How have stakeholders and citizens participated in the development, implementation and monitoring of regional bioeconomy strategies? How has the involvement of stakeholders and citizens affected the strategies' development, implementation and monitoring? What are good practice examples of stakeholder and citizen participation in national and regional bioeconomy strategies? These and other questions are addressed in this report on regional bioeconomy strategies across Europe, focused on four regional case studies: Scotland, South-West Netherlands, Saxony-Anhalt and Veneto. Ecologic Institute was tasked with researching the Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS) in Saxony-Anhalt (Germany). The report is available for download.

Diverse origin, similar challenges: regional bioconomy strategies

Many regions across Europe have been in the process of developing bioeconomy strategies in recent years. Some of these have been developed as part of wider regional economic development and innovation strategies in addressing the call from the European Commission for smart specialisation strategies. Others have emerged from science or sustainability policy objectives. The aim of the report was to analyse four examples of regional bioeconomy strategies in terms of the nature of engagement, which publics and stakeholders have been involved in the different aspects of the strategies and what lessons can be drawn from the experiences of these regions.

Participation and engegement: Still a lot to learn

The findings from the desk research and the interviews conducted with governmental and non-governmental stakeholders in the case studies showed that there are limited experiences of good practices in public engagement with a set of core triple helix stakeholders (business, science and policy makers. These findings have been discussed with stakeholders in the context of regional workshops.

Ecologic Institute was responsible for the German case study in Saxony-Anhalt.

The report [pdf, 2 MB, English] is available for download.