Does the “Bioeconomy” Enable the Transition Towards a Bio-Based Economy? Insights from the Case of Colombia

The bioeconomy is a political project promising to leverage biogenic resources to transition from a fossil to a bio-based economy with the often declared aim to realign environmental protection and economic growth. The term bioeconomy is characterized by considerable interpretive flexibility, allowing for diverse interpretations across the multiple socio-technical systems it spans across. We then ask to what extent and how adopting the term “bioeconomy” enables or constrains the transition towards a bio-based economy. We characterize the bioeconomy as an umbrella term operating as a boundary object, i.e. an object displaying interpretive flexibility and allowing different actors to collaborate without consensus. We analyse the case of Colombia, a mega-biodiverse country which aims to leverage on its biodiversity to implement an ambitious bioeconomy agenda. Methodologically we build on 28 semi-structured expert interviews conducted between February and May 2025 and an analysis of relevant bioeconomy policy documents. Preliminary findings indicate that the term bioeconomy enables actors to mobilize resources and legitimize the bio-based transition. However, during implementation, actors tend to adopt definitions of the bioeconomy that align with their own agendas, resulting in a fragmented rather than an integrated bioeconomy across socio-technical systems.