Animal-free meat, fuel from algae, and concrete from bacteria? The long-term goal of the bioeconomy is a circular economy, with bio-based manufacturing processes and renewable materials. Technological breakthroughs such as the use of bacteria to decompose plastic waste and the storage of digital data in plant DNA are examples of this progress. One day, when biotechnology leaves the laboratory stage, microbes will become the most important raw material of the new bioeconomy. A report by Schmidt Futures, a company owned by former Google CEO Eric Emerson Schmidt, suggests that the global value of the bioeconomy could be between 4 and almost 30 trillion dollars by 2030. A representative survey conducted in Switzerland as part of the study also points to a shift in values from a human-centred worldview to an eco-centric one.
However, the Swiss are cautious in their attitudes towards biotechnology and synthetic biology, and they are aware of the potential risks. On the one hand, the survey results show that biotechnological applications to repair environmental damage and health problems are supported by most people. However, half of those surveyed consider the use of biotechnology to be risky, particularly with regard to misuse and accidents.
The most important points from the study:
- Protecting nature is clearly more important to most people (70%) today than protecting jobs (4%). This applies to members of both the Social Democratic and Green parties.
- The majority of respondents (90%) feel a strong connection to nature, regardless of their age, gender and education.
- The economy of tomorrow will increasingly rely on biological knowledge gained from research into living matter.
- One day, when biotechnology leaves the laboratory stage, microbes will become the most important raw material of the new bio-economy.
- The GDI study has identified four main types of people who reflect different perspectives on the relationship between humans, nature and technology, and thus on the bioeconomy: pragmatists, eco-purists, transhumanists and tech optimists.
The study can be downloaded free of charge at gdi.ch/biologie