The term ‘bioeconomy’ is commonly met with a sense of uncertaintyregarding its meaning and purpose. In general, there are three differentfields of public and scientific debate about the bioeconomy. NicholasGeorgescu-Roegen (1971) referred to the bioeconomy as a transforma-tional pathway towards a degrowth society. In contrast, the debate about‘biocapitalism’ focuses on the commodification of bodies, biologicalmatters and micro-organisms in the context of biotechnological inno-vation (Cooper2014; Sunder Rajan2007). Lastly, bioeconomy policiesare also viewed as presenting themselves as a means of replacing the fossilbase of modern societies through the intensified use of biomass sources.In this volume, we primarily refer to this third strand of the debate.Against the background of climate change, bioeconomy was introducedas a transitional strategy by the OECD in 2009 and was subsequently revisited by Germany (BMBF and BMEL12020; BMBF2010), the US(The White House2012) and the EU (European Commission2012,2018). In these policy processes, the biotechnology sector has played(to varying degrees in different countries) an influential role in deter-mining the content and direction of specific measures to facilitate theemergence and institutionalization of the bioeconomy (Meyer2017).Many corresponding policy documents address primarily the agricul-tural and forest sectors while highlighting the significance of research andinnovation (R&I) programmes as the pillars of a knowledge-based transi-tion towards a sustainable bioeconomy. By 2018, 14 countries as well asthe EU had adopted national bioeconomy strategies; another 34 coun-tries refer to the bioeconomy in their agricultural or research strategies(German Bioeconomy Council 2018).