An incredible
amount of marine and land-based resources currently remain unexploited
because no-one
is facilitating their development. Photo: ThinkStock
(November 23, 2015) Can
our forests, seaweed, grass and fisheries waste be transformed into new and
valuable raw materials? Researchers are asking 1500 Norwegian companies what
they’re currently doing with their resources, and what they see themselves
doing in 2030.
According to the OECD, bioeconomics will represent the
guiding principle of the European economy by 2055. This means that focus will
be centred on the production and transformation of renewable biological
resources from the agricultural, forestry and marine aquaculture sectors, and
biomass will represent the major source of raw materials. If the experts are to
be believed, we are in many ways on the brink of a new industrial revolution.
The Norwegian government is currently developing a national
strategy in this field, and researchers will now be carrying out fundamental
analytical work aimed at promoting a higher level of sustainable innovation in
Norway. “As part of the Biosmart project we’ll be carrying out a futures
analysis to identify stakeholders and others that will play a part in a
bioeconomy, and to find out where the various resources will be found”, says
Magnar Forbord at the Norwegian Centre for Rural Research (NCRR).