The third BIOEASTsUP project webinar “Indicators and statistical evidence for bioeconomy development” the was organised on 5th June 2020. The webinar was followed by more than 50 participants, from 10 BIOEAST countries, Germany and Italy, representing academia – universities, research institutes, public administration – ministries and state agencies, the industry and private persons.
The speakers of the webinar focused on how BIOEAST countries could be part of a stronger transnational European cooperation (by Barna Kovács, BIOEAST secretariat ), gave a closer inside on how existing bioeconomy capacities of the current national economy for BIOEAST countries were identified, and on what changes would be necessary for the transition from a fossil-based society towards a circular and sustainable bioeconomy (by Biljana Kulišić, EIHP). In addition, a methodology on how to identify national bioeconomy objectives, on how to identify indicators for bioeconomy progress monitoring, and on how to identify national statistical gaps and shortcomings affecting the development of national bioeconomy strategies was presented (by Markus Lier, Luke).
Biljana Kulišić described the proposed approach how to use the statistics to create an evidence-based policy for sustainable circular bioeconomy. The approach starts from the position of a country in the global value chains, features of the linear economy and embedded bioeconomy. Kulišić highlighted that the current bioeconomy is not necessarily either sustainable or circular and we want to transition towards the next level of bioeconomy. The approach allows a robust and transparent orientation to which dimension the sustainable circular bioeconomy could evolve, supporting the growth and strengthening the national economy. The approach was demonstrated on the Croatia as a case study.