**1. Introduction**

Over the last 10 years, bioeconomy has become an important issue in research and innovation policy, especially in industrialized countries. The core idea of the concept is to replace nonrenewable fossil fuel resources with renewable biogenic feedstock in industrial and energy production. This is meant to pave the way for a more sustainable and eco-e fficient economy [1]. Worldwide, a number of countries and international organizations have already developed dedicated bioeconomy strategies, such as the European Union (EU), the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), the West Nordic countries (Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands), Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and the United States [2–4]. In other countries, strategies are currently under development. Besides international and national activities, a number of regional bioeconomy initiatives and innovation networks have been established [5]. The Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU), a public–private partnership between the European Commission and the Bio-Based Industries Consortium started in 2014 under Horizon 2020, is a key activity at the EU level for implementing the EU bioeconomy strategy [6].

These o fficial strategies use di fferent definitions of bioeconomy, ranging from equalization with biotechnology to a broad societal transition involving a variety of technologies and economic sectors [7,8]. In the literature, it has been pointed out that the terms "bioeconomy" and "bio-based

economy" have no clear and binding definition [9]. Definitions strongly depend on the stakeholders involved and their interests, but also show some similarities [10]. Overall, heterogeneous bioeconomy definitions are used for similar contexts.

Various analyses of bioeconomy debates have worked out that di fferent and even contrasting visions and transition pathways are envisioned [7,8,11–14]. O fficial bioeconomy strategies pursue either a biotechnology vision or a transformation respectively bioresource vision [7,11]. Despite their di fferent foci, all o fficial strategies envision a technology-based transition to a bioeconomy [7]. In the biotechnology vision, economic growth is based on biotechnologies, and the valorization of bioresources is expected to drive economic growth in the bioresource vision [12]. Life sciences and biotechnology and new biomass conversion technologies are seen as enabling technologies in various sectors. A strong partnership between policy, science, and industry; the promotion of international cooperation; the establishment of global value chains; and the granting of patents should improve international competitiveness and contribute to economic growth and employment [8].

In criticism of this understanding, an alternative vision of bioeconomy has been developed in the scientific and societal debate, focusing on socio-ecological aspects and alternatives to the currently dominant model of industrialized agriculture [8]. Rather than concentrating on biotechnology and/or conversion technologies for new value chains, the focus is on agroecological techniques and methods such as increasing plant genetic diversity, improving nutrient recycling, enhancing biodiversity, and improving the health of soil, crops, and livestock. This vision gives high priority to sustainability concerns and calls for a public goods-oriented bioeconomy [14,15]. The contrasting visions have di fferent underlying objectives to be achieved in the context of bioeconomy (See Section 3.4).

The common understanding is that the bioeconomy should contribute to a more sustainable future. However, sustainability is understood di fferently in the two visions, and the sustainability requirements are often not clearly specified [8]. Common weaknesses and gaps in current bioeconomy strategies are seen in terms of the sound use of land and water resources, waste managemen<sup>t</sup> along the whole value chain, possible competition between the di fferent biomass end-use sectors, and mechanisms to benefit farmers [1]. Di fferent understandings of the relationship between bioeconomy and sustainability have been identified, ranging from sustainability being an inherent characteristic of the bioeconomy to the bioeconomy having no positive impact and the bioeconomy being disadvantageous for sustainability [16]. This reflects di fferent expectations about the future development of bio-based value chains and especially their environmental impacts.

Regional bioeconomy concepts and activities are expected to play a significant role. Regions are considered to be important in facilitating collaborations between industries and research institutions [17]. In contrast, developing international cooperation is an important objective of national bioeconomy strategies with their technology focus. The desired international cooperation involves di fferent aspects, such as the exchange of information and knowledge transfer, international coordination between research and innovation activities, and the setting up of joint multinational research and technology activities [8]. In addition, a successful transition to bio-based feedstock would require huge volumes of biomass, which could not be mobilized su fficiently in Europe. The consequences could be an expanded international biomass trade and/or the relocation of processing capacities to regions with high biomass potential [18]. Instead, the alternative vision favors home-grown biomass that should be regionally traded and processed [19].

A close interaction between research and industry is a central element in most bioeconomy strategies [7]. The proposed thinking in value chains demands cooperation between di fferent disciplines and actors. However, the establishment of new networks cannot be easily achieved [20] (p. 294).

Against this backdrop of bioeconomy strategies and controversies, the overall aim of our research was to analyze researchers' views on the bioeconomy by conducting an online survey among scientists involved in a regional bioeconomy research program using an explorative approach. The investigation was carried out in the context of the Bioeconomy Research Program Baden-Württemberg, which is

funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research, and the Arts (MWK). The program aims to improve the strategic position of Baden-Württemberg's research institutions in the field of bioeconomy, provide support in the acquisition of third-party funding, and draw industry's attention to the possibilities of new bio-based products and processes in order to accelerate the transfer of research results into practice [21] (p. 9). The federal state's research landscape is characterized by agricultural and forestry science, biology, biotechnology, chemistry, and process engineering [21] (p. 50).

In the first funding round of the Bioeconomy Research Program Baden-Württemberg, around 50 projects were funded. The research program is thematically divided into the following three fields (hereafter also referred to as clusters or networks):


The production of electricity, heat, and methane in biogas plants is a long-established technology in Baden-Württemberg. Biogas is intended to play an important role in Baden-Württemberg's future energy mix, especially for decentralized electricity and a heat supply in rural areas and as control energy to compensate for the fluctuating supply of solar and wind energy. In line with this goal, the projects in this research field explore options for increasing performance and optimizing the process and system integration of existing plants; estimate the potential of alternative substrates such as sewage sludge, residual, and waste materials; and deal with the further technical development of methane production. In contrast to biogas production, the use of lignocellulosic biomass in biorefineries and the industrial use of microalgae are still in the research and development phase. Accordingly, the projects in these two fields are more basic research-oriented. In the lignocellulose cluster, the focus is on improving pulping processes; optimizing synthesis routes; and assessing the availability, combinability, and improvement of feedstocks and the ecological and economic effects of the cultivation and use of lignocellulose. The microalgae research field is mainly concerned with improving extraction methods, optimizing cultivation processes and product quality, and establishing production systems.

The following sections describe the methodology used and present the results of the survey, also addressing similarities and major differences between the clusters. Finally, the main findings are summarized and the results are compared to existing investigations.

#### **2. Materials and Methods**

The aim of the survey was to analyze the scientists' understanding of the concept of bioeconomy and their attitudes toward the objectives of selected bioeconomy strategies, to enquire about the current status of the projects (e.g., existing collaborations), to gain insight into certain problem areas (e.g., competing uses and environmental impacts), and to identify similarities and differences between the three investigated biomass value chains. In order to gather this information, an online survey was conducted. All researchers involved in the biogas, lignocellulose, and microalgae networks within the Bioeconomy Research Program Baden-Württemberg (cluster spokespersons, cluster coordinators, project managers, project staff members, doctoral students) were interviewed. Prior to the survey being carried out, the inquiry was announced at the respective cluster meetings in order to attract the interest of the scientists. The survey started in mid-March 2016, and the online questionnaire was open for a period of six weeks. Due to the high number of international scientists in the lignocellulose and microalgae clusters, these groups were also offered an English version of the questionnaire. The survey was developed based on the results of literature reviews on existing strategies [7] and scientific and societal discourse [8]. Before starting the survey, the questionnaire was tested on a group of experts from different scientific disciplines at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) and with spokespersons from the three thematic clusters. The questionnaire (Supplement S1) consisted of five sections:

• Topic 1. Perspectives on bioeconomy;


Topics 1 and 5 were identical in content for all participants. The questions in Topic 1 addressed the level of agreemen<sup>t</sup> with definitions, objectives, and implementation pathways outlined in the bioeconomy strategies and debates. The purpose was to gain insight into the extent to which the bioeconomy strategies serve as a guiding function for researchers in the field. Topic 5 included questions on partners and issues of collaboration in order to identify the prevailing form of cooperation and to assess the extent to which the desired cooperation and networking is realized in the projects of the Bioeconomy Research Program Baden-Württemberg.

The questions in Topics 2 to 4 were adapted to the specific characteristics of the individual clusters. The purpose of the questions was not to obtain exact scientific data, but to elicit the scientists' assessments and personal opinions on the opportunities and limits of the individual biomass value chains based on their experience. The questionnaire included closed and open questions. Depending on the content of the question, multiple answers were possible. This is indicated in the figures, where applicable.

In total, 81 persons participated in the survey, of which only 49 completed the entire questionnaire. In relation to the total number of persons invited to the survey (144), this corresponded to a net response rate of 34%. The response rate was highest in the microalgae research cluster (44%), medium in the lignocellulose cluster (32%), and lowest in the biogas cluster (29%). Nevertheless, the response rates can be considered rather high for a social scientific survey. This success can be explained by the previous promotion of the survey in the cluster meetings. The response rate to questions in Topics 3 and 4 was lower than to those in the first parts of the questionnaire (about 24% on average compared to 34%). A possible reason could be that these questions were primarily related to accompanying research, and not all scientists have expertise in this field. In addition, these sections dealt with future-oriented issues that are still under research. Thus, scientists are not ye<sup>t</sup> in a position to make an assessment. These parts are therefore presented in a qualitative and concise way without the claim of being representative of the opinion of all respondents.

Representativeness for the entire research community cannot be answered conclusively due to a lack of information on personal characteristics (such as age, qualification, position) of the participants in the Bioeconomy Research Program Baden-Württemberg. However, the responses related to scientific background (Section 3.1) indicated that the respondents represented a cross-section of scientific career stages.

The answers were evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively. The open questions were evaluated using the quantitative content analysis according to Mayring [22] in order to build content categories and group the answers into these content categories. The results presented in this paper focus on the scientists' understandings of bioeconomy and on existing collaborations. In addition, the "Results" section sketches challenges for the further development of the three research fields as indicated by the respondents under the topics "competing uses" and "environmental impacts".
