Scenario building for the future of the blue bioeconomy

As part of Blue Bioeconomy ERA-NET Cofund's mission of strengthening Europe’s position in the blue bioeconomy, BlueBio is implementing a foresight in 2022, working with facilitators Luc van Hoof and Sarah Smith from the European Fisheries and Aquaculture Research Organisations (EFARO). They were both involved in the foresight exercise of COFASP ERA-NET in 2014, which was an important input to BlueBio.

The foresight will consist of four workshops and result in a Strategic Knowledge and Innovation Agenda (SKIA) for the blue bioeconomy, published in 2023. The first workshop gathered stakeholders in IJmuiden, the Netherlands, on 30 May to 2 June 2022. The stakeholders invited to be a part of the foresight process, represent central stakeholders in the blue bioeconomy. They represent various industries, technology platforms, governance on national and European level, research and non-profits involved in the blue area and will be participating in the whole process.

To develop the SKIA, the facilitators are applying a foresight approach based on scenarios. In the first workshop, the participants have imagined the year 2050 and mapped the scenarios on possible future worlds. What could the blue bioeconomy look like in 2050? In later workshops, they will work on how we can either reach those future states, or avoid them, mapping the steps towards these possible futures.

The facilitators, coordination team at BlueBio and foresight participants are looking forward to continuing the foresight process the next six months, moving towards a blue bioeconomy SKIA.