Abstract:

The present work, carried out throughout the year 2018, is a result of a research conducted in the State of Rio de Janeiro, by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from three universities: University of the State of Rio de Janeiro - UERJ, University of the West Zone - UEZO and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ. The Study is part of the systematization efforts to leverage the biotechnology sector of Rio de Janeiro State promoted by the Brazilian Service of Support to Micro and Small Enterprises (SEBRAE), within the scope of its PROINTER-Bio program.

It is believed that bioeconomy can be part of the solution to complex issues such as the natural resources scarcity, aiming at the balance between consumption and production of goods that depend on these natural resources. This science refers to a time of transition where the migration from a fossil-based economy to an economy based on renewable resources, especially biomass, is expected.

Bioeconomics is not only a science, but it also proposes to be the integrating link between the social, the environmental and the economic. In a simplified way, bioeconomics is understood as part of the economy that uses biological resources (biomass), or bioprocesses, for the production of value-added products, such as food, materials, pharmaceuticals, fuels, chemicals, etc. It is estimated that the global bioproducts market is expected to reach $ 714.6 billion by 2021.

According to Laufenberg, et al. (2003), waste can contain many high-value substances. If suitable technology is employed, this material can be converted into commercial products or raw materials for secondary processes.

The biomass conversion routes are numerous, and it is due to these conversion technologies that it is possible to obtain several varieties of biofuels such as ethanol, methanol, biodiesel and biogas. In addition to a variety of products focused on sustainability. Thus, the present study aims to expose the productive chain of biomass and its detail, highlighting its technological gaps and how such gaps can be converted into opportunities for social and economic development.

The study identified that the the generic chain’s interfaces are: actors that participate in the production process, such as universities and research centers, the institutional environment, such as government and regulatory agencies, investment sources and scale, that is, the industry itself. All these links were characterized and from these points we present the gaps and opportunities for each link according to its specificity.

To validate this study, interviews with ten experts from private companies, universities and research institutes located in Brazil were conducted.

As a conclusion, Brazil has great relevance in the world scenario, due to its prominent position in knowledge, vis-à-vis its installed capacity in research and innovation, universities and research centers, of its great biodiversity, with potential to lead, in international terms, the full use of biomass, in addition to using its abundant resources: solar radiation, water, climate diversity and raw material for the production of biofuels. On the other hand, the need to develop technologies in order to obtain these (bio) products, raised in this study, presents considerable bottlenecks, both technical and scientific, and of economic feasibility in the current market.

Keywords:

Bioeconomy, development of future-bearing sciences, Universities.