such a broadly applicable and concise framework will go a long way in elevating national strategies, ultimately bringing to life the immense promise of a bio-based economy.

    *8
    The ubiquitous digital single market. Fact Sheets on the European Union. European Parliament.(2024 May).https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/43/the-ubiquitous-digital-single-market

    5. The time to act is now

    Countries are increasingly turning to bioeconomy strategies as part of broader efforts to transition to sustainable, low-carbon economies while driving innovation, improving resource efficiency, and addressing critical global challenges like climate change, food security and economic resilience.
    With so many national strategies now published, and the near constant flow of technological advancements expanding the application areas of bio-solutions, the promise of bio-innovation to deliver transformational outcomes for people and the planet is within grasp. The time to accelerate the transition to a bio-based economy, to scale solutions that operate within planetary boundaries and deliver benefits unique to programming biology, is now.
    To move beyond national strategies and deliver the full value when programming biology for better commercial outcomes, a collective set of actionable recommendations is needed. Coordinated and actionable frameworks can boost national efforts and provide direction and momentum to effectively harness bio-solutions for better commercial and planetary outcomes. Committed to improving the state of the world through public-private partnership, together with Hitachi, the World Economic Forum is uncovering actionable amplifiers to accelerate the global transition to the tech-driven bioeconomy. By fostering such collaborative efforts and leveraging innovative strategies and frameworks, we can unlock new potentials and drive substantial progress in the bioeconomy, ensuring that the benefits are realized on a global scale.

    Author’s Introduction

    Brynne Stanton, PhD

    Lead, Bioeconomy
    World Economic Forum

    Brynne Stanton, PhD, is the Thematic Lead - Bioeconomy at the World Economic Forum. Together with her team, Brynne is building a global community across public and private sectors to accelerate the commercial bioeconomy. Prior to joining the Forum, Brynne had a rich history in venture building; as an early member of Ginkgo Bioworks, she built and ran high performing R&D teams. After Ginkgo she co-founded a joint venture with Bayer Crop Science and established a platform for sustainable agricultural products. Brynne's dedication to realizing the full potential of the tech-driven bioeconomy remains the central focus of her career.

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