Editorial

BIC advocates for the new EU Bioeconomy Strategy to be S.M.A.R.T. and ambitious (July 2025)

BIC believes we can turn Europe into the world’s first true circular bioeconomy – creating jobs, revitalising industries and regions, and making Europe less dependent on imports. The bioeconomy is already a strategic and economic pillar for Europe.

By producing food, feed, chemicals, materials, products and energy, the bioeconomy plays a growing role in Europe’s long-term competitiveness and resilience, reducing our dependency on fossil feedstock and via EU-centric supply-chains. The question is whether Europe has the ambition to take the lead in the coming years. BIC advocates for the new EU Bioeconomy Strategy to strengthen the bioeconomy’s industrial dimension, protecting existing and fostering new investments. This should include a package of legislative and nonlegislative actions to accelerate defossilisation and to fully unlock the potential of biomanufacturing ‘Made in Europe’ as a driver of sustainable growth, innovation, and strategic autonomy.

The new EU bioeconomy strategy should be S.M.A.R.T. and define: Specific, Measurable, Assignable,  Realistic and Timebound actions.  In addition, the EU Commission should set-up a strategic dialogue with the sectors from the bioeconomy and its value chain on how the bioeconomy can contribute to EU’s long-term competitiveness and resilience. In the following, we outline the actions that should be included in the new EU Bioeconomy Strategy, to help achieve its stated objectives.