Global, European and National Drivers of Lithuanian Bioeconomy Strategy

Abstract

This paper contributes to the comprehensive approach for sustainable and balanced development of bioeconomy as a cross-cutting economic sector and focuses on the drivers of Lithuanian bioeconomy strategy. Lithuanian bioeconomy strategy development can be motivated by country’s specialization and, compared with other EU member states, strong performance in terms of recent growth in all biomass production and fully bio-based manufacturing sectors. However, Lithuanian bioeconomy strategy depends not only on the current state and trends of its subsectors, but also on the drivers that will be forcing and shaping them in the future. The authors decomposed these drivers into global, European and national. Using content analysis of the EU, OECD and European countries’ legal acts, global drivers such as depletion of natural resources, growing population, increasing environmental pressures and climate change were identified. Applying content analysis of the EU and European countries’ bioeconomy strategies and analysis of case studies of good practices in European countries and regions, the following drivers at European level were identified: common EU bioeconomy policy, strategy and action plan; assurance of biomass availability and sustainability, as well as efficient biomass value chain; the need to strengthen markets and competitiveness of the bioeconomy subsectors; the necessity of close cooperation among all stakeholders, namely politicians, business people, scientists and the public; the need of the development of new technologies and processes, especially industrial biotechnology. The research revealed that the bioeconomy development in Lithuania has been regulated and promoted through certain sectoral policies: agriculture, forestry, fisheries, energy, environment (including waste management), scientific research, innovation and biotechnology development. In the future, the cross-sectoral links and interactions in the Lithuanian bioeconomy will increase due to the scarce biomass, applying the cascading principle in the biomass refinement, transition towards circular economy, and the development and implementation of innovations.

Bioeconomy in Romania: Investigating Farmers’ Knowledge

“…In the framework of the 2018 Strategy, the EC identifies the main role of agriculture in the development of the bioeconomy as the supplier of raw materials for biomass production [8][9][10]. On the other hand, other researchers believe that agriculture can contribute to the development of the bioeconomy by its ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change, achieve sustainable farming systems, and use efficient and clean technologies [11,12].…”

Eco-innovations in V4 countries: Comparison from a Global Perspective

“…The research revealed that the bioeconomy development in Lithuania has been regulated and promoted through certain sectoral policies: agriculture, forestry, fisheries, energy, environment (including waste management), scientific research, innovation and biotechnology development. Vitunskiene et al (2017) described that bioeconomy strategy development can be motivated by country's specialization and, compared with other EU member states, strong performance in terms of recent growth in all biomass production and fully bio-based manufacturing sectors. They decomposed these drivers into global, European and national.…”

Assessment of the Concentration and Structure of the Bioeconomy: The Regional Approach

“…In this context, the assessment and monitoring of the development of the bioeconomy at different levelsthe European Union, national regional levelshave become particularly important [18]. In order to identify the performance and trends of the bioeconomy and the social and economic importance of the bioeconomy industries, the researchers in their latest studies have used various indicators: employment, turnover, value added, labour productivity (in terms of turnover per person employed), export, sales in the domestic market, contribution to GDP and investment, as well as changes in the indicators over time [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. In this research, one of the indicators "economically active enterprises of the market sector" was used to give insight into economic activity and assess the performance of the bioeconomy, with emphasis on the concentration and structure of bioeconomy enterprises in a particular administrative territory thus revealing regional aspects of bioeconomy development in Latvia.…”