Research and innovation in the life sciences is driving rapid growth in agriculture, biomedical science, information science and computing, energy, and other sectors of the U.S. economy. This economic activity, conceptually referred to as the bioeconomy, presents many opportunities to create jobs, improve the quality of life, and continue to drive economic growth. While the United States has been a leader in advancements in the biological sciences, other countries are also actively investing in and expanding their capabilities in this area. Maintaining competitiveness in the bioeconomy is key to maintaining the economic health and security of the United States and other nations. Safeguarding the Bioeconomy evaluates preexisting and potential approaches for assessing the value of the bioeconomy and identifies intangible assets not sufficiently captured or that are missing from U.S. assessments. This study considers strategies for safeguarding and sustaining the economic activity driven by research and innovation in the life sciences. It also presents ideas for horizon scanning mechanisms to identify new technologies, markets, and data sources that have the potential to drive future development of the bioeconomy.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book defines the new field of "Bioeconomy" as the sustainable and innovative use of biomass and biological knowledge to provide food, feed, industrial products, bioenergy and ecological services. The chapters highlight the importance of bioeconomy-related concepts in public, scientific, and political discourse. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the authors outline the dimensions of the bioeconomy as a means of achieving sustainability. The authors are ideally situated to elaborate on the diverse aspects of the bioeconomy. They have acquired in-depth experience of interdisciplinary research through the university’s focus on “Bioeconomy”, its contribution to the Bioeconomy Research Program of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, and its participation in the German Bioeconomy Council. With the number of bioeconomy-related projects at European universities rising, this book will provide graduate students and researchers with background information on the bioeconomy. It will familiarize scientific readers with bioeconomy-related terms and give scientific background for economists, agronomists and natural scientists alike.

The Role of Bioenergy in the Bioeconomy: Resources, Technologies, Sustainability and Policy provides the reader with a complete understanding on how bioenergy technologies fit into the new bioeconomy paradigm. Sections focus on the main resources and technologies for bioenergy and its integration in energy systems and biorefining chains, analyze the available methodologies for assessing the sustainability of bioenergy, and address and the propose approaches that are demonstrated through concrete case studies. Additionally, the implications of bioenergy in the water-energy and land nexus is presented, along with new challenges and opportunities. This book's strong focus on sustainability of bioenergy, both as a standalone, and in the larger context of a bio-based economy, makes it a useful resource for researchers, professionals and students in the bioenergy field who need tactics to assess the lifecycle and sustainability of bioenergy technologies and their integration into existing systems. - Presents a complete overview of the main challenges that bioenergy will have to overcome in order to play a key role in future energy systems - Explores sustainability aspects in detail, both qualitatively and by applying proposed methodologies to concrete bioenergy case studies - Covers, in detail, the water-energy-land nexus implications and governance aspects

This book is a concise overall view of the status quo of the bioeconomy and its future developments - in Germany and beyond. Numerous practitioners from business, science, civil society and politics show how the bioeconomy is addressing the global problems of the future. Based on renewable raw materials and energies, the bioeconomy is developing new products and processes with the aim of shaping a more ecologically and economically sustainable future. But can it succeed? What are its opportunities and limitations? Which framework conditions influence it? The book answers these questions with a systemic view of the bioeconomy and thus enables a quick orientation in this topic. This is additionally supported by numerous graphics. The book thus invites readers to help shape the future of the bioeconomy.

This book provides an interdisciplinary and comprehensible introduction to bioeconomy. It thus provides basic knowledge for understanding a transformation process that will shape the 21st century and requires the integration of many disciplines and industries that have had little to do with each other up to now. We are talking about the gradual and necessary transition from the age of fossil fuels, which began around 200 years ago, to a global economy based on renewable raw materials (and renewable energies). The success of this transition is key to coping with the challenge of climate change. This book conceives the realization of bioeconomy as a threefold task – a scientific, an economic and an ecological one. · Where does the biomass come from that we need primarily for feeding the growing world population but also for future energy and material use? How can it be processed in biorefineries and what role does biotechnology play in this regard? · Which aspects of innovation economics need to be considered, which economic aspects of value creation, competitiveness and customer acceptance are important? · What conditions must a bioeconomy fulfil in order to enable a sustainable development of life on earth? May it be regarded as a key to further economic growth or shouldn’t it rather orient itself towards the ideal of sufficiency? By dealing with these questions from the not necessarily consistent perspectives of proven experts, this book provides an interdisciplinary overview of a dynamic field of research and practice that raises more questions than answers and thus may nurture the motivation of many more people to seriously engage for the realization of a bioeconomy.

Bioenergy Systems for the Future: Prospects for Biofuels and Biohydrogen examines the current advances in biomass conversion technologies for biofuels and biohydrogen production, including their advantages and challenges for real-world application and industrial-scale implementation. In its first part, the book explores the use of lignocellulosic biomass and agricultural wastes as feedstock, also addressing biomass conversion into biofuels, such as bioethanol, biodiesel, bio-methane, and bio-gasoline. The chapters in Part II cover several different pathways for hydrogen production, from biomass, including bioethanol and bio-methane reforming and syngas conversion. They also include a comparison between the most recent conversion technologies and conventional approaches for hydrogen production. Part III presents the status of advanced bioenergy technologies, such as applications of nanotechnology and the use of bio-alcohol in low-temperature fuel cells. The role of advanced bioenergy in a future bioeconomy and the integration of these technologies into existing systems are also discussed, providing a comprehensive, application-oriented overview that is ideal for engineering professionals, researchers, and graduate students involved in bioenergy. - Explores the most recent technologies for advanced liquid and gaseous biofuels production, along with their advantages and challenges - Presents real-life application of conversion technologies and their integration in existing systems - Includes the most promising pathways for sustainable hydrogen production for energy applications

Between 1973 and 2016, the ways to manipulate DNA to endow new characteristics in an organism (that is, biotechnology) have advanced, enabling the development of products that were not previously possible. What will the likely future products of biotechnology be over the next 5â€"10 years? What scientific capabilities, tools, and/or expertise may be needed by the regulatory agencies to ensure they make efficient and sound evaluations of the likely future products of biotechnology? Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology analyzes the future landscape of biotechnology products and seeks to inform forthcoming policy making. This report identifies potential new risks and frameworks for risk assessment and areas in which the risks or lack of risks relating to the products of biotechnology are well understood.