Governing Multi-System Transitions Through Collaborative Policy Integration: Insights from the U.S. and German Bioeconomy

Please note that this paper should be a proposal to the Panel "Collaborative Governance: Policymaking and Cooperation in a Complex World" Abstract: During the last decades, governments around the globe have supported the bioeconomy as a means to foster sustainable growth, innovation, and resource efficiency. The bioeconomy represents a multi-system transition spanning agriculture, energy, industry, and health. As such, its governance requires the integration of multiple policy fields and the collaboration with stakeholders from multiple socio-technical systems. Hence, it requires a collaborative form of policy integration that emphasizes not only inter-ministerial coordination but also the active involvement of non-state stakeholders. To explore how this unfolds in practice, we compare bioeconomy governance in the U.S. and Germany. Our analysis shows important similarities and differences. While in Germany, bioeconomy policy integration has been largely ministry-led, in the U.S. it has been shaped by presidential top-down instruments, which, however, has fluctuated with political turnover. Both countries have made efforts to engage stakeholders from academia and industry. Especially the policy integration in the U.S. is accompanied by stakeholder consultation efforts, while in Germany the efforts are weaker but more citizen-oriented. These findings highlight the diverse notions and pathways of collaborative policy integration and their implications for the stability, legitimacy, and directionality of multi-system transitions.