The policy brief highlights the enormous potential of Europe’s bioeconomy: up to one million new jobs by 2030 and a major contribution to climate and environmental targets. Globally, the bioeconomy is projected to exceed €27 trillion by 2050, offering Europe significant economic and strategic opportunities. But realising this potential requires far greater investment and smoother pathways from laboratory research to industrial production.
Investment gaps
BIC identifies two investment gaps as the primary barriers to scaling innovation. The first occurs when companies move from pilot to demonstration plants, a step requiring substantial capital but offering limited short-term returns. The second, far larger, gap emerges in the transition to full-scale commercial production. The European Investment Bank estimates these financing gaps at €470–750 million per year for the first valley and €1.6–2.6 billion per year for the second. Without intervention, promising technologies risk stalling before reaching the market.
Beyond financing, the brief points to structural obstacles that further undermine Europe’s competitiveness. Lengthy and inconsistent regulatory processes delay market entry; fragmented national rules hinder cross-border scale-up; and weak market incentives make it difficult for companies to secure offtake agreements. Meanwhile, fossil-based products benefit from decades of optimisation and continued subsidies, leaving bio-based materials competing on an uneven playing field.
To address these challenges, BIC sets out a series of concrete actions. These include improving awareness and accessibility of existing financial instruments, harmonising piloting and demonstration initiatives across Member States, strengthening public–private partnerships such as the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU), and creating tailored risk-sharing mechanisms to encourage private capital.
Additional recommendations include European loan guarantees, mobilising pension funds, establishing national green investment banks and improving market framework conditions through reforms to state-aid rules and the launch of an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) for biomanufacturing.
Stepping forward
The brief emphasises that Europe’s global competitors—including the United States, China, India and Brazil—are moving rapidly to strengthen their bioeconomies. With US policy momentum currently weakening, Europe has a strategic window to step forward, but only if financing and regulatory barriers are urgently addressed.
“Europe stands at a pivotal moment,” BIC concludes. With coordinated financial support, clear regulation and market incentives that reward sustainable production, biomanufacturing can become a cornerstone of European competitiveness in the decades ahead.
See also:
- Europe must prove that it can scale up biobased innovation (article, Agro&Chemistry 7 December 2025)
- EU presents new Bioeconomy Strategy (news message, Agro&Chemistry 28 November 2025)
- Achieving leadership in the global bioeconomy (article, Agro&Chemistry 8 May 2025)
The policy brief ‘Financing the bio-based revolution: crossing Europe’s valleys of death’ can be downloaded from the BIC Website.
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