Search results for "biotalous"
showing 10 items of 25 documents
Potential impacts of a future Nordic bioeconomy on surface water quality
2020
AbstractNordic water bodies face multiple stressors due to human activities, generating diffuse loading and climate change. The ‘green shift’ towards a bio-based economy poses new demands and increased pressure on the environment. Bioeconomy-related pressures consist primarily of more intensive land management to maximise production of biomass. These activities can add considerable nutrient and sediment loads to receiving waters, posing a threat to ecosystem services and good ecological status of surface waters. The potential threats of climate change and the ‘green shift’ highlight the need for improved understanding of catchment-scale water and element fluxes. Here, we assess possible bio…
Mitigating forest biodiversity and ecosystem service losses in the era of bio-based economy
2018
Abstract Forests play a crucial role in the transition towards a bioeconomy by providing biomass to substitute for fossil-based materials and energy. However, a policy-policy conflict exists between the desire to increase the utilization of bio based renewable resources and the desire to protect and conserve biodiversity. Increasing forest harvest levels to meet the needs of the bioeconomy may conflict with biodiversity protection and ecosystem services provided by forests. Through an optimization framework, we examined trade-offs between increasing the extraction of timber resources, and the impacts on biodiversity and non-wood ecosystem services, and investigated possibilities to reconcil…
Finnish forest-based companies in transition to the circular bioeconomy : drivers, organizational resources and innovations
2020
Abstract Forest-based businesses are the center of the transition to the sustainable and competitive circular bioeconomy in Finland. This study explores the transition of Finnish FBS firms to new business models, with a focus on the organizational resources and capabilities needed for transition. It also identifies the important elements in the business environment and the role of innovations in this process. The study uses thematic interviews with managers from various FBS firms and companies from interfacing sectors, all of which have operations in Finland. Despite the differences between firms, the study finds many common drivers and resources that FBS companies highlight as significant …
Regional sustainability transition through forest-based bioeconomy? Development actors' perspectives on related policies, power, and justice
2022
Forests and forest-based bioeconomy have central roles in the contemporary sustainability transition. However, the transition towards a bioeconomy is loaded with tensions regarding economic growth, ecological integrity, and social justice. These tensions reproduce varying transition discourses. Political actors at the level of the European Union (EU) and nation states take part in the processes creating the discourses and aim to govern the forest bioeconomy-based transition in certain directions viewed as favourable. The transition tensions are strongly felt in regions that are rich with forest resources but poor in terms of economic and political power, called ‘forest peripheries’. In this…
Mitigating forest biodiversity and ecosystem service losses in the era of bio-based economy
2018
Forests play a crucial role in the transition towards a bioeconomy by providing biomass to substitute for fossil-based materials and energy. However, a policy-policy conflict exists between the desire to increase the utilization of bio based renewable resources and the desire to protect and conserve biodiversity. Increasing forest harvest levels to meet the needs of the bioeconomy may conflict with biodiversity protection and ecosystem services provided by forests. Through an optimization framework, we examined trade-offs between increasing the extraction of timber resources, and the impacts on biodiversity and non-wood ecosystem services, and investigated possibilities to reconcile trade-o…
Transition in the Finnish forest-based sector: Company perspectives on the bioeconomy, circular economy and sustainability
2019
The forest-based sector is affected by many profound structural changes and the increasing complexity of the business environment due to, for example, the mature markets of many core products and the aims for bio and circular economies and more sustainable societies. In response to the changing business environment, forest-based sector firms need to restructure their business models and develop new products and services. From the Finnish perspective, new forest-based businesses are crucial in the transition to successful and sustainable bio and circular economies. Views on the concepts of bioeconomy, circular economy and sustainability vary according to which parties are involved. Developin…
Digitalized bioeconomy: Planned obsolescence-driven circular economy enabled by Co-Evolutionary coupling
2019
Driven by digital solutions, the bioeconomy is taking major steps forward in recent years toward achievement of the long-lasting goal of transition from a traditional fossil economy to a bioeconomy-based circular economy. The coupling of digitalization and bioeconomy is leading towards a digitalized bioeconomy that can satisfy the shift in consumers’ preferences for eco-consciousness, which in turn induces coupling of up-down stream operation in the value chain. Thus, the co-evolution of the coupling of digitalization and bioeconomy and of upstream and downstream operations is transforming the forest-based bioeconomy into a digital platform industry. Aiming at addressing this transformation…
Co-evolutionary coupling leads a way to a novel concept of R&D - Lessons from digitalized bioeconomy
2020
Given the increasing role of research and development (R&D) in competitive markets in the digital economy while confronting the dilemma between R&D expansion and a productivity decline, transformation of the R&D model has become a crucial subject for global digital leaders. The authors of this paper postulate that neo open innovation harnessing the vigor of external innovation resources which then developed into a new concept of R&D that self-transforms during an R&D process initiated by Amazon by coupling with users. The authors further develop these postulates by proposing the embedding of a growth characteristic identical to biological coupling. An empirical analysis focusing on the fore…
Backcasting for desirable futures in Finnish forest-based firms
2020
Purpose In Finland, new forest-based sector (FBS) businesses are seen as important for the transition to the circular bioeconomy. The purpose of this study is to explore the transition of Finnish FBS companies to new business models. The aim is to understand how FBS companies define their ideal future states and related business models for the year 2030. Design/methodology/approach This study uses thematic interviews with managers from various FBS firms and companies from interfacing sectors. In the interviews, the key idea of backcasting was pursued when respondents discussed the desirable future states of their business. Findings The effort to achieve growth of the business and the appea…
Current state and future perspectives of biochar applications in Finland
2018
Kiinnostus biohiiltä kohtaan lisääntyy jatkuvasti, sillä biohiili tarjoaa taloudellisia ja ympäristön kannalta kestäviä ratkaisuja. Biohiiltä on tutkittu Suomessa noin kymmenen vuotta, mutta vasta viime aikoina sen taloudellinen kannattavuus on tunnistettu. Aikaisemmat biohiileen liittyvät tutkimukset ovat keskittyneet lähinnä pyrolyysiprosessiin, biohiilen ominaisuuksiin sekä biohiilen potentiaalisten käyttökohteiden tutkimiseen. Biohiilen markkinatilannetta ei ole vielä Suomessa tutkittu, lukuun ottamatta biohiilen käyttöä energiantuotannossa (biohiilen poltto), mikä on kuitenkin rajattu tästä tutkimuksesta. Tämän työn tarkoitus on tutkia biohiilen käytön nykyistä tilannetta ja sen tuleva…