The multitudes of bioeconomies: A systematic review of stakeholders’ bioeconomy perceptions

‘Bioeconomy’, the use of sustainably produced biomass and the application of biotechnologies, serves as an umbrella term for highly diverse interests and perspectives by a large number of stakeholders involved and by broader society. Consequently, research on stakeholder perceptions of the bioeconomy has increased, investigating questions of, e.g., underlying normative assumptions, political legitimacy and participation, or consumer acceptance. In order to identify the current state of research and avenues for further research, we conduct a systematic literature review of stakeholders’ bioeconomy perceptions. To this aim, we developed a mixed-methods approach based on the inductive coding of research articles. The review finds an overall dominance of biotechnology and resource themes, and a strong focus on research, policy and industry stakeholders. A lack of ecological and societal concerns, against the background of few research works on actors from civil society, suggests a gap between the bioeconomy as a sustainability concept and the perceptions of stakeholders involved. Overall, stronger consideration of societal stakeholders is required both in research and policy