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As Global Bioeconomy Continues to Grow, Finland’s Forest Sector Leads the Way
John Greene : April 18, 2018
The second Global Bioeconomy Summit is kicking off in Berlin, which will host a diverse group of panelists and speakers from around the world involved in developing the global bioeconomy. The Summit will tackle a number of aspects affecting the bioeconomy, including policy, industry, strategy, innovation and environment. The Berlin-based Bioeconomy Council, which is an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education & Research, is organizing the event.
While 50 nations have bioeconomy strategies in place, Germany was the first country in the world to launch a national bioeconomy research strategy in 2011. Since then, however, political changes in other countries have opened new doors for bioeconomy advocates; France, Finland, China and the US coastal regions are at the forefront of growing future markets. The Council warns that Germany risks falling behind due to its tenuous political situation.
"Germany is set to lose its leading position in the bioeconomy," warns Christine Lang, co-chairman at Bioeconomy Council. “It is important that the German government makes the country future-proof now,” added co-chairman Joachim von Braun. "Bioeconomic innovation protects the environment, the climate and our resources."
Bioeconomy Council members are calling for investments of at least €3 billion over the next six years, more public engagement and political backing for new resources to push for next-generation, industrial production. The Council also advocates for measures that support investments in companies developing new biobased technologies, which oftentimes take lots of capital to develop, scale and bring to market.
Finland’s Forests Drive the Bioeconomy
The Council’s estimation of Finland’s growth in developing its own bioeconomy is indeed accurate. Per a recent article published by The Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), the nation’s forest products sector continues to power its €64 billion bioeconomy. The most recent data (2016) show that the bioeconomy made up 16 percent of Finland’s total economic output, which was nearly €396 billion.
The €64.4 billion total represented an increase of seven percent from the previous five-year period in real terms. Bioeconomy products represented almost one third of total goods exported from Finland and the food and forest sectors represented more than half of the total value added by Finland’s bioeconomy. The highest growth rates for 2016 were achieved in the chemical industry, production of renewable energy and the pharmaceutical industry.
This new growth has resulted in renewed interest and investment in Finland’s bioeconomy; investment in the sector has increased more than investments on average. In 2016, bioeconomy investments totaled €5.3 billion, which is 22 percent higher in real terms than during the previous five-year period. Agriculture and the food industry accounted for 30 percent of all bioeconomy investments and the forest sector accounted for 26 percent. The investments in agriculture and renewable energy both totaled €1.1 billion in 2016.
However, while Finland’s larger bioeconomy continues to grow, the number of people employed in the bioeconomy supply chain has declined over the last decade. A total of 304,000 people worked in the bioeconomy sector in 2016. Not unlike other nations, the decrease has been driven by the declining trend in labor force participation specifically in the agriculture and the forest industries.