A Bioeconomy: What is it and why should I care?

The concept of a Bioeconomy evolved from Industrial (and green, red and blue) Biotechnology as a new manufacturing system using biobased carbon as a replacement for fossil carbon. Ideally it will significantly reduce carbon emissions globally. It has the potential to impact every part of life in the future: food, agriculture, forests, algae and oceans, microbes, manufacturing, medical treatments, product design, trade dynamics, policy, economics, rich and poor, north and south, global/ regional/local political dynamics. Imagine photosynthesis without a cellular structure, producing chemical compounds using membranes in situ, using waste or creating no waste (as in 3-4D printing), remodelled urban environments, growing rice on the ocean, decentralised systems, applying space exploration learnings to the planet. We need to live within our Earth boundaries – can we do it? Plant sciences have a key role in the success of our transition from a fossil to a biobased economy for the 21st century.