Assessing the contribution of bioeconomy to countries' economy : a brief review of national frameworks

This study reports and analyses how different countries are measuring the contribution of bioeconomy (BE) to their overall economy or country objectives. The focus is on Argentina, Australia, Germany, Malaysia, the Netherlands, South Africa and the United States of America. The countries selected from six continents differ in terms of level of economic development and have different bioeconomy strategies. From the sample countries and available literature, general conclusions on constraints and opportunities of bioeconomy for countries with different income level and biomass availability are drawn. The paper shows that different sets of sectors and subsectors are considered ‘bioeconomy’ by the countries analysed. The sectors included in the bioeconomy strategy often reflect the objectives and priorities identified by the country, and comparative advantages linked; for instance, to endowment in biomass resources, historical economic specialisation, and past investments in research and development ( R&D ). Some regional efforts to harmonize the measurement of bioeconomy exists. For example, since the launch of the European Commission (EC) strategy for the bioeconomy in 2012, the EC Joint Research Centre (JRC) has been monitoring jobs and turnover in the European Union bioeconomy for all the member states and sectors.