Springer Bio#Futures: Foreseeing and Exploring the Bioeconomy

This volume presents a timely recognition, warning and mapping of the fast approaching wave, or “bio-tsunami”, of global socio-technical transformation, built by a much wider spectrum of converging powers, including biotechnology, new agriculture, novel foods, health, quality of life, environment, energy, sustainability, education, knowledge management, and design of smart applications. The book contains eight sections corresponding to different clusters of bioeconomic and socio-technical change, as identified by the editors’ “Scanning the Horizon” foresight research; it also offers an integrated view of the future bioeconomy landscape though the convergence of several technologies that affect everyday life. The clusters offer methodologies for forecasting the future bioeconomy, and how these predictions can affect target-setting and the orientation of policies and actions to manage cultural and societal change, and achieve sustainable development in less developed areas. The book will be of interest to researchers, producers, logistics experts, policy makers, regulators, business and financial institutions, and biotechnologists (e.g. geneticists, food experts, etc.). From the Back Cover This volume presents a timely recognition, warning and mapping of the fast approaching wave, or “bio-tsunami”, of global socio-technical transformation, built by a much wider spectrum of converging powers, including biotechnology, new agriculture, novel foods, health, quality of life, environment, energy, sustainability, education, knowledge management, and design of smart applications. The book contains eight sections corresponding to different clusters of bioeconomic and socio-technical change, as identified by the editors’ “Scanning the Horizon” foresight research; it also offers an integrated view of the future bioeconomy landscape though the convergence of several technologies that affect everyday life. The clusters offer methodologies for forecasting the future bioeconomy, and how these predictions can affect target-setting and the orientation of policies and actions to manage cultural and societal change, and achieve sustainable development in less developed areas. The book will be of interest to researchers, producers, logistics experts, policy makers, regulators, business and financial institutions, and biotechnologists (e.g. geneticists, food experts, etc.). About the Author Dr. Emmanuel Koukios is an Emeritus Professor at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). Dr. Koukios is by formation a Chemical Engineer, a Bioresource Technologist, a Biomass Economist, and a Regional Development Scientist. His research group BIOTOPOS at NTUA is active in areas such as the engineering of biological systems, energy and chemicals from biomass, and technology management and strategy, with emphasis on the emergence of bioeconomy and biosociety. His relevant activities include chairing the Advisory Group of the European Commission’s FP7 Theme 2: KBBE (Knowledge-Based BioEconomy); coordinating the National Technology Foresight exercise in Greece; collaborating with the STAR*AgroEnergy Research Unit at the University of Foggia, Italy; and carrying out bioeconomy foresight research at the Institute for Sustainable Technologies at Radom, Poland.     Dr Anna Sacio-Szymańska is an analyst and strategic accounts manager at Warsaw-based corporate foresight company 4CF. During her academic career of 15 years she was working at the Łukasiewicz Research Network - Institute for Sustainable Technologies where she gained extensive knowledge and experience in the public sector research, sustainability and innovation management, and technology foresight activities. She has published on foresight-informed decision-making in public policy planning, in the business sector and in career development. She has been a scientific reviewer for the Horizon 2020 calls for proposals on Supporting the Development of T