BIOECONOMY IN CENTRAL AND EASTERNEUROPE

Abstract

The European Union’s agriculture, aquaculture, forestry and food industry sees significant internal disparities in terms of research and innovation performance to the disadvantage of the CEE countries. This divide hinders the unlocking of excellence in low-performing research, development and innovation regions and the establishment of transnational cooperation for knowledge-based development, thus the appearance of specific research topics relevant to the CEE macro-region. To bridge the gap the specific challenges in the sector should be faced through the lens of bioeconomy (circular economy). At the same time there is no doubt that bioeconomy requires accompanying strategies and shared strategic research and innovation framework. The paper is aimed at providing a brief theoretical background on bioeconomy and related bioeconomy strategies and policies and analysing key socio-economic indicators of the ‘BIOEAST countries’ bioeconomy. Furthermore, it interprets the results of the ‘BIOEAST Bioeconomy CapacityBuilding Survey’, the respondents of which were chosen randomly through personal contacts of experts (who created a judgement sample) and by snowball sampling to get further contacts. The questionnaire was sent to a small subset of the target groups –business, academic, public sector stakeholders -and the answers were examined through descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. The focus was set on what stakeholders think the most beneficial for the CEE macro region in developing the bioeconomy andwhat type of intervention they identify as necessary to overcome barriers, to manage bottlenecks. The results highlight someimplications for policymakers and point out that the creation of sustainable bioeconomy requires triple-helix stakeholders to findefficient collaboration mechanisms and build synergies.