The bio-based economy: its longer-term future and potential impacts
Recent advances in the life sciences are making a reality of the prediction that this will be the century of biotechnology.A wide range of R&D activities are maturing at a remarkably rapid pace.

New treatments and drugs, genetically modified foods,biologically controlled production processes,new materials,biologically based computing – 20 or 30 years from now,these and many other applications may well become part of our everyday lives, improving health, the environment, and industrial, agricultural and energy production. They could affect our societies as profoundly as information technologies have already done.

What’s more, biotechnological techniques, materials and devices may – especially if they converge with other technologies such as IT, bioinformatics and nanotechnologies – transform the way a whole host of products are designed, manufactured and used.That transformation of industry and consumption may provide significant opportunities for sustainable growth in both developed and developing countries. It could also lead to far-reaching changes in economic activity and society, as well as to some complex policy challenges.

The IFP project "The Bioeconomy to 2030: Designing a Policy Agenda" is assessing how pervasive and widespread biotechnological applications are likely to be, the prospects for convergence over the next two to three decades, the likely impact on the economy, and the implications for policy.

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