**4. Discussion**

#### *4.1. Predominance of Resource-Oriented Understanding of Bioeconomy*

The definitions of bioeconomy, expressed in the responding scientists' own words, with or without specifications, were predominantly resource-oriented. In line with this, the resource-oriented definition presented in the questionnaire achieved the highest agreemen<sup>t</sup> of all official definitions. According to this definition, bioeconomy is related to the production, conversion, and use of biological resources. Thus, the scientists' understanding of bioeconomy was strongly in line with the political understanding in Germany and Europe. This was confirmed by recent findings from Austria [12] and Norway [27], which also indicated the dominance of a bioresource-based understanding of bioeconomy among stakeholders. In the same way, the resource-oriented definition by the European Commission was generally supported by respondents (mainly from science and industry) in a public consultation in preparation for the EU Bioeconomy Strategy [28].

The grea<sup>t</sup> consistency in the bioeconomy understanding can be explained by the high engagemen<sup>t</sup> of scientific communities in the development of official bioeconomy strategies, both at the European and national level [7]. In Baden-Württemberg, for example, scientists were asked to participate in a steering committee and to develop proposals for strategic orientation [21].

Scientific analyses of bioeconomy strategies interpret different definitions as an indication of divergent understandings of bioeconomy (e.g., Reference [10]). In our survey, the technology-oriented definition was less supported than others, but all proposed definitions were agreed upon by the majority of respondents. Agreement with the technology-oriented definition was higher in the lignocellulose and microalgae networks. This preference can be explained by the stronger role of biotechnology in their research agenda. Despite the resource-oriented definition in official bioeconomy strategies, modern biotechnology is also regarded as a key technology in these strategies (e.g., Reference [24]). Overall, the high level of agreemen<sup>t</sup> with various definitions indicates that they are not perceived as contrary, but as complementary.

#### *4.2. High Expectance of Contribution of Research Activities to Objectives of the Regional Bioeconomy Strategy*

The goals of the German Policy Strategy Bioeconomy were widely supported by the respondents. Only the goal of taking on a leading role in solving global challenges such as climate protection and food security was seen rather critically. Key objectives in all clusters were "the production of raw materials in line with the objectives of environmental and climate protection and nature conservation" and "the long-term conversion of the economic production base from fossil to biogenic sources". Technology visions and objectives of official strategies can fulfill a guiding function for researchers and actors in the respective research area [29]. Our survey results indicated that the official objectives are well integrated into the thinking of the researchers. It can therefore be assumed that the official bioeconomy strategies achieve the objective of providing guidance.

In a similar way, an evaluation of the German Research Strategy Bioeconomy has shown that there is strong support for the overall approach oriented toward societal goals, though there is a lack of agreemen<sup>t</sup> on specific objectives among the heterogeneous research communities involved in bioeconomy research [20].

The majority of respondents expected their research results to make a high or medium contribution to achieving the objectives of the Baden-Württemberg Research Strategy Bioeconomy. There were differences between the research clusters regarding the extent of their contributions to the different objectives. This resulted from different research agendas. Of course, an individual research project can only contribute to a few objectives of the research strategy.

An evaluation of the German Research Strategy Bioeconomy [20] and the European Bioeconomy Strategy [30] showed that funded research has significantly contributed to achieving overall goals and that the majority of funded projects have aligned their objectives to the strategies. The EU review outlined that "there is early indication that the projects funded are generating relevant excellent multidisciplinary research (i.e., the quality of publications in terms of citations)" [30] (p. 12).

#### *4.3. Simultaneous Support for the Elements of Di*ff*erent Pathways in the Implementation of the Bioeconomy*

Di fferent implementation pathways are discussed for the development of the bioeconomy (e.g., References [11,14]. They are usually presented as alternative trajectories. In our survey, not all elements of the o fficial technology-based approach were supported by the majority of respondents. For example, "adapting nature to industrial processes" and "extending technological leadership" as key elements of the technology-based approach were approved only by a minority. At the same time, some key elements of the socio-ecological implementation pathway met with much approval: for example, "promoting sustainable consumption patterns" and "strengthening multifunctional, agroecological agriculture" were supported by nearly 90% of the respondents. Similarly, stakeholder surveys in Denmark and the United Kingdom, based on interviews, pointed to a potential overlap of the two approaches, which could give rise to a new concept of quality industrial biomass production, understood as using superior biomass quality attributes in place-specific biorefineries to produce di fferent products depending on the region [19].

Obviously, the survey participants considered the discussed implementation pathways of the bioeconomy as compatible or, more precisely, as combinable. This perception might have been due to the fact that projects on agroecology, local food chains, citizens' initiatives, and so on are incorporated in EU and national research programs, even if only marginally in comparison to the dominating technology-centered funding. However, in the background of this allegedly equal coexistence, rival stakeholder networks compete for influence on research priorities, policy changes, and the preferable bioeconomy trajectory [31].

With regard to sustainable development, the current EU bioeconomy policy is seen to lean strongly toward weak sustainability and to favor economic dimensions and concerns over environmental and social dimensions [32]. In addition, current developments in bioeconomy sectors adhere largely to the principles of weak sustainability [33]. The respondents' strong support for some elements of the socio-ecological approach in the survey can be interpreted as the scientists' recognition of the need for strong sustainability in the bioeconomy.

The assumed combinability of elements from di fferent implementation pathways contrasts with the irreconcilability of pathways formulated in scientific and societal discourses on bioeconomy. While the technology-based approach is understood as an enhancement of current practices in the production, processing, and consumption of biomass with new products and more environmentally friendly technologies, the socio-ecological pathway is conceptualized as a structural remodeling of today's production and consumption practices and as fundamental changes in the ways of thinking and living [8]. The divergence between survey statements and discourse viewpoints can be interpreted in two ways: the compatibility between the two perspectives has not been considered su fficiently in the discourse, or the interviewed scientists underestimate the tensions or potential conflicts between the two approaches. This question cannot be answered within the present study, but some indications can be given:


• Competing interests, power relations, and politics are inherent in bioeconomy development and make it difficult for stakeholders to negotiate compromises and reach consensus on the most sustainable pathways for the future [34]. Biomass produced from agriculture is subject to ongoing debates about the future of agriculture. Agricultural paradigms carry their own set of ideological and value assumptions and are fiercely contested by critics [19]. Scientists engaged in bioeconomy research are probably not familiar with these debates.

The evaluation of the German Research Strategy Bioeconomy has also shown that the heterogeneous scientific communities interviewed do not share a common understanding of implementation pathways for the bioeconomy up to now [20] (p. 296). Some of them call for more technical and laboratory research in the field of biotechnology; others want to foster more non-technical research in the fields of sustainability and social innovation.

#### *4.4. Prevailing of Scientific Collaborations*

The research clusters had in common that most of their collaborations take place within the scientific system, and only a few collaborations exist with societal stakeholders and users. There are certain peculiarities in the biogas network, where cooperation with the latter group of players and industrial companies is more frequent than in the lignocellulose and microalgae networks. With its long-established biogas technologies, this cluster has been able to build extensive networks with industry and other stakeholders, whereas in the fields of lignocellulose and microalgae, partnerships and cooperation are still evolving due to the early stage of development of the technologies. Overall, the forms of cooperation are dominated by conventional scientific formats, such as meetings for exchanges of information, discussions of results, and the development of research questions, while there are only a few cooperation formats for discussing joint marketing strategies and developing new business models. One reason could be that, in the lignocellulose and algae networks, basic research is in the foreground, and therefore the marketing of products lies in the future.

Similarly, the involvement of societal stakeholders has been lagging behind the European level. As highlighted in a review of the European Bioeconomy Strategy from 2012, the Bioeconomy Panel is the central body for implementing "Area of Action 2: Reinforced Policy Interaction and Stakeholder Engagement" [30] (p. 13). The panel was created in 2013 to support interactions between different policy areas, sectors, and stakeholders in the bioeconomy. So far, the main outputs of the panel have been four bioeconomy stakeholder conferences, held between 2012 and 2016, and the 2017 "Stakeholders Manifesto" [35]. The latter represents a marked shift to the European Commission's own strategy paper from 2012 [12]. It should be taken into account that the panel was established on political initiative. The review provided no information on the level of involvement of societal stakeholders in European research projects. A group of experts evaluating the European strategy concluded that initiatives such as the Stakeholder Panel have increased awareness of the bioeconomy concept among a broad range of stakeholders, but that the involvement of public and private stakeholders and civil society organizations should be reinforced with an updated "Bioeconomy Strategy and Action Plan" [36].

The evaluation of the German Research Strategy Bioeconomy showed that the experts surveyed considered it necessary to incorporate a wide range of stakeholders in research, from business and industry to NGOs in the fields of environment and consumption to citizens and the broader public [20] (p. 285). However, until now, funding aimed at fostering dialogue with civil society and the public has been rather rare, and these groups have been only marginally addressed in the existing funding scheme [20] (p. 293, 296). An evaluation of the individual projects revealed that the goal of intensifying networking with partners and establishing new networks was reached less frequently than that of scientific knowledge exchange and interdisciplinary learning [20] (p. 294).
