The Age of Biology

Bioeconomy is the economy of the future

Animal-free meat, fuel from algae and concrete from bacteria? According to the study, we are now on the cusp of moving from an industrial to a bio-based economy. 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. 

If biotechnology one day emerges from the laboratory stage, microbes will become the most important raw material of the new bioeconomy. According to a report by Schmidt Futures, a company owned by former Google CEO Eric Emerson Schmidt, the global value of the bioeconomy could be between four and almost 30 trillion dollars by 2030.

What does the Swiss population think about biotech and the bioeconomy? 

The results of a representative survey in German-speaking Switzerland (1001 people, 15 - 80 years old), which was conducted as part of the study, point to a shift in values from an anthropocentric to an ecocentric world view. The majority of respondents (90 %) feel a strong connection to nature, regardless of age, gender and education. A large proportion of respondents are open to granting nature its own legal personality.

Summary

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