The research group – Bioeconomy Economics
Many countries and international organisations promote the bioeconomy as the global solution to sustainable development. As developing countries face the challenge of fostering economic growth under the constraint of environmental regulation, the bioeconomy can bridge the development gap between agrarian economies and sustainable industrialisation by creating industries based on biological resources and bioprocesses. This newly established research group addresses the role that institutions, culture and decision-making of individual actors play in the development of global bio-based value webs and transition to a sustainable bioeconomy.
The project
We focus on a rapidly growing stream of biomass: residues from tropical fruits for higher value-added bio-products. We investigate their potential, socioeconomic and ecological implications and market links in the global bioeconomy. This research will span three tropical regions: Latin America, West Africa and Southeast Asia and connect case studies in Costa Rica, Ghana and the Philippines to European markets through evolving biomass-based value webs. The overarching goal is to bridge the gap between technical knowledge of the bioeconomy and socio-economic realities in developing countries. On the technical side, we focus on tropical fruit residues for higher value-added bio-products. The socio-economic side encompasses the adaptive capacity of individuals, markets and institutions to change within the global bioeconomy.