Abstract:

Education can play a significant role in promoting sustainability and Circular Bioeconomy perspectives. It has the means and resources for generating and adapting disruptive innovations to offer circular solutions to major sustainability problems. The planet is facing many challenges, including the depletion of natural capital, biodiversity loss, pollution and climate change among others. These challenges are complex and interlinked in different ways, requiring a systemic and interdisciplinary expertise. By leveraging their role and responsibility of producing the required skills and knowledge, education providers at university, vocational education and life-long learning levels can be key to guarantee that sustainability and Bioeconomy approaches will be implemented, therefore raising the bar for a sustainable performance.
In this context, Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education (SEE) is a field, resulting from the intersection of two substantial research and education domains, Sustainability Education and Entrepreneurship Education. This particular area has gained attention in recent years, and a number of quantitative and qualitative studies are carried out to explore its diverse dimensions. Different EU funded projects and initiatives (e.g. BIObec project, ICA Community of Practice for Bioeconomy Education, BIOEAST educational hub) also support and contribute in raising awareness on this domain, by organising dedicated workshops and activities to identify how the cross-fertilization of Entrepreneurship Education (EE) and Sustainable Education (SE), with a special focus on circular and sustainable Bioeconomy, can help design formal and informal educational curricula for sustainability-minded entrepreneurs of tomorrow.
In fact, given its nature and orientation, SEE is the domain the best adapted to the requirements of the sustainable Circular Bioeconomy and the bio-based sector.
This paper aims at exploring how SEE represents a promising approach to solve complex social, environmental, and economic problems with innovative solutions and how EU funded projects and initiatives in bioeconomy education can have a role in raising awareness on SEE, facilitating the knowledge exchange and interaction among experts on the necessary competences, educational methodologies and formats to implement, to finally provide policy recommendations in light of supporting the uptake of SEE in the educational curricula.

Keywords:

Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education, circular bioeconomy.