SCV0811 - BIOECONOMY AND INNOVATION

The Bioeconomy, often referred to as ‘biobased economy’, encompasses the production and exploitation of biobased resources and their conversion into food, feed, bioenergy, and biobased materials. A biobased value chain includes the primary production of biobased resources, their conversion to higher-value goods via processing and commercialization on the market. This involves a variety of sectors and brings together different scientific disciplines and stakeholders. Thus, the field of the Bioeconomy is fertile ground for inter- and transdisciplinary research. The course is divided in three modules. The first module aims to introduce the basic tools used in the economic analysis and the main aspects related to the circular Bioeconomy, such as the definition of the sustainability paradigms and the methodologies for the assessment of the socio-economic and environmental of the Bieconomy transition. At the end of the module students are expected to master the necessary tools and methods to autonomously understand and critically evaluate the environmental and socio-economic implications of the Bieconomy transition and to learn how communicate the business potential of new bio-based products and processes to different stakeholders and investors. The second module aims emphasize the relation between innovation and the Bioeconomy: its economic and technological determinants and the role of innovation and intellectual property for the growth of new bio-based industries. At the end of the module the students are expected to master the basic tools to identify the key enabling technologies and market players, evaluate patenting opportunities, licensing strategies and collaborations with innovation partners. Considering that the area of Bioeconomy and Biotechnology is overregulated through several legislative acts and legal compliance is a critical issue in developing related activities, representing a relevant professional skill, a dedicated third module of lectures will be devoted to Biotechnology Regulation and Compliance. This third module of lectures intends to introduce basic law concepts and legal acts understanding tools, then to explore more in deep specific regulations related to biotechnology issues, specifically genetic modified organisms, including patent protection, confined use, environmental release and food and feed applications. Moreover, the module intends to supply further notions relevant to safety, compliance and regulation of chemistry, medicine, biosafety and biodiversity, considering that they will be faced in the future professional activity of the students. At the end of the module the students are expected to be able to understand the regulations and to apply them to their daily activities, granting a proper legal compliance, thus developing and protecting business in a safe and effective way.