294 A. Klitkou et al.
established practice and a lack of those feed resources would require the
import of soya. The analysis of organic waste valorisation in land- based
farming of salmon in Chapter 8 shows that the salmon- producing companies
are not driving innovation in this direction and they do little to assess the
most sustainable use for the sludge from an LCA perspective. Chapter 9
addresses valorisation of acid whey and explicitly reflects upon the sustainability of valorisation of side- streams. The authors stress that the valorisation
of by- products has to also consider the context of traditional usage of those
side- streams. Usage for human food or medicines may then be less sustainable
than less technologically advanced solutions because the replacement of the
established usage of side- stream by imports of feed from other continents
might lead to more damage. The sustainability of valorisation pathways in
terms of environmental, economic and social impacts has to be assessed
through an LCA. Chapter 9 has also shown that new sustainability challenges
can occur when the size of production increases.
The sectoral case studies have also shown that circularity and sustainable
valorisation of residues are addressed differently in the private and the public
realm. While in the public realm climate mitigation and sustainable development goals stand central, for companies the focus is on corporate social
responsibility, and for that reason closed cycles and sustainable sourcing are
addressed. For future research it would be important to address sustainable
business models for the valorisation of residues and side- streams and how to
compare the sustainability of different business models.
Part III showed us that quantitative studies can be an important source of
insight into the bioeconomy, but that designing such studies is problematic
and riddled with challenges. In Chapter 10, we learned that the CVs of
researchers working on bioeconomy- focused research programmes under the
Research Council of Norway can provide new insight into how knowledge
production is organised in the bioeconomy and which knowledge bases are
involved. A key finding in this chapter is that research on the bioeconomy is
based on a wide range of disciplines, including agricultural and life sciences,
engineering and the physical sciences, and social sciences, humanities and
professional fields such as business administration and law. Chapter 11 points
out that the bioeconomy can also be studied using a wide range of different
datasets such as R&D statistics, firm- level data and surveys. Nevertheless, all
of these datasets have challenges related to defining the population of actors
in the bioeconomy. Future research might study how the identified bioeconomy companies collaborate with firms outside their sectors and how careers
of researchers are evolving through to collaboration with different types of
companies.
Chapter 14 addresses LCAs as a tool for governance and, in this chapter,
the difficulties in drawing the boundaries of an LCA are explained in more
detail. They show that often LCAs are practised in a way that does not consider the circularity of the flow of resources properly but is based on an
understanding which is dominated by a model of linear value chains.
established practice and a lack of those feed resources would require the
import of soya. The analysis of organic waste valorisation in land- based
farming of salmon in Chapter 8 shows that the salmon- producing companies
are not driving innovation in this direction and they do little to assess the
most sustainable use for the sludge from an LCA perspective. Chapter 9
addresses valorisation of acid whey and explicitly reflects upon the sustainability of valorisation of side- streams. The authors stress that the valorisation
of by- products has to also consider the context of traditional usage of those
side- streams. Usage for human food or medicines may then be less sustainable
than less technologically advanced solutions because the replacement of the
established usage of side- stream by imports of feed from other continents
might lead to more damage. The sustainability of valorisation pathways in
terms of environmental, economic and social impacts has to be assessed
through an LCA. Chapter 9 has also shown that new sustainability challenges
can occur when the size of production increases.
The sectoral case studies have also shown that circularity and sustainable
valorisation of residues are addressed differently in the private and the public
realm. While in the public realm climate mitigation and sustainable development goals stand central, for companies the focus is on corporate social
responsibility, and for that reason closed cycles and sustainable sourcing are
addressed. For future research it would be important to address sustainable
business models for the valorisation of residues and side- streams and how to
compare the sustainability of different business models.
Part III showed us that quantitative studies can be an important source of
insight into the bioeconomy, but that designing such studies is problematic
and riddled with challenges. In Chapter 10, we learned that the CVs of
researchers working on bioeconomy- focused research programmes under the
Research Council of Norway can provide new insight into how knowledge
production is organised in the bioeconomy and which knowledge bases are
involved. A key finding in this chapter is that research on the bioeconomy is
based on a wide range of disciplines, including agricultural and life sciences,
engineering and the physical sciences, and social sciences, humanities and
professional fields such as business administration and law. Chapter 11 points
out that the bioeconomy can also be studied using a wide range of different
datasets such as R&D statistics, firm- level data and surveys. Nevertheless, all
of these datasets have challenges related to defining the population of actors
in the bioeconomy. Future research might study how the identified bioeconomy companies collaborate with firms outside their sectors and how careers
of researchers are evolving through to collaboration with different types of
companies.
Chapter 14 addresses LCAs as a tool for governance and, in this chapter,
the difficulties in drawing the boundaries of an LCA are explained in more
detail. They show that often LCAs are practised in a way that does not consider the circularity of the flow of resources properly but is based on an
understanding which is dominated by a model of linear value chains.