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2 What Next? 107

project). The initial report was very badly received, but has now been revised three
times and is taken extremely seriously as a credible feasibility study. At the same
time, a target of 400 biorefineries to be built in the United States over the next
20 years is also being studied and is considered appropriate. The new Department of
Agriculture policy (Farm Bill, 2014) backs bioconversion more for the production
of useful molecules than to produce biofuels. 8
Back in Europe, a target of 400 biorefineries also appears feasible. This would
require a direct investment of between 180 and 200 billion euros over 20 or
30 years, to which would need to be added around 30 or 40 billion in logistics
infrastructure upstream and downstream (oil and gas pipelines, rail networks,
network connections etc.) This would require an annual investment of 10 billion
euros over 25 years for the whole of Europe (around 0.7 % of GDP). The launch of a
9
public private partnership in 2014 (BIC ) between industry and the European
Commission as part of the Horizon 2020 programme, with a budget of 3.8 billion
euros, including one billion euros for research, is an excellent, significant initiative.
It is only the first step, but it could initiate a step up to a larger scale corresponding
to a capacity of around 10 % of European chemical and petrochemical production
(including fuel).
This idea of public private partnerships could be one of the key elements of
public policy.

2.3 The Role of Public Policy

It is generally agreed that the role of the modern state is to respect a kind of
technological neutrality, and not to choose between technological sectors. How-
ever, governments can set objectives for the private sector to meet, so that the
market can select between different sectors depending on their respective merits.
Industrial bioeconomy can satisfy our needs in terms of energy transition,
sustainable development and the circular economy, as can other technologies
(photovoltaic cells or wind turbines, for example). In this case, public policy has
a dual role:

– To create a space for dialogue between industry, citizens and governments to
debate the respective merits of these technologies and the impact of public
policy options on the respective sectors.
– To ensure that the technologies are treated equitably, and particularly that new
technologies benefit from equivalent conditions to those enjoyed by existing
technologies.

8
US Department of Agriculture, Office of the Chief Economist, Biorefinery Assistance
Program 9003.
9
Bio-based Industries Consortium: http://biconsortium.eu/