What we are doing
A Bioeconomy for Europe aims at shifting the European economy towards a greater and more sustainable use of renewable resources. The development of the bioeconomy is driven by the desire to meet some of the big societal challenges of our time. The European bioeconomy could have a positive impact in addressing the societal challenges (jobs, inclusiveness), environmental challenges (biodiversity, ecological balance) and economical challenges (resource efficiency, competitiveness) contributing to reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Bioeconomy is a complex and multi-factorial domain and its wide diffusion depends on the active collaboration of a broad range of stakeholders, including industry, researchers, civil society and public authorities. This collaboration demands new interactions and synergies, all of which imply the building of trust and mutual learning between stakeholders. The platform developed by BIOVoices builds on the concept of Mobilisation & Mutual Learning Platforms (MML) and methods developed previously in European projects with the ultimate objective of stimulating dialogues between Quadruple-helix stakeholders in bioeconomy, delivering an Action Plan addressing the challenges of raising awareness of and engaging with the citizens on the bio-based products. It is crucial that society is involved in the development and governance of the bioeconomy: effective societal awareness, engagement, education and training schemes need to be developed, since there is no sustainable bioeconomy without the direct involvement of civil society in a co-construction mode, with societal appraisal of bioeconomy. In that sense, bioeconomy products and services can only become economically viable when they are accepted by society, which not only depends on the quality of these products and services itself but also on the trust citizens have in them.
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