ABSTRACT
The evolution of the economy has always been dependent on technological progress. Successive inventions have made it possible to keep socio-economic progress moving forward, achieved, as can now be seen, at the expense of damage to the environment and growing external costs. The concept of the circular (bio)economy has the potential to become the next turning point in technology and processes, helping to solve the dilemma of choosing between economic growth or stopping negative environmental changes. The era of the circular (bio)economy has already begun. However, it will not be possible to eliminate externalities from the economic process and meet the population’s needs without changes to approaches to production and consumption, and innovations are an indispensable tool for doing this. The circular (bio)economy is an area which is in itself an innovative approach, and, understood as the next stage in economic history, it not only serves as source of inspiration, but also forces innovation through policy frameworks. This chapter employs the model proposed by J. Fourastié to show the links between evolution of the bioeconomy and innovations by analogy to the fossil fuel-based economy. Some examples of innovation in selected sectors of the bioeconomy will also be cited. The interdependence of the bioeconomy and innovation is linked to threats for countries which, by not implementing an innovation strategy, may fall victim to the resource curse.
