The Future of Forest-based Bioeconomy Areas

This VTT Technology report on 'The Future of Forest-based Bioeconomy Areas: Strategic openings in Uruguay and the World by 2050' is the result of a multistakeholder and multi-disciplinary foresight exercise commissioned by the Government of Uruguay in 2018 and completed in 2019. The overall goal of the project was to contribute to Uruguay's National Development Strategy 2050 through the following specific objectives: (1) To identify key global forest-based bioeconomy areas by 2050; (2) To identify needs and gaps in the prioritised FBA in Uruguay; (3) To develop a shared vision for the forest-based bioeconomy in Uruguay by 2050; and (4) To develop a strategic Action Roadmap to achieve the shared vision for the forest-based bioeconomy in Uruguay by 2050. The most important outcomes of the project include: a shared vision for key foresight-based bioeconomy areas (FBAs), as well as five consolidated Action Roadmaps with 511 concrete short-medium-to-long-term actions related to Forest management (FBA1), Mechanical wood processing (FBA2), Fibre-based biomaterial processing (FBA3), Biorefining (FBA4), and Bioenergy (FBA5). In addition, the report provides more detailed recommendations addressing a wide range of research, education, innovation and institutional needs related to the Top 3 Opportunity Pathways (OPs) of the five FBAs. The methodology of the project involved systematic critical issues analysis (drivers, barriers, threats and opportunities), a multi-stakeholder Delphi-like survey, global value network and business news analysis, visioning workshops and action roadmapping. This report is valuable for government, business, research and civil society actors interested in the state-of-the-art and the future of key forest-based bioeconomy areas in the world. Foresight researchers and practitioners will also find interesting methodological approaches, such as the consolidated action roadmaps. Finally, taking worldview perspective, while the project provided an opportunity for foresight knowledge transfer from Europe to Latin America, both the findings and methodology are equally relevant for other world regions and countries concerned with the future of the forest-based bioeconomy. Permalink of this case in the UF Observatory: https://www.universalforesight.com/ufo/all-cases/11111