Regional bioeconomies in Catalonia and Finnish Lapland

Summary

This policy brief explores the bioeconomy strategies implemented in two different European regions, by describing some of the strategies used to promote and implement a bioeconomy agenda in Catalonia and Finnish Lapland, with a focus on the actors involved, their roles and the interactions with other relevant actors or stakeholders. Both regions show that accounting for regional diversity is crucial for a successful bioeconomy strategy, as the strategies depend on a variety of institutional, social and economic factors. This also implies that there is not one single way to understand the bioeconomy, as its definition adapts to the local context, whether it is bioeconomy as the use of natural resources, circular bioeconomy as efficient industrial production, or a combination of both. This context dependence poses challenges for practitioners and policy makers, as adapting the strategies will require innovative approaches, networking and collaborations with different kinds of actors at different scales.

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