People and Networks Matter - Enabling Sustainable Bioeconomy Transition 27-28 March 2019
Transforming the current economy into a ‘new’ bioeconomy needs changed institutional frameworks at regional and national level, sensitive to and inclusive of placebased knowledge. This conference in Karlstad 27-28 of March, aimed at better understanding the role of people and networks in this transition.
New innovative products and services continue to emerge, which will further increase the demand for biomass. This transition leads to both an increased demand for landbased biomass and its multiple use. Important questions emerge: How to use the land? How can different interests be combined?
At this conference, industry, academia and public organisations discussed challenges and opportunities and the role of people and networks in the new bioeconomy era. Overall, we need a better and nuanced understanding of the societal impacts of this transition in different contexts and for different stakeholders.
The conference was a place for:
- Interaction between practitioners, policy makers and academics
- Joint reflection and development of a roadmap, strategies and policy recommendations to enable smoother transition towards bio-based economies in the Nordic countries
- Practitioners to learn from good business cases and practices
- Networking: Meet businesses, academia & policy makers working for sustainable bioeconomy transition
- Co-creation of policy recommendations and contribution to policy briefs.
The conference also highlighted good examples from the region of Värmland
Forest based bioeconomy in Värmland – a diversity of actors working together. Examples from Värmland showing the work by different actors; business, university and regional authorities in collaboration with civil society, supporting a transition to a sustainable forest based bioeconomy.
Key-note speakers from practice and science fields included: Professor Pekka Leskinen, Head of Bioeconomy Programme, European Forest Institute, Runa Skyrud, project leader, Tretorget AS, Thea Lyng Thomsen, Development consultant at GreenLab, Denmark, and Professor Olav Wicken, Professor at the Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture at University of Oslo, Norway.
A co-production between Nordregio, CRS - Centre for Regional Studies at Karlstad University, UIO TIK – Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture at University of Oslo, LUKE – Natural Resources Institute Finland, NIBIO – Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Region Värmland, Paper Province, Nordic Forest Research (SNS), Nordic Agri Research (NKJ) and Ingoskog – Innovation for green transition in the forest.