JOHN E CHRISMAN1, 2*, RAY W CHRISMAN2, ZEKARIAS Y FUNDUSA2
* Corresponding author
1. Inland norway university of applied sciences, hamar, norway; norse biotech as, elverum, Norway
2. Norse biotech as, elverum, Norway

Abstract

Addressing some of the challenges in a transition to the circular bioeconomy, this paper first explores the use of next generation processing approaches to help move pharmaceutical, chemical, and biomaterial products from fossil carbon to its biobased alternative. It posits the use of system-oriented cluster technologies through the application of cluster governance to increase both collaboration and knowledge exchange and to help facilitate the transition to a circular bioeconomy in a fast and effective manner.

INTRODUCTION
The transition to a circular bioeconomy is an important and complex task facing many governments and organizations (1). Our previous study, Transitioning to a Circular Bioeconomy: Key Drivers and the New Cluster Technologies to Accelerate Process Development in Biotechnology Sectors, (2) provided a broad overview of the problems that the global community needs to address; among them the rapidly developing concern over the supply of raw materials and related environmental issues. After describing general challenges such as the loss of finite resources including metals and fossil carbon, (3) pollution caused by manufacturing waste, single use plastic and fabric waste, (4) and the increasing production of global warming gases, it went on to outline how a transition to the circular economy would help. It described the subset of issues related to circular bioeconomy and the many technology issues that will need to be solved to transition away from the use of fossil carbon for materials production. Of the two general methods discussed to provide the needed materials in the circular bioeconomy, the biotech vision (organisms genetically modified to p ...