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Abstract
New discoveries in the life sciences and the challenge of climate change are leading to the
emergence of the bioeconomy where basic methods of advanced biology are applied to produce a
wide array of products while also improving environmental quality. The emergence of the
bioeconomy is a continuing evolutionary process of transition from systems of mining nonrenewable
resource to farming renewable ones. This transition benefits from modern tools of
molecular biology that have expanded human capacity to breed new organisms and utilize them
in order to increase productivity in agricultural production and fisheries as well as produce a
wide array of products that were extracted in the past. This transition is leading to the integration
of the agricultural sector with the energy and mineral sectors. The introduction of biotechnology
has already improved productivity of medicine, as well as agriculture but in the case of
agriculture, has encountered resistance and regulatory constraints. The evolution of the
bioeconomy requires continuous public investment in research and innovation, as well as the
establishment of a regulatory framework and financial incentives and institutions that lead to
continuous private sector investment in development and commercialization of new products. One
of the big challenges is the development of a regulatory framework that will control possible
human and environmental externalities from new biotechnology products, and at the same time
not stifle innovation.