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Safeguarding the Bioeconomy (2020) / Chapter Skim
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2 Defining the U.S. Bioeconomy
Pages 41-72

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From page 41...
... • Attempts to define a bioeconomy and develop performance metrics and strategies for that bioeconomy invariably lead to decisions about which economic activities to include and exclude as direct bioecono my components. • More than 40 countries have created formal strategies for promoting their bioeconomies.
From page 42...
... Economic activity surrounding the use of biological resources remains a fundamental part of modern economies. Indeed, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries (along with mining)
From page 43...
... . Second, substitution of exhaustible fossil fuels with renewable biological resources to produce electricity, fuel, and chemicalbased manufactured products became a priority to serve a variety of policy objectives in many countries (de Besi and McCormick, 2015; Dietz et al., 2018; McCormick and Kautto, 2013; Staffas et al., 2013)
From page 44...
... . The remainder of this chapter explores different definitions of the bioeconomy used by governments and academics, which can be characterized according to three different visions of a bioeconomy's purpose: a biotechnology vision, a bioresource vision, and a bioecology vision.
From page 45...
... Many countries have developed separate strategies for promoting biotechnology and biobased production, which relies on the substitution of biological resources for fossil fuels. Over time, these separate strategies have been combined under an overarching concept of the bioeconomy (Staffas et al., 2013)
From page 46...
... . Brazil "The term bioeconomy refers to ‘the generation of innovative products and services based on the country's natural resources and ecosystem services.' While the ‘expanded bioeconomy' is defined ‘as a set of economic activities related to the invention, develop ment, production and use of biological products and/or processes for the production of renewable energy, materials and chemicals'" (German Bioeconomy Council, 2018)
From page 47...
... To achieve sustainable economic growth, bioeconomy resorts to two fundamental principles: it is based on sustainably produced, renewable natural resources and on bio-based innovations" (German Bioeconomy Council, 2018)
From page 48...
... After a long period of countries formulating new bioeconomy strategies that did not feature biotechnology, over the past year new "biotechnology" bioeconomy strategies have been released by Canada (Bioindustrial Innovation Canada, 2018) , Germany (Federal Ministry of Education and Research and Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, 2020)
From page 49...
... Countries, however, differ in terms of the emphasis they place on climate change mitigation, meeting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) , energy security, and rural economic development as motivations for bioresource substitution (Bracco et al., 2018; Bugge et al., 2016; Dietz et al., 2018; Dubois and Gomez San Juan, 2016; Wreford et al., 2019)
From page 50...
... Scholars have argued that the circular economy and bioeconomy represent distinct but complementary practices (Carus and Dammer, 2018; Wesseler and von Braun, 2017) , with the bioeconomy placing greater emphasis on the role of biological science and processes, while certain biobased energy production and consumption are considered external to the circular economy (Carus and Dammer, 2018)
From page 51...
... . Third, the ability to mine and manipulate biodiversity through metabolic engineering and synthetic biology is fueling components of a purposeful bioeconomy that could be regarded as creating a novel, "digital" or "synthetic" realm of biodiversity in the form of biological tools and marketable products.
From page 52...
... and DOE's BillionTon report (Brandt et al., 2016) , by emphasizing substitution of renewable biological resources for fossil fuels, correspond more closely to the bioresource vision.
From page 53...
... For example, not only are primary sectors (other than mining) included, but also food, beverage, tobacco, and wood products manufacturing.
From page 54...
... Industry Crop production + -- + + + -- + ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ + Livestock production -- -- -- + -- -- + ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ E Fisheries/aquaculture -- -- -- + -- -- + ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ E Forestry ++ -- -- + -- -- + ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ E Electricity generation -- -- -- + -- -- + + -- + + + + + + Mining (bioleaching) -- -- -- -- + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- E Processed food + -- + + + -- + ++ ++ + ++ ++ ++ ++ + Beverages and tobacco -- -- -- + + -- -- ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ -- Leather and products -- -- -- -- -- -- ++ ++ + -- -- ++ ++ -- Wood manufacturing ++ -- -- + -- -- + ++ ++ + ++ + ++ ++ -- Paper products + -- -- + + -- -- ++ ++ + ++ -- ++ ++ --
From page 55...
... -- -- -- + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Construction -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + -- -- + -- -- Water treatment and supply -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + -- -- -- -- -- Nature tourism, hunting, fishing -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + -- -- -- -- -- NOTES: + = a sector in which some activities are included; ++ = a sector that is wholly included; E = an emerging sector in which some commercialscale applications are anticipated in the near future. Blank cells represent industries not included in the bioeconomy at all.
From page 56...
... These sectors are already characterized and defined in national income accounts and recorded regularly in government statistics. This facilitates measurement, but measures of the bioeconomy heavily weighted toward such mature sectors may indicate that the bioeconomy is a shrinking share of economic activity, incomes, and wages over time.
From page 57...
... TABLE 2-2  Results of a Survey of European Union Ministries on Which Industries Are Included, Partly Included, and Not Included in the Bioeconomy Sector at the National Level Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Italy Latvia Netherlands Norway Slovakia Spain Turkey Industry Agriculture ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ Food industry ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ Forestry ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ Aquaculture ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ + ++ + ++ ++ Fisheries ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ + ++ + ++ ++ Pulp and paper ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ -- ++ ++ + ++ ++ Renewable energy + ++ ++ + + ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ Wood products ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ + ++ + ++ + Chemical industry + + ++ + + ++ + + + + ++ ++ Pharmaceutical industry + + ++ + + ++ + ++ + + + ++ Water supply + -- ++ + + + ++ ++ ++ + + ++ Hunting + ++ ++ -- + -- ++ -- ++ + -- ++ Transportation of biobased products + ++ ++ ++ + -- -- + + -- ++ -- Nature tourism/recreation + ++ ++ + -- -- + -- + -- + ++ Construction + -- ++ + + -- + -- + -- + ++ NOTES: + = a sector in which some activities are included; ++ = a sector that is wholly included. Blank cells represent industries not included in the bioeconomy at all.
From page 58...
... Moreover, the third element of the committee's Statement of Task was to "outline metrics commonly used to identify strategic leadership positions in the global economy and identify areas in which the US currently maintains leadership positions and is most competitive." Defining the bioeconomy too narrowly could make international comparisons of bioeconomy performance more difficult as other countries harmonized toward broader definitions of and metrics for bioeconomy performance. For example, extensive efforts are under way to develop harmonized measures of the bioeconomy among EU countries (Bracco et al., 2018; EC, 2018; Parisi and Ronzon, 2016)
From page 59...
... As explored in Chapter 1, the fields of engineering have enabled high-throughput experimentation, while the computing and information sciences have greatly enabled the collection, analysis, sharing, and storage of biological information. These enabling technologies have changed the face of research in the life sciences and will continue to open up new avenues for R&D.
From page 60...
... 60 SAFEGUARDING THE BIOECONOMY FIGURE 2-2  Examples and explanations of highlighted sectors of the bioeconomy landscape that fall under the definition put forth in this report.
From page 61...
... Additional examples of animal products included in the bioeconomy include "lab-grown meats," also known as "cellular agriculture." While not the same as a classic "meat alternative," "lab-grown" meat is "the use of animal cell culture technology to grow animal tissue directly from animal cells, rather than from a live animal" (Saavoss, 2019)
From page 62...
... Because all medical devices have life science R&D in their life cycle, their inclusion in the bioeconomy is warranted. Bioindustrial Area As with the downstream fermentation processes in agriculture, any product or chemical produced using a biosynthetic or semibiosynthetic route utilizing recombinant DNA technology is included in the bioeconomy.
From page 63...
... Because of these differing functions, parsing out the economic contributions of mass spectrometers to the bioeconomy becomes difficult. In addition to various tools and instrumentation, any services that exist to advance biotechnology and the life sciences are included in the scope of the bioeconomy.
From page 64...
... Moving Forward in Defining the Landscape As discussed in relation to specific products, it can be difficult to measure the economic activity related to the bioeconomy for products that have multiple uses. At high levels of aggregation used to report U.S.
From page 65...
... If one adopts a broad, highly inclusive definition, the bioeconomy is dominated by mature economic activities that are not driven by life science and biotechnology research and innovation or are not substituting fossil fuel–based with biological resource–based production. One must also be careful lest the definition make it more difficult to anticipate changes brought about by scientific discovery and technological innovation, which will in turn make it more difficult to track the performance of the bioeconomy in consistent ways over time.
From page 66...
... Calicioglu, M Gomez San Juan, and A
From page 67...
... biobased products industry. https:// www.biopreferred.gov/BPResources/files/BiobasedProductsEconomicAnalysis2018.
From page 68...
... biobased products industry: A report to the Congress of the United States of America. https://www.biopreferred.gov/BPResources/files/EconomicReport_6_12_2015.pdf (accessed August 30, 2019)
From page 69...
... Improving lives and strengthening our economy: A national bioeconomy strategy to 2030. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/761856/181205_BEIS_ Growing_the_Bioeconomy__Web_SP_.pdf (accessed August 30, 2019)
From page 70...
... n.d. Modern natural products drug discovery and its relevance to biodiversity conservation.
From page 71...
... Paris, France: OECD Pub lishing. http://www.wcbef.com/assets/Uploads/Publications/Realising-the-Circular Bioeconomy.pdf (accessed August 30, 2019)
From page 72...
... 2012. National Bioeconomy Blueprint (USNBB)


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