Bioeconomy as a Circular and Integrated System

The transformation of our economic system, which is based on fossil resources, into a bioeconomy poses many challenges. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) formulated the following in its concept paper “Bioeconomics as societal change”, which addresses, in particular, the importance of social and economic research for the bioeconomy: “The term bioeconomy is associated with the vision of a ‘natural economy’, that is one based on the natural material cycle. The aim of the BMBF is to “develop a sustainable, bio-based economy with a strong focus on sustainability” and, on this basis, to ensure both global nutrition and the supply of energy sources and renewable raw materials for a wide range of industries and applications” (BMBF 2014). On the one hand, this addresses aspects of the circular economy. On the other hand, it is emphasised that the use of renewable raw materials should be made with the highest efficiency, and correspondingly be sustainable. Thus, it must be a fundamental goal of the bioeconomy to make the best possible use of the potential of renewable raw materials in a cascade-like manner. The aim should therefore be to implement the bioeconomy as an integrated system with high resource efficiency, comparable to the established integrated system of the chemical industry (Biermann et al. 2011).