Bioeconomy: University of Hohenheim and Springer Verlag position foundational book [19.09.17]
University Management co-edits scientific work on current bioeconomy research / Seven scientists from the University of Hohenheim included
A foundational volume that shows how an economy based on natural products could develop socially and economically: The book “Knowledge-Driven Developments in Bioeconomy: Technological and Economic Perspectives” summarizes the state of the art in current bioeconomy research. The editors are the scientific members of the President's Office at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart. The interdisciplinary work serves as a basis for newcomers and experts in the topic, which has been the focus of intensive research at the University of Hohenheim for several years. The book has been published by globally renowned academic publisher Springer.
The new foundational book of bioeconomy | Image source: University of Hohenheim / Springer Verlag
341 pages long with 17 research essays from 45 international scientists: The foundational book on bioeconomy “Knowledge-Driven Developments in Bioeconomy: Technological and Economic Perspectives”. Seven scientists from the University of Hohenheim contributed content to the book with their own essays.
“With this book, we wanted to consciously strengthen bioeconomy research,” explained Prof. Dr. Stephan Dabbert, President of the University of Hohenheim and co-editor. “The new foundational work summarizes the state of the art in current bioeconomy research and offers new approaches for how an economy based on bio-based products could develop socially and economically.”
Springer Verlag promotes foundational work in bioeconomy
“A resource for experts and newcomers in the field of bioeconomy giving insight into the life cycle of bio-based products” - with these words, the Springer Verlag advertises its new book. It is “at the cutting edge of the ongoing research in bioeconomy and encompasses both technological and economic strategies to master the transformation towards a knowledge- and bio-based production system,” the description continues.
This work tackles bioeconomy in an interdisciplinary and international way, shows how to turn bioeconomy into economic growth, and gives a future perspective for sustainable growth and global distribution of wealth.
Four editors - one message: Global perspective essential
The four editors - President Prof. Dr. Stephan Dabbert, Vice President Prof. Dr. Iris Lewandowski, Vice President Prof. Dr. Andreas Pyka, and the former Vice President for Research Prof. Dr. Jochen Weiss - have significantly shaped the research strategy and teaching program on bioeconomy at the University of Hohenheim. Together, they emphasized: “The transformation of our economic system to a knowledge-based bioeconomy has become an important vision at the start of the 21st century when it comes to striving toward sustainability.”
To realize this vision, bioeconomy needs a great deal of research, innovation, and a fundamental change in the economy and society. It can only succeed as a global project - there is no single, optimal strategy for a growing global bioeconomy. The four sections of this volume instead illustrate the diversity of the research areas that are necessary to get a sustainable, knowledge-based bioeconomy on track.
The university’s president and three vice presidents reached the conclusion: “We need to 1. continue to strengthen the theoretical basis of bioeconomic systems with a global, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary perspective, 2. monitor and aim for this goal with national, regional, and global measures, 3. take a closer look at the ecology and biology of key resources, and 4. continue to search for new materials, alternative technologies, novel structures and processes, and social innovations that no one has thought of before.”
International scientific participation from ten countries
45 scientists from Australia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Denmark, Germany, France, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Malaysia worked on the theoretical foundations of bioeconomic systems (Section 1) and illustrated regional and national approaches for how individual countries across the world are implementing bioeconomy (Section 2).
The two additional sections of the volume look at the more practical aspects of bioeconomy: the technologies to sustainably produce the bio-based resources necessary (Section 3) and the question of optimal processes and supply chains for the bioeconomy (Section 4).
Several researchers from the Strategic Network for Bio-based Economy (BECY) are also included. A large portion of the essays go back to the BECY conference “Strategies for Knowledge-Driven Developments in the Bioeconomy” in October 2015 at the University of Hohenheim.
The seven researchers participating from the University of Hohenheim come from the areas of business, economics, and crop science and wrote five contributions for the work.
Publication title
Stephan Dabbert, Iris Lewandowski, Jochen Weiss, Andreas Pyka (Eds.): Knowledge-Driven Developments in the Bioeconomy: Technological and Economic Perspectives, 2017, Springer International Publishing AG. The volume was published in the series “Economy Complexity and Evolution”, edited by Uwe Cantner, Jena; Kurt Dopfer, St. Gallen; John Foster, Brisbane; Andreas Pyka, Stuttgart, Paolo Saviotti, Saint Martin d’Hères.
Background: Bioeconomy at the University of Hohenheim
New food and fodder (e.g. from algae), energy from harvest waste, chemicals and plastics from plants: Bioeconomy opens paths to new products, new production processes, and to a modern, sustainable economy. Its raw materials are bio-based. That means they come from plants, animals, or microorganisms. In plant and animal production, as well, bioeconomy uses biological processes that are more sustainable and conserve more energy and resources.
The University of Hohenheim combines its competences in the interdisciplinary research focus bioeconomy, becoming one of the world’s leading universities in this area. It houses its own Hohenheim Research Center for Bioeconomy and offers an interdisciplinary degree program for bioeconomy. For years, scientists from all three of the university’s faculties have been working on the topic of bioeconomy. The university is now bundling these activities in consortium projects so that the three faculties can jointly cover the entire spectrum of this future-oriented topic.
Background: Strategic Network for Bio-based Economy (BECY)
The Strategic Network for Bio-based Economy (BECY) is an international network of six leading universities coordinated by the University of Hohenheim in the research area bioeconomy. It is funded by the DAAD. All faculties are involved in BECY, as is the Hohenheim Research Center for Bioeconomy.
The partners are the University of Copenhagen (KU, Denmark), the University of Guelph (UoG, Canada), the University of São Paulo (USP), the São Paulo State University (UNESP, both Brazil), and the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM, Mexico).
Additional information
Text: Töpfer
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