Bioeconomy knowledge base : an online library to support EU policymaking.
Date: 2023-02-07
Institutions: Joint Research Centre
Subjects: Joint Research Centre, biomass, biotechnology, database, dissemination of information, knowledge management, management of resources, policymaking, research report, source of information, sustainable development

ISSN 1831-9424 

Edition 2022 

Bioeconomy knowledge base: 
an online library to support 
EU policymaking 

0000 

The European Commission’s Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy 

EUR 31422  EN 

 
 
 
 
This publication  is a Technical report by the Joint  Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s  science and knowledge service. It aims 
to provide evidence-informed scientific  support  to the European policymaking  process.  The contents  of this publication  do not  necessarily  
reflect  the  position  or  opinion  of  the  European  Commission.  Neither  the  European  Commission  nor  any  person  acting  on behalf  of  the 
Commission  is responsible  for the use that  might  be made of this  publication.  For information  on the methodology and quality  underlying 
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on the part  of the European  Union concerning  the legal  status  of any country, territory,  city  or area or of its  authorities,  or  concerning  the 
delimitation  of its frontiers  or boundaries. 

Contact  information 
Name: EC Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy 
Email:  EC-Bioeconomy-KC@ec.europa.eu 

EU Science Hub 
https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu   

JRC132357 

EUR 31422 EN 

PDF 

ISBN 978-92-76-99318-6 

ISSN 1831-9424 

doi:10.2760/915961  KJ-NA-31-422-EN-N 

Luxembourg:  Publications  Office of the European  Union, 2023 

© European Union, 2023 

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How to cite this  report: Borzacchiello,  M.T., Gerlach,  H., Sanchez  Lopez, J., Avraamides,  M., Bioeconomy knowledge  base: an online library  to 
support  EU policymaking,  Publications  Office of the European Union, Luxembourg,  2023, doi:10.2760/915961, JRC132357. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Contents  

Abstract................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 1 

Acknowledgements..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 

1 

Introduction............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 

2  Types of knowledge resources................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5 

3  Workflow process and methods............................................................................................................................................................................................. 6 

3.1 

Identify and filter relevant information ............................................................................................................................................................. 7 

3.1.1 

3.1.2 

Sources of information ................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 

Selection of information ................................................................................................................................................................................ 8 

3.2  Consolidating knowledge................................................................................................................................................................................................. 9 

3.2.1 

3.2.2 

Taxonomy.................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 

Database................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11 

3.3  Sharing knowledge............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 12 

3.3.1 

3.3.2 

3.3.3 

Searchable knowledge.................................................................................................................................................................................. 12 

Knowledge organised by topic............................................................................................................................................................... 14 

Active dissemination ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 

4  Outputs...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 18 

4.1  Knowledge resources available .............................................................................................................................................................................. 18 

4.2  Take up ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19 

5  Concluding remarks........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 22 

References....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23 

List of abbreviations and definitions....................................................................................................................................................................................... 24 

List of figures ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 25 

List of tables.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 26 

Annexes.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 27 

Annex 1. Preselected online sources in EMM currently used .................................................................................................................... 27 

Annex 2. List of EMM alerts for the selected sources..................................................................................................................................... 31 

Annex 3. Criteria for knowledge resources made accessible via the KCB platform ............................................................ 32 

Annex 4. Local KCB taxonomy .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 33 

i 

 
 
 
 
 
Abstract  

The  bioeconomy covers all sectors and systems that rely  on biological resources (animals, plants, micro-
organisms and derived biomass, including organic waste), their functions and principles. Compiling a robust 
information or evidence base is an essential component of better policymaking and one of the actions of the 
EU Bioeconomy Strategy is to enhance information and the knowledge base on the bioeconomy, including 
sustainable biomass supply and demand, and forward looking, cross-sectoral assessments, and to make this 
information accessible through the Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy. Data, information and knowledge related 
to the  bioeconomy are being produced at an accelerated pace and as the amount of available knowledge 
increases, the more pressing becomes the need to manage this knowledge. This means that knowledge needs 
to be properly captured, organised, stored, and shared and disseminated. 

In this context, the Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy includes an online library that provides a one-stop shop 
for filtered  and distilled knowledge on the bioeconomy to support evidence-informed EU policymaking. Its 
strength is the relevance, quality and accessibility of its resources as a result of a curation process and method 
that emerged from a series of gradual improvements and optimisations based on the lessons learnt over the 
previous  years.  This  library  is  constantly  updated  with  the  latest  publications,  datasets,  events,  news, 
visualisations and other resources, and made publicly accessible on the Commission’s Knowledge for Policy 
Platform (https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/). This report describes the workflow process and methods used 
in the curation task, and details how the knowledge is organised, stored and shared. It contains statistics on the 
resources available and take-up from the  users, and some concluding reflections on the  approach, with 
recommendations on the way forward.  

1 

Acknowledgements 

The  authors would like to thank former colleagues in the coordination team of the Knowledge Centre for 
Bioeconomy that have contributed to the initial design of the online library, namely Wim Verdeyen, Leticia 
Landa, Maria Lusser and Michael Klinkenberg as well as current and former colleagues in the European Media 
Monitor and Knowledge for Policy teams for their continuous support. 

Authors 

Borzacchiello, Maria Teresa 

Gerlach, Hildegard 

Sanchez Lopez, Javier 

Avraamides, Marios 

2 

1 

Introduction 

The  bioeconomy covers all sectors and systems that rely  on biological resources (animals, plants, micro-
organisms and derived  biomass, including organic waste), their  functions and principles.  It  includes and 
interlinks: land and marine ecosystems and the services they provide; all primary production sectors that use 
and produce biological resources, i.e. agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture; and all economic and 
industrial sectors that use biological resources and processes to produce food, feed, bio-based products, energy 
and services. 

The EU Bioeconomy Strategy, updated in 2018 (European Commission, 2018), put forward an action plan to 
drive a sustainable and circular bioeconomy based on three key priorities: 

1.  Strengthen and scale up the bio-based sectors, unlock investments and markets 

2.  Deploy local bioeconomies rapidly across the whole of Europe 

3.  Understand the ecological boundaries of the bioeconomy 

Under action 3.1.1 of this plan, the European Commission (EC) is committed to enhance information and the 
knowledge base on the bioeconomy, including sustainable biomass supply and demand, and forward looking, 
cross-sectoral assessments, and to  make this  information accessible through the  Knowledge Centre  for 
Bioeconomy. 

Data, information and knowledge related  to  the  bioeconomy are  being produced from different sources 
including from the JRC. The pace of bioeconomy knowledge production exceeds by far the general increase in 
scientific knowledge production. For example, over the last two decades, the number of bioeconomy-related 
peer-reviewed papers published each year increased by a factor of circa 1100, compared to the increase of 
new peer-reviewed papers across all science areas by a factor of circa 1.8 (Figure 1). 

Figure 1. Increase in the number of scientific publications on the bioeconomy and all science areas 1 

Source: Own elaboration. 

Compiling a robust information or evidence base is an essential component of better policymaking (European 
Commission, 2021). As the amount of available knowledge increases, the more pressing becomes the need to 
manage this knowledge in order to ensure that policymaking can be based on the best available evidence 
(European Commission, 2016). This means that knowledge needs to be properly captured, organised, stored, 
shared and disseminated. In order to address this challenge, the JRC has created Knowledge Centres in specific 

1  

Search performed in Scopus. Publications  on the bioeconomy have been identified based on the search function “ti_abs_key:("biobase d 
industry"  OR  "bio-based  industry"  OR  "biobased  industries"  OR  "bio-based  industries"  OR  "biorefineries"  OR  "bioeconomy"  OR  "bio-
economy" OR "biobased economy" OR "bio-based economy" OR "biomass"  OR "biobased"  OR "bio-based")” 

3 

 
                                              
 
areas where there is a clear and specific EU policy demand and where the JRC has a critical mass of knowledge 
on which it can build. Amongst them, the European Commission's Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy (KCB) was 
launched in July 2017 to pull together and make accessible the knowledge and expertise needed to assess the 
status, progress and impact of the bioeconomy. The KCB built upon and integrated the Bioeconomy Observatory 
set up by the JRC in 2013 (Verdeyen et al., 2016). 

The  KCB  deals with the  complex and abundant knowledge and expertise available from different sources 
through knowledge management activities that, together, enhance the knowledge base for policymaking. One 
of these  activities is KCB’s online library that is continuously enriched to give one-stop access to curated 
information on bioeconomy from different sources: publications, datasets, news articles, events, glossary terms, 
etc. 

This report describes the methodology and the process used to design and populate the KCB library with curated 
information, and summarises the status of the library contents, at the end of 2022. 

Section 2 describes the types of knowledge resources included in the library, section 3 details the steps followed 
to identify and filter relevant information (3.1), organise and store knowledge (3.2), share and disseminate 
knowledge (3.3). Section 4 presents a quantitative analysis of resources available in the KCB library and their 
use, in terms of quantitative statistics on the visits and use of the web platform as well as in terms of qualitative 
feedback from stakeholders and external experts. Section 5 concludes with reflections from the experience in 
building the KCB library. It reports on (i) benefits of the approach, focusing on the reliability and consistency of 
the  curation process, as  well  as  the  relevance  and  accessibility of  the  resources; (ii)  on  technical and 
methodological limitations and (iii) provides recommendations for further improvements 

4 

 
 
2  Types of knowledge resources 

Effective knowledge management means delivering the right information to the right person at the right time. 
The  target audience of the KCB library is primarily EU policymakers, whilst other bioeconomy stakeholders 
(policymakers at national and regional level, researchers, industry experts etc.) may also utilise its publicly 
available resources for their specific needs. The former are most interested about synthesised science-based 
and policy-oriented reports, latest news on a specific technology or policy files and standardised, officially-
agreed terms and definitions. The latter tend to look for scientific publications to be up-to-date on a specific 
topic, raw data to conduct analyses or interesting scientific conferences to attend to (Sienkiewicz & Mair, 2020). 

The types of knowledge resources captured in the KCB library have been specifically selected to address these 
different needs and to foster synergies and interaction among users, streamlining the selection of resources to 
the ones that might be really needed by the two types of audiences. 

The table below describes the types of knowledge resources integrated in the KCB library. 

Table 1. Types  of knowledge resources integrated in the KCB library 

Knowledge resource 

Description  

Publications 

News 

Events 

a  wide  range  of  categories  of  documents,  comprising  scientific  (peer-
reviewed) publications, technical reports, statistical reports, science for policy 
reports, project (EU-funded) deliverables, policy documents, knowledge for 
policy briefs and audio-visual material (e.g. infographics, factsheets, videos, 
etc.) 

articles  with  information  on  recent  developments  in  the  field  of  the 
bioeconomy and/or its sectors 

physical or online events, such as seminars, conferences and workshops 

Visualisations 

interactive exploratory and explanatory dashboards and infographics 

Datasets 

collections of (raw) data relevant for the bioeconomy 

Glossary Items 

definitions of terms  relevant for the bioeconomy  

Projects & activities 

projects and activities led by the JRC and relevant for the bioeconomy  

Organisations 

relevant public or private institutions, linked to the knowledge resources 

Online resources 

other  online resources relevant  for  the  bioeconomy, such as web-based 
platforms, databases and data catalogues with retrievable data  

Source: Own elaboration. 

5 

 
 
3  Workflow process and methods 

The online library of the KCB is the outcome of an articulated multi-step curation workflow (see Figure 2 and 
Figure  8).  This  workflow starts  with  the  identification and  selection of  bioeconomy-related sources of 
information (section 3.1.1), which are monitored on a weekly basis to identify and filter relevant information 
following a set of selection criteria (section 3.1.2). The selected information is then categorised in a set of 
knowledge resources (as described in section 3.2.1), organised according to a specifically designed taxonomy 
and stored in a database with a predefined structure (section 3.2.2). Finally, the knowledge resources are made 
available through the KCB web presence on the Knowledge4Policy (K4P)2 platform (section 3.3). A subset of the 
curated resources is further selected to be disseminated in a bi-monthly KCB newsletter (section 3.3.3). The 
following subsections describe each of these steps in detail. 

Figure 2. Simplified  KCB library workflow process 

Source: Own elaboration. 

2  

The EU Commission's  platform  for evidence-based policymaking  (https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu). 

6 

 
 
 
                                              
 
3.1 

Identify and filter relevant information   

3.1.1  Sources of information 

The sources of information used to feed the KCB library include a set of online repositories with information 
available in the English language.  

Preselected online sources 

These  currently comprise 156  specific online sources (see Table  in  Annex 1),  selected according to  their 
relevance in the bioeconomy field. They include specific websites of well-known and accredited international 
and national organisations, news repositories related to bio-based products and innovation, EC websites and 
hubs of peer-reviewed scientific publications.  

The  sources are  listed  in  the  Newsdesk Service  of  the  Europe  Media Monitor (EMM) tool 3 and  scanned 
continuously, according to a set of 43 keywords (“alerts” in the EMM system). In the current setting, the system 
assigns a weight to each alert (word weight list). The weight of an alert is the value summed when that alert is 
found in the text. The sum of the weights of the matched alert is compared to the threshold value to determine 
whether or not to trigger the item. Most of those keywords have the same weight of 50 in the search query, 
and the presence of one term in the scanned item is enough to trigger its selection (the weight threshold in our 
case is 50). Based on the quality of the information captured, the set of alerts is optimised. For example, for a 
few  alerts  a  low  weight was introduced to avoid the selection of items  that are  not relevant.  The  term 
‘biotechnology’ and derivatives triggered items that are related to health, which is not included in the EC’s 
definition of bioeconomy. For this reason a weight of 25  was assigned to these terms, so that  the  item 
containing the term ‘biotechnology’ is triggered by the query only if there is at least another relevant keyword 
in the text, summing up to the weight threshold of 50. Similarly, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the term biotech- 
was triggering many news and publications related to vaccines. This was distorting the efficient selection of 
relevant items for the KCB library. Thus, a negative weight of -999 for the term ‘vaccine’ – and its derivatives 
was applied, meaning that whenever the term is in the text, that article would not be selected by the EMM 
filtering system. 

The set of alerts is used by the EMM search to allow an automatic first level filtering of potentially relevant 
information to consider in the (manual) selection (see section 3.1.2). The complete list is available in Annex 2 

Pubsy  

PUBSY is the corporate management system for JRC outputs. Public documents are automatically disseminated 
through the JRC Publications Repository4 (available to the public domain). These documents are also imported 
automatically into K4P and are available to the KCB  and other Knowledge Services’ (KS) 5 for selection (see 
section 3.3).  

The JRC Data Catalogue 

The  JRC  Data Catalogue6 contains a continuously updated inventory of datasets produced by the  JRC  in 
accordance with the JRC Data Policy (Friis-Christensen & Triaille, 2019). The catalogue organises its content in 
dataset collections. A dataset collection is a set of metadata records about datasets that are related to each 
other according to some criterion. Collection of datasets are also assigned to science areas. 

Ad-hoc sources  

Besides all of the above sources of information, ad-hoc sources are also considered. They include exchanges 
with stakeholders and colleagues, presentations in events, newsletters, and social media and information 
occasionally retrieved on the internet. 

3  

4  
5  
6  

EMM  is a system  for monitoring  open source  news and information,  developed and maintained  since  2002 by the EC Joint Research 
Centre (JRC). The EMM allows monitoring  of a large (but selected) set of electronic  media, reducing the information flow to manageable  
proportions  by clustering  related news, categorising  articles  and applying Language Technology tools  to derive further metadata, such 
as  recognising  and disambiguating  entities  in  the  text, extracting  quotes  by and about  people,  applying  sentiment/tonality  analysis 
and more. More info at: https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/online-resource/europe-media-monitor-emm_en 
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/ 
“Knowledge Services” (KS) refer here to the Knowledge Centres  and Competence  Centres hosted  in the Knowledge4Policy platform. 
https://data.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ 

7 

                                              
 
3.1.2  Selection of information 

The extensive list of items retrieved automatically from the sources of information described in section 3.1.1, 
and which are potentially relevant, go through a process of further manual filtering on a weekly basis. During 
this step, bioeconomy experts read the information and select, as knowledge resources, the items for the KCB 
library (see section 2) that, according to their expert judgement, meet the following criteria:  

1.  are open access, freely accessible without any fee or registration needed 

2.  are relevant for the bioeconomy from a scientific or policy angle 

3.  have a clearly identified source  

4. 

report facts (rather than an opinion) and gives evidence to support its main points 

5.  are written at an appropriate language level (i.e. not too elementary or advanced)  

6.  are written with an unbiased language or tone (incl. commercial bias) and is free of emotion 

In addition to these criteria that apply to all resource types, the type of knowledge resource ‘events’ qualifies if 
the  event  is  organised by an  EU  institution, or  EU-funded projects, or  Member States  administration, or 
academia, or international organisations, or organised by others and include representatives of EU institutions 
as speakers. In case there are  no representatives of EU institutions as speakers, the selection is based on 
relevance of the organisation and of the event to the policy debate on the bioeconomy. 

The complete list of criteria for each specific knowledge resource is available in Annex 3.  

8 

 
 
3.2  Consolidating  knowledge 

3.2.1  Taxonomy 

Taxonomies are organised lists of concepts or notation systems that are used to initially tag content and then 
find it through navigation or search. In other words, it is the practice of classifying and structuring content, and 
the use of taxonomies is crucial to manage knowledge in an efficient way.  

As mentioned above, K4P serves as a common platform for the KCB and many other hosted KS, therefore a 
common taxonomy to classify its content is needed. On the other hand, each KS has its own needs in terms of 
topics, content types, etc.  

For this purpose, two 'levels' of taxonomy were created in K4P and applied for the KCB library:  

—  a small set of global taxonomies, applied to all knowledge, used by users to filter search results when they 

search from the K4P home or from one of the KS pages. 

—  'local taxonomies', specific to KS. Users of the  platform can use them as search filters only within the 

specific KS website. 

Global taxonomies 

Global taxonomies, by definition, must be used by all KS, so a consensus was reached for the following ones: 

—  content type  (see  Section 2),  specifying what sort  of  knowledge is  being  classified/categorised (e.g. 

publication, dataset, projects/activities, news, event, page, etc.); 

—  related organisations (all organisations and their description and other metadata are common within K4P); 

—  related project & activities (all projects are common within K4P); 

—  geographic coverage, which classifies the content according to the geographical coverage, being common 

to all KS; 

—  Digital EUROPA Thesaurus7 (DET) and K4P Global, global taxonomies describing what the content is about. 

The DET is a multilingual thesaurus covering the main subject matters of the EC's public communications. It has 
been designed to describe and index web content from across the EC so that this content can be retrieved, 
aggregated, and managed. The thesaurus is maintained by the Directorate General for Communication. In line 
with the  objectives of semantic interoperability, DET reuses EuroVoc8 concepts in combination with a few 
additional non-EuroVoc concepts necessary for describing web content subject matter. 

K4P Global consists of keywords, which are not in DET but are used by more than two Knowledge Services. DET 
and K4P Global appear as a unique list when tagging or filtering content.  

By  definition, a taxonomy is a controlled vocabulary in which all the terms belong to a single hierarchical 
structure and have parent/child or broader/narrower relationships to other terms. The structure is sometimes 
referred to as a ‘tree’. The addition of non-preferred terms/synonyms may or may not be part of a taxonomy9. 
The DET follows this hierarchical structure. However, at the time of the present report the taxonomy used in 
K4P is a ‘flat keyword’ version of DET, but it aims to evolve towards the hierarchical structure. 

An example of the global taxonomies used in the KCB platform is shown in Table 2. 

7  
8  
9  

https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/concept-scheme/-/resource?uri=http://data.europa.eu/uxp/det 
https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/dataset/-/resource?uri=http://publications.europa.eu/resource/dataset/eurovoc 
https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/taxonomies 

9 

 
 
 
                                              
 
Table 2. Global taxonomies 

Content type 

Geographic 
coverage 
(extract) 

DET + K4P Global 
keywords (extract) 

Related 
organisations 
(extract) 

Publication 

European Union 

agricultural land 

World 

Europe  

Region 
(subnational) 

Germany 

Finland 

… 

agriculture 

aid to Agriculture 

alcohol 

alcoholism 

analysis 

arable land 

… 

News 

Dataset 

Event 

Glossary item 

Online resource 

Organisation 

Page 

Visualisation 

Navigation page 

Topic/tool 

Projects and activities 

JRC 

EC 

FAO 

Eurostat 

OECD 

IEA 

European 
Parliament 

… 

Source: Own elaboration. 

Local taxonomies 

In order to better organise the bioeconomy-specific content, the KCB also uses a set of local taxonomies, which 
only appear as search filters when the user is searching from within the KCB page. These are the following: 

—  Bioeconomy keywords: bioeconomy-specific concepts which are not present in the global taxonomy and are 

used to tag the content selected for publication in the KCB library 

—  Bioeconomy glossary categories: the sources for the definitions of the terms included in the bioeconomy 

glossary 10 

—  Bioeconomy publication format: typologies of the documents selected 

—  Bioeconomy topics: specific topics for which the KCB has developed knowledge syntheses in the form of 

webpages, with videos, briefs and other resources. 

The local taxonomies and related terms currently used in the KCB platform are shown in Table 3 (an extract) 
and Annex 4. 

In order to classify the selected knowledge resources according to their content, the KCB uses a combination of 
keywords from the global taxonomies and local taxonomies. These tags are then used to filter content in a 
search (see also section 3.3.1 of this report). Furthermore, when content is tagged with a topic, project or an 
organisation, it appears in the ‘Latest knowledge’ section of that topic, project or organisation. For many content 
types there is also a ‘Related Reading’ section at the bottom of the page, which is triggered dynamically based 
on the matching of taxonomy terms. Thus the tagging of knowledge resources with a comprehensive taxonomy 
allows aggregating related content and helps users retrieve related content. 

10 https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/bioeconomy/glossary 

10 

 
 
                                              
 
Table 3. Local taxonomies 

Bioeconomy 
keywords 

(extract) 

algae 

bio-based chemicals 
and materials 

bio-based textiles 

biorefinery 

blue economy 

charcoal 

energy conversion 

food system 

food system 
transformation 

forest-based industry 

fossil-based 

… 

Bioeconomy 
glossary categories 

Bioeconomy 
publication format 

Bioeconomy  
Topics 

International 
organisation 

Scientific and technical 
literature 

Scientific publication 

Forestry biomass 

JRC publication 

Algae biomass 

Policy document 

Agricultural biomass 

EC Technical 
Documents 

Standards 

Data/statistical report 

Technical report 

Project deliverable 

EC Policy documents 

Audio-visual material 

EU legislation 

Other 

Agency documents 

Dictionaries 

Biomass study JRC 
own definition 

Fisheries and aquaculture 
biomass 

Policy 

Economy 

Assessing environmental 
impacts 

Forest-based bioeconomy for 
climate change mitigation 

Source: Own elaboration. 

There are numerous factors to consider for determining how many terms or how broad any taxonomy should 
be used by editors to classify content for the end-users. For example, very narrow or ambiguous descriptors 
would make it difficult for other systems to re-use the terminology to deliver this content in other platforms. 
Besides, very specific terms do not add real value for the user because they are rarely used by editors and 
possibly obscure the main subject(s) in a knowledge resource. On the other hand, with very generic keywords 
the content may be 'lost' in an ocean of similarly tagged content when merged with other resources and can 
lead to unsatisfactory search effectiveness and difficulty in managing the content. Therefore, terms must be 
self-explanatory (given the larger context and content) and unambiguous (not necessarily narrow) and must 
stand on their own. Consequently, KCB editors strive to consistently apply the same set of concepts to similar 
content  and  to  avoid  the  scenario  of  very  generic,  overlapping  or  ambiguous  concepts  being  used 
indiscriminately.  

3.2.2  Database 

The information identified from different sources (preselected online resources, PUBSY, JRC Data Catalogue 
and ad-hoc sources) and selected using specific criteria and organised using specific taxonomies is consolidated 
in the KCB library database. 

The KCB library database is a tabular file, for internal use, structured in different tabs for the different kind of 
resources. It stores comprehensive information for the knowledge resources available in the online library, 
including name, link, fields according to the  global and local taxonomies and additional information e.g. 
geographical dimension, backup links, source retrieval. 

This database serves as an offline intermediate archive of the information intended for online publication, 
provides easy access to all the resources and allows easy extraction of statistics or information for different 
evaluation reports. 

11 

 
 
 
3.3  Sharing knowledge 

The selected knowledge resources stored in the KCB database are integrated in the web presence, through the 
backend of the K4P platform. This is a manual task adding the relevant content with the correct content type, 
an abstract or short description of each item, and tagging it using the different taxonomies. It is then shared 
through an online library accessible through the KCB website: https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/bioeconomy. 
Published knowledge resources, where relevant for different KS hosted in the K4P platform can also be shared, 
thus avoiding duplications. 

3.3.1  Searchable knowledge 

There are different ways for accessing content on the KCB web platform (Figure 3): 

—  by browsing the ‘Topic’ menu 

—  by browsing the ‘Country’ menu 

—  by selecting from ‘Featured content’ 

—  by selecting from ‘Latest news’, ‘Next events’, ‘Latest resources’ 

—  by using keywords in a search bar 

Figure 3. Ways of accessing resources 

Source: K4P website. 

A search can be performed through all types of knowledge categories returning results for all content types, or 
directly selecting one category either in the search interface, menu bar or ‘Latest news’, ‘Next events’, ‘Latest 
resources’ section (Figure 4). The search results can then be narrowed down using the filters on the left side 
of the page (Figure 5). The filters vary depending on the type of content (e.g. ‘Year of publication’ only appears 
when searching for publications). 

12 

 
 
Figure 4. Example search 

Source: K4P website. 

Figure 5. Narrowed search results by using filters 

Source: K4P website. 

13 

 
 
3.3.2  Knowledge organised by topic 

An audience research undertaken by the JRC in 2018 to understand the needs and expectations of policymakers 
and scientists towards the K4P platform concluded that the resources published should be organised following 
a linked knowledge pyramid structure (Lowry, 2018): highly granular data and information underpinning the 
scientific knowledge, useful for scientists, which could be coupled with  synthesised knowledge resources, 
dedicated summaries and visualisations, useful for policymakers. The latter makes the so-called “policy layer”: 
in other words featured webpages with curated knowledge on a topic which makes it more accessible and 
usable to the world of policy, using for example videos, visualisations, short knowledge synthesis, briefs and 
other related content from the library.  

In the period 2019-2022, the Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy has developed six new topic pages and updated 
two topic pages first developed in 2017, focusing on specific sectors or perspectives of the bioeconomy:  

—  Policy, first published in 201711 

—  Economy, first published in 201712 

—  Agricultural biomass, published in May 202013 

—  Forestry biomass, published in November 202014 

—  Algae biomass, published in March 202115 

—  Assessing environmental impacts, published in June 202116 

—  Fisheries and aquaculture biomass, published in July 202117 

—  Forest-based bioeconomy for climate change mitigation, published in February 202218 

Each topic page is composed of a top layer, including a dedicated video (about 2-minutes), as a teaser to 
introduce the main messages related to the topic, inviting the audience to dig into a more in-depth content. The 
next  layer  is  composed of a  dedicated knowledge for policy  brief, which synthesises currently available 
knowledge on the topic, so that it can be used directly in policymaking, and includes visualisations, tables, 
references in a targeted language. 

The inner layer of the topic page is composed by three additional sections:  

—  ’Explore further’ includes latest data, visualisations, projects and additional selected resources available on 
the topic. It is relatively stable content, updated as soon as new relevant resources are selected. The ’Explore 
further’ section is presented as blocks of content, each of them with a short description of the identified 
knowledge resource preceded by a “call for action” statement.   

—  Featured content: Featured content as in the  homepage can also be used in  topic pages, but  is  not 

mandatory. 

—  ‘Latest knowledge’ are the latest news and publications made available on the KCB website, tagged with 

that specific topic. It is a more dynamic section, linked to the regular (weekly) KCB library update. 

11  
12  
13  
14  
15  
16  
17  
18  

https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/bioeconomy/topic/policy_en 
https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/bioeconomy/topic/economy_en 
https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/bioeconomy/topic/agricultural-biomass_en 
https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/bioeconomy/topic/forestry-biomass_en 
https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/bioeconomy/topic/algae-biomass_en 
https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/bioeconomy/topic/assessing-environmental-impacts_en 
https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/bioeconomy/topic/fisheries-aquaculture-biomass_en 
https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/bioeconomy/topic/forest-bioeconomy-cc-mitigation_en 

14 

 
 
                                              
 
3.3.3  Active dissemination 

The KCB’s web presence represents the primary dissemination channel of the knowledge collected, and curated. 
It  offers  a  one-stop-shop allowing users  to  access knowledge resources using different  search criteria 
depending on their requirements and needs. It is complemented by other dissemination channels that are used 
to actively share some specific content to targeted audience at specific points in time. 

For example, newly published knowledge resources and especially the ones created by the JRC as contribution 
to the KCB or new collated topic pages are often actively communicated on social media, including through EC 
corporate social media accounts, reaching out to relevant multipliers. Examples of dissemination via Twitter are 
shown in Figure 6. 

Figure 6. Examples of dissemination promoted by the KCB via social media 

Source: Twitter. 

Furthermore, in September 2021  the  KCB  launched a bi-monthly Newsletter19 to push and actively share 
information on some of the latest publications and news relevant for policymaking in the field of bioeconomy. 
The subscription to the newsletter is open to anyone interested. At the end of 2022, more than 630 people had 
subscribed, including policy officers in Commission DGs, JRC colleagues, staff from EU institutions like Bio-
based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI, currently Circular Bio-based Europe), the European Environmental 
Agency (EEA), civil servants and academics in Member States. The number of subscribers is increasing as new 
issues of the newsletter become available (see Figure 7). 

19  

https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/know4pol/subscription-quick-generic-form-fullpage.cfm?service_id=2358 

15 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                              
 
Figure 7. Evolution of the numbers of subscribers to the KCB newsletter in the period 09/21-12/22 

Source: Own elaboration  – Data  from Newsroom  (BE: Bioeconomy). 

Finally, the knowledge curated for the KCB library also feeds the ESPAS20 Horizon Scanning exercise. This is a 
project launched in November 2021 by EC’s JRC Competence Centre on Foresight21, together with the European 
Parliament’s European Parliamentary Research Service22, under ESPAS network23, with the aim to  identify 
signals of change that could potentially have an important impact on the future of the EU (Störmer et al., 2020).  

The complete and detailed workflow followed by the KCB team is represented in Figure 8. This summarises all 
the steps described in section 3 and includes information about the frequency of updates and the resources 
needed. 

20  

21  
22  
23  

The European Strategy and  Policy Analysis  System  (ESPAS) provides  a framework for cooperation  and consultation  at administrativ e  
level  between the  European  Parliament,  the  European  Commission,  the  Council  of the  European  Union,  and  the European  External 
Action  Service, with the European Investment Bank, the Committee of the Regions,  the European Economic and Social  Committee, the  
European Union Institute for Security  Studies and the European Court of Auditors  as observers, to work together on medium and long-
term trends  facing or relating  to the European Union. 
https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/foresight_en 
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/at-your-service/en/stay-informed/research-and-analysis 
https://espas.eu/ 

16 

 
 
                                              
 
Figure 8. KCB library workflow process 

Source: Own elaboration. 

17 

 
 
4  Outputs 

4.1  Knowledge  resources  available 

At the end of 2022, the KCB library contained more than 5300 curated resources: 2235 publications; 150 online 
resources; 435 datasets; 1595 news items; 426 events; 2 projects; 23 visualisations and 79 organisations24. 

Figure 9. Time  evolution of the resources integrated in the KCB library 

Source: Own elaboration  - * visualisations,  projects,  organisations. 

24 The number of resources currently available  in K4P Bioeconomy website is slightly less than the cumulative number of resources inserted 
in the website (Figure 9), because some items have been removed or archived due to obsolescence, as a result of the curation process. 

18 

 
 
 
 
 
                                              
 
4.2  Take up 

the 

topic 

homepage, 

Statistics on visits, page views and downloads are available since 2019, when the KCB’s web presence and 
its library migrated to the K4P platform. Until the end of 2021, the web statistics cover the accesses only 
to 
under 
other 
https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/bioeconomy/...),  not  to  specific  resources.  This  changed  in  2022,  
when also resources which are  at  K4P level  (publications, online resources, projects  and activities, news 
and events, for example https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/publication/...)  were linked to the Knowledge 
Services  in the  web statistics. This explains the strong increase in 2022 (Figure 10). In general, access has 
increased over time. A  focus regarding the views of the pages dedicated to specific bioeconomy topics is 
reported in Figure 11.  

everything 

special 

pages 

pages 

and 

(i.e. 

In 2022 most of visitors to the KCB website are from the European Union (51.5%), followed by Asia (20.4%) 
and North America (10.1%) (Figure 12). The visitors from European Union Member States are particularly from 
Italy (14.3%), Germany (13.4%), Belgium (11.6%), Spain (8.6%), France (7.5%) and The Netherlands (6.9%) 
(Figure 13), all countries that are very active in the bioeconomy domain. 

Apart from statistics of the website visits and interactions, qualitative feedback was collected from the EC policy 
DGs, in the context of the evaluation of JRC activities under Horizon 2020 by a committee of independent 
experts (JRC, 2022). In general, the policy officers in a partner DG provided positive feedback, claiming that 
thanks to  the  work  of  the  Knowledge Centre  for  Bioeconomy, the JRC  played  a  central role  for  the  EU 
bioeconomy strategy, supporting the Commission by developing the scientific and technical knowledge on the 
various  components  of  the  bioeconomy  (social,  economic,  environmental)  and  contributing  to  its 
implementation. The feedback of the committee of independent experts was also positive, especially as regards 
policymaking significance, territorial outreach, and stakeholders outreach, as well as public debate significance, 
the latter especially thanks to the curation efforts for the KCB library, mentioning articles that recognise the 
centrality of the ‘Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy’ to increasing awareness and impact of the bioeconomy at 
the European level. 

Figure 10. KCB platform visits and page views at the url: https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/bioeconomy 25 

Source: Own elaboration  – please  note that from Jan 2022 the website statistics  are counted  differently 26. 

https://webanalytics.europa.eu/analytics/ 

25  
26   Statistics  on visits, page views and downloads are available  since 2019, when the KCB’s web presence and its library  migrated to the  
Knowledge4Policy platform. Until the end of 2021, the web statistics cover the accesses only to the homepage, topic pages and other 

19 

 
                                              
 
Figure 11. Page views of the KCB topic pages 

Source: Own elaboration. 

Figure 12. Number of visitors of the KCB website, by continent 

Source: Own elaboration. 

special  pages  (i.e.  everything  under  https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/bioeconomy/),  not  to  specific  resources.  This  changed  in 
2022, when also resources  which are at K4P level (publications, online resources, projects  and activities, news and events, for example 
https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/publication/...)  were  linked  to  the  Knowledge Services  in  the  web  statistics.  This  explains  the  
strong  increase  in 2022. 

20 

 
 
 
                                              
 
Figure 13. Number of visitors of the KCB website, focus on Europe 

Source: Own elaboration. 

21 

 
 
 
 
5  Concluding remarks  

The KCB online library provides a one-stop shop for filtered and distilled knowledge on bioeconomy to support 
evidence-informed EU policymaking. Its strength is the relevance, quality and accessibility of its resources as a 
result  of  a  curation  process  and  methods  that  emerged  from  a  series  of  gradual  improvements  and 
optimisations based on the lessons learnt over the previous years. The access statistics and the consistently 
positive qualitative feedback received by bioeconomy stakeholders (see Section 4.2), demonstrate that the 
online KCB library produces an added value which far exceeds the circa 1 FTE currently invested in it.  

The fact that contents are recorded and categorised across time in a consolidated database (see section 3.2.2) 
gives the possibility to always come back to the list of resources and check what is present in the library, even 
in the occasion of a failure of the website. In this sense, the KCB library is robust and reliable. Moreover, sharing 
the work between various staff has the advantage to have a continuous process, where colleagues back up 
each other in case of need, so that the scanning, selection and publication process is not interrupted.  

Nevertheless, the approach followed has also certain limitations, both technical and methodological, and has 
scope for further improvement. 

A  first  technical limitation is the fact that the  workflow uses different platforms that are not necessarily 
connected to each other. For example, the main selection from the scanners is performed in EMM Newsdesk 
environment, currently not integrated in the K4P Platform. Thus, the web content manager has to manually 
copy the items from EMM environment to the K4P website. An integration of the two environments would 
address this issue.  

As a second technical limitation, there are delays due to the existence of different parallel workflows in place: 
the JRC  publication quality system (PUBSY) is sometimes delayed with respect to  the preprint  of papers in 
scientific journals. This means that the knowledge resource (in this case, the scientific article) is available in the 
internet but cannot be linked on the KCB website because the official Commission approval workflow has not 
been terminated. 

Finally, despite the criteria applied for the curation, the gradual expansion of the library over the years creates 
risks as the resources can become outdated or inaccessible and thus obsolete. Prioritisation of resources with 
an  expected  longer life  span  and regular  maintenance and cleaning of the  resources as  well  as  of the 
preselected online sources in EMM and related alerts (see Annexes 1 and 2) will be key in order to maintain the 
library fit for purpose. 

In terms of methodological limitations, firstly, there is a general risk of bias associated to the expert judgement 
applied for the manual selection of resources. This risk has been reduced by the adoption of a specific set of 
agreed criteria, however it is not eliminated. Sharing of the selection work between at least two experts that 
can cross-check each other’s work can further reduce this risk, but would entail the involvement of additional 
resources.  

Secondly, there is a systematic bias due to the use of the English language only. This means that all the 
bioeconomy-relevant news and publications that are published in other languages are automatically discarded 
from the outset even if they could meet the relevance and quality criteria (see section 3.1). Overcoming this 
limitation might attract visitors from additional EU countries.  

Thirdly, based on the selection criteria, industry news are typically not selected to avoid risk of commercial bias, 
even if they may be interesting and relevant, and academic publications whose abstracts are not public, are 
also not captured. This means that the resources included in the KCB  library may lack relevant elements of 
industrial innovation and research advances that can add to the collective knowledge.  

With this report, the authors document the workflow and methods applied, take stock of the work done and 
reflect on what can be improved to possibly serve as a source of inspiration for other knowledge management 
services. 

22 

References 

European Commission (2016), Data, Information and Knowledge Management at the European Commission, 
COM(2016)6626,  at  https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-register/detail?ref=C(2016)6626&lang=en, 
last accessed 19.12.22 

Commission 

European 
Europe:  
Strengthening the  connection between  economy, society and the  environment, COM(2018) 673  final, at 
https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/publication/updated-bioeconomy-strategy-2018_en 

Bioeconomy 

sustainable 

(2018), 

for 

A 

European  Commission  (2021),  Better  Regulation  Tool  4  –  Evidence-informed  policymaking,  at: 
https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2022-06/br_toolbox-nov_2021_en_0.pdf, last accessed 19.12.22 

Friis-Christensen, A. & Triaille, J.  (2019) JRC Data Policy, EUR 27163 EN, Publications Office of the European 
Union, Luxembourg, 2019, ISBN 978-92-76-08380-1, doi:10.2760/637912, JRC115832 

JRC  (2022),  Impact  Case  Study Supporting the  EU  Bioeconomy Strategy  2014-2020,  JRC.ICS.030_2021 
(internal report) 

(2018)  Evidence-based  policymaking:  a  story  emerges 

Lowry,  M. 
https://medium.com/knowledge4policy/evidence-based-policymaking-a-story-emerges-from-audience-
research-8d77234e1338, last accessed 20.12.22 

from  audience  research, 

Sienkiewicz, M. & Mair, D. (2020) Chapter 1 - Against the Science–Policy Binary Separation: Science for Policy 
1.0,  Editor(s): Vladimír Šucha, Marta Sienkiewicz, Science for Policy Handbook, Elsevier, Pages 2-13, ISBN 
9780128225967, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-822596-7.00001-2 

Störmer, E., Bontoux, L., Krzysztofowicz, M., Florescu, E., Bock, A-K., Scapolo, F. (2020) Chapter 12 - Foresight – 
Using Science and Evidence to Anticipate and Shape the Future, Editor(s): Vladimír Šucha, Marta Sienkiewicz, 
Science for Policy Handbook, Elsevier, Pages 128-142, ISBN 9780128225967, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-
12-822596-7.00012-7 

Verdeyen,  W.,  Sanchez  Lopez,  J,  Gerlach,  H.  (2016),  The  Bioeconomy  Knowledge  Centre  ICT  platform, 
Klinkenberg, M. (ed.), internal JRC report available upon request 

23 

List of abbreviations  and definitions   

BE 

EC 

Bioeconomy 

European Commission 

EMM 

European Media Monitor 

DET 

DG 

Digital Europa Thesaurus 

Directorates-General 

ESPAS 

European Strategy and Policy Analysis System 

JRC 

FP 

FTE 

K4P 

KC 

KCB 

KS 

Joint Research Centre 

Framework Programme 

Full Time Equivalent 

Knowledge4Policy platform 

Knowledge Centre 

Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy 

Knowledge Service 

PUBSY  Corporate management system for JRC outputs 

24 

List of figures   

Figure 1. Increase in the number of scientific publications on the bioeconomy and all science areas........................3 

Figure 2. Simplified KCB library workflow process.......................................................................................................................................................6 

Figure 3. Ways of accessing resources............................................................................................................................................................................... 12 

Figure 4. Example search ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 13 

Figure 5. Narrowed search results by using filters .................................................................................................................................................. 13 

Figure 6. Examples of dissemination promoted by the KCB via social media ................................................................................ 15 

Figure 7. Evolution of the numbers of subscribers to the KCB newsletter in the period 09/21-12/22.................... 16 

Figure 8. KCB library workflow process .............................................................................................................................................................................. 17 

Figure 9. Time evolution of the resources integrated in the KCB library ............................................................................................. 18 

Figure 10. KCB platform visits and page views at the url: https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/bioeconomy
 ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19 

Figure 11. Page views of the KCB topic pages ............................................................................................................................................................ 20 

Figure 12. Number of visitors of the KCB website, by continent ................................................................................................................ 20 

Figure 13. Number of visitors of the KCB website, focus on Europe ...................................................................................................... 21 

25 

 
List of tables  

Table 1. Types of knowledge resources integrated in the KCB library .......................................................................................................5 

Table 2. Global taxonomies ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 10 

Table 3. Local taxonomies .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 11 

26 

 
Annexes  

Annex 1. Preselected online sources in EMM currently used27  

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

Australian Renewable Energy Agency 
http://arena.gov.au/ 
Bio-based Industries Consortium 
http://biconsortium.eu/ 

Bio-based News 
http://bio-based.eu/news/ccu/ 

Bio-based Delta 
http://biobaseddelta.nl/en 

European Bioeconomy Alliance 
http://bioeconomyalliance.eu/ 

The Bioeconomy blog  
http://bio-literacy.blogspot.be/ 
Biomass magazine 
http://biomassmagazine.com/ 
The Bioeconomy Council 
http://biooekonomierat.de/en/ 
Biotechnology now 
http://biotech-now.org/ 
Bioeconomy in the Baltic Sea Region 
http://bsrbioeconomy.net/ 

Circulate 
http://circulatenews.org/category/news/ 

Commnet – Communicating the bioeconomy 
http://commnet.eu 

Committee of the Regions 
http://cor.europa.eu/  

Cordis 
http://cordis.europa.eu/ 
European Aquaculture Technology and 
Innovation Platform 
http://eatip.eu/ 
Directorate General Agriculture and Rural 
Development 
http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture 

Directorate General for Energy 
http://ec.europa.eu/energy 

Directorate General for Energy 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment 
Statistical Office of the European Union 
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ 
Directorate General for Regional policy 
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy 

79 

80 

81 

82 

83 

84 

85 

86 

87 

88 

89 

90 

91 

92 

93 

94 

95 

96 

97 

98 

International Energy Agency 
http://www.iea.org 
International Food Policy Research Institute 
http://www.ifpri.org/ 
International Panel of Experts on Sustainable 
Food Systems 
http://www.ipes-food.org/ 
International Service for the Acquisition of 
Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) 
http://www.isaaa.org/ 
Joint Programming Initiative Healthy and 
Productive Seas and Oceans 
http://www.jpi-oceans.eu/ 
Marine Biotechnology Era-NET 
http://www.marinebiotech.eu/ 
Nordic and Baltic forests and forestry 
http://www.nbforest.info/ 
New Economics Foundation 
http://www.neweconomics.org/publications 
Bioeconomy Connsultants 
http://www.nnfcc.co.uk/ 
Nordregio Research Centre 
http://www.nordregio.org/ 
Nordregio Magazine 
http://www.nordregio.org/nordregio-
magazine/# 
OECD website 
http://www.oecd.org/ 
Plants for the Future European Technology 
Platform 
http://www.plantetp.org/ 
Vanguard Initiative 
http://www.s3vanguardinitiative.eu 

Scidev Publications 
http://www.scidev.net/global/ 

Sciencedirect 
http://www.sciencedirect.com/ 

European Technology Platform for 
Sustainable Chemistry 
http://www.suschem.org/ 
Biojournal of Science and Technology 
http://www.thebiojournal.com/ 
The Guardian 
http://www.theguardian.com/uk 
Valbiom 
http://www.valbiom.be/ 

27 This  list  contains  websites  which  have been used  in  years  2017-2022 to retrieve  knowledge  resources  about  the  bioeconomy.  Some 

sources  are obsolete  or archived. They are marked  with an asterisk  *. 

27 

                                              
 
21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

29 

30 

31 

32 

33 

34 

35 

36 

37 

38 

39 

40 

41 

42 

43 

44 

45 

Directorate General for Research 
http://ec.europa.eu/research 

European Environmental Bureau 
http://eeb.org/ 

Bioeconomy Cluster 
http://en.bioeconomy.de/ 
ETP ‘Food for Life’ 
http://etp.fooddrinkeurope.eu/ 

EU Bioenergy 
http://eubioenergy.com/ 

Commission Press Corner 
http://europa.eu/rapid/latest-press-
releases.htm 
Commission Press Corner RSS 
http://europa.eu/rapid/rss.htm 
FERN 
http://fern.org/ 
The Food Tank 
http://foodtank.com/ 
Forest Portal EFI* 
http://forestportal.efi.int/ 
Global Green Growth Institute 
http://gggi.org/ 
Green Chemicals Blog 
http://greenchemicalsblog.com/ 
Groen Kennis net 
http://groenkennisnet.nl/ 
Il bioeconomista 
http://ilbioeconomista.com/ 
Imperial College London 
http://imperial.ac.uk/ 
Irena Newsroom* 
http://irenanewsroom.org/ 
Joint Programming website 
http://jointprogramming.nl/ 

Bio-based news 
http://news.bio-based.eu/ 

Nordic Forest Research 
http://nordicforestresearch.org/ 
OECD Observer* 
http://oecdobserver.org/ 

Wiley online library 
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com 

Road to Paris website* 
http://roadtoparis.info/ 
Sustainable Chemical Processes 
http://sustainablechemicalprocesses.com/ 
European Technology Platform on organic 
foods and farming 
http://tporganics.eu/ 
United Nations Climate Change 
http://unfccc.int/ 

99 

100 

101 

102 

103 

104 

105 

106 

107 

108 

109 

110 

111 

112 

113 

114 

115 

116 

117 

118 

119 

120 

121 

122 

123 

VTT Research 
http://www.vttresearch.com/ 
Joint Programming Initiative “Water 
challenges for a changing world” 
http://www.waterjpi.eu/ 
World Resources Institute 
http://www.wri.org/ 
Bioeconomy Investor* 
https://bioeconomyinvestor.com/ 
Data-Modelling platform of resource 
economics 
https://datam.jrc.ec.europa.eu/datam/public/p
ages/index.xhtml 

Directorate General for Climate Action 
https://ec.europa.eu/clima/ 

Agricultural European Innovation Partnership 
https://ec.europa.eu/eip/agriculture/ 
Directorate General for Oceans and Fisheries  
https://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/ 
JRC Publications Repository 
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publications-list 
EU Agenda 
https://euagenda.eu/ 
Euobserver 
https://euobserver.com/ 
EuroAlert* 
https://euroalert.net/ 
EU Newsroom 
https://europa.eu/newsroom/home_en 
Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. 
https://international.fnr.de/ 
Making of tomorrow* 
https://makingoftomorrow.com/ 
University of California Irvine 
https://news.uci.edu/ 
US National Institute of Food and Agriculture 
https://nifa.usda.gov/ 
Journal of Product Innovation Management 
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/15405
885 
Precision economy* 
https://precisioneconomy.com/ 
Publications Office of the European Union 
https://publications.europa.eu/en 
Standing Committeee on Agricultural 
Research 
https://scar-europe.org/ 
Aberystwyth University 
https://www.aber.ac.uk/ 
Bio-based Industry Joint Undertaking 
https://www.bbi-europe.eu/ 

Be-basic foundation 
https://www.be-basic.org/ 

Biotechnology Innovation Organisation 
https://www.bio.org/ 

28 

46 

47 

48 

49 

50 

51 

52 

53 

54 

55 

56 

57 

58 

59 

60 

61 

62 

63 

64 

65 

66 

67 

68 

Water Europe 
http://wsstp.eu/ 

European Bioenergy 
http://www.aebiom.org/ 

AllthingsBio 
http://www.allthings.bio/ 
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences 
Research Council 
http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/ 
Be Sustainable Magazine 
http://www.besustainablemagazine.com/ 
Bio-based Economy NL  
http://www.biobasedeconomy.nl/ 
Bio-based press 
http://www.biobasedpress.eu/ 

The Bioeconomy Digest 
http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/ 

Biofuels Journal 
http://www.biofuelsjournal.com/ 
Biofuels International 
http://www.biofuels-news.com 
Birdlife Europe and Central Asia 
http://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-
asia 
The B Team 
http://www.bteam.org/ 
European Chemical Industry Council 
http://www.cefic.org/ 

Cell Journal 
http://www.cell.com/ 

Climate Knowledge and Innovation 
Community 
http://www.climate-kic.org/ 
Council of the European Union 
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/ 
Ecofys – energy and climate consultancy* 
http://www.ecofys.com/en/press/ 
European Forest Institute 
http://www.efi.int/portal/ 
European industrial research management 
association 
http://www.eirma.org 
Enalgae project* 
http://www.enalgae.eu/ 
Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie, 
l'energia e lo sviluppo economico sostenibile 
(Italy) 
http://www.enea.it 

Group of the European People's Party* 
http://www.eppgroup.eu/ 

European Technology and Innovation 
Platform 
http://www.etipbioenergy.eu/ 

124 

125 

126 

127 

128 

129 

130 

131 

132 

133 

134 

135 

136 

137 

138 

139 

140 

141 

142 

143 

Biobased World News* 
https://www.biobasedworldnews.com 
Bioplastics magazine 
https://www.bioplasticsmagazine.com/en/new
s 
European Central Bank 
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/ 

The Economist 
https://www.economist.com/ 

Ellen Macarthur Foundation 
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/ 
Ends Europe 
https://www.endseurope.com/ 
ERA LEARN 
https://www.era-learn.eu/ 
European Regions Research & Innovation 
Network 
https://www.errin.eu/ 
Euractiv 
https://www.euractiv.com/ 
European Bioplastics 
https://www.european-bioplastics.org/ 

European State Forest Association 
https://www.eustafor.eu/ 

Centre for Research on Globalisation 
https://www.globalresearch.ca/ 
Greenpeace International 
https://www.greenpeace.org/international/ 
Joint Programming Initiative ‘A Healthy Diet 
for a Healthy Life’ 
https://www.healthydietforhealthylife.eu 

International Atomic Energy Agency 
https://www.iaea.org/ 

Innovation policy platform* 
https://www.innovationpolicyplatform.org/ 
Nature 
https://www.nature.com/ 
National Library of Medicine 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ 

Oxfam International 
https://www.oxfam.org/fr 

Politico EU 
https://www.politico.eu/ 

144 

PoliticsHome 
https://www.politicshome.com/ 

145 

Researchgate* 
https://www.researchgate.net/directory/public
ations 

146 

Smithsonian Magazine 
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/ 

29 

69 

70 

71 

72 

73 

74 

75 

76 

77 

78 

Eureporter 
http://www.eureporter.co/ 

Euronews 
http://www.euronews.com/ 

Europabio 
http://www.europabio.org/ 

European Parliament news 
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en 
Farm Animal Breeding & Reproduction 
Technology Platform 
http://www.fabretp.eu/ 

FAO news 
http://www.fao.org/news/en/ 

EU vegetable oil and proteinmeal industry 
association 
http://www.fediol.be/ 
FIS world news* 
http://www.fis.com/fis/worldnews/ 
Forest-based sector Technology Platform 
http://www.forestplatform.org/#!/ 
Global Bioenergies 
http://www.global-bioenergies.com/ 

147 

148 

149 

150 

151 

152 

153 

154 

155 

156 

Journal of Pharmaceutical Innovation 
https://www.springer.com/biomed/pharmacolo
gy+&+toxicology/journal/12247 
Starch Europe 
https://www.starch.eu/ 
Irish Agriculture and food development 
authority 
https://www.teagasc.ie/ 
The Courier 
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/ 

The Parliament 
https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/ 

University of Hohenheim – Bioeconomy 
masters https://www.uni-
hohenheim.de/en/bioeconomy-masters 

UPM Biofore 
https://www.upmbiofore.com/ 

Wageningen University and Research 
https://www.wageningenur.nl/ 
World Economic Forum Agenda 
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/ 
Netherlands Enterprise Agency 
www.rvo.nl/ 

30 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Annex 2. List of EMM alerts for the selected sources 

Keyword 

algae 
bio%+plastic% 
bio%+polymer% 

bio%ethanol 
bio%-ethanol 
bio%-plastic% 

bio+based 
bio+econom% 

bio+energ% 
bio+fuel% 
bio+gas% 

bio+liquid% 
bio+waste% 
biobased 

bio-based 
biochemical% 

bio-chemical% 
biodiesel% 
bioeconom% 

bio-econom% 
bioenerg% 
bio-energ% 

Weight 

Keyword  Weight 

25  biofuel% 
50  biogas 
50  bio-gas% 

50  biomass 
50  biomaterial% 
50  bioplastic% 

50  biopolymer% 
25  bio-polymer% 

50  biorefiner% 
50  biotech% 
50  biotechnolog% 

50  bio-technolog% 
50  biowaste% 
50  bio-waste% 

50  circular+econom% 
50  energy+crop% 

feedstock% 
food+waste% 

50 
50 
50  organic+waste% 

50 
50 
50 

50 
50 
50 

50 
50 

50 
25 
25 

25 
50 
50 

50 
50 

50 
50 
50 

renewable+biological+resource% 
renewable+raw+material% 

50 
50 
50  Vaccin% 

50 
50 
-999 

“%” (percent): replaces 0, 1 or more letters. E.g. origin% would match original, originality, originally, originate, 
originating, originator, origination…. 

“+”  (white space): can be used to build or unite term strings (E.g. olympic+games), replacing one or more 
blanks/punctuations. It does not work with the following typographic symbols: “&” (ampersand) and  “-” (dash). 

31 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Annex 3. Criteria for knowledge resources made accessible via the KCB platform 

News 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

Is the news item available for open access? 

Is the news item relevant for the bioeconomy from a scientific or policy angle?  

Is the source of the news item clearly identified? 

Is the news item reporting facts (rather than an opinion) and gives evidence to support its main points? 

Is the news item written at an appropriate language level (i.e. not too elementary or advanced)? 

6.  Does the language or tone seem unbiased (incl. commercial or political bias) and free of emotion? 

7. 

8. 

9. 

Is the news item openly accessible without restrictions (free or paid registration)? 

Is the news item a feed from another platform? Can the original source of the news item be clearly 
identified? 

Is the news item only about a recent publication? Does this news provide additional analysis of the 
outcome published? 

The relevance and authenticity of the news item is somehow ensured by the selection of the sources from which the news are 
selected as well from the expert judgement. 

Events 

1. 

2. 

3. 

Is the event information available for open access? 

Is the event relevant for the bioeconomy from a scientific or policy angle?  

Is the event organised by EU institutions, or EU-funded projects, or MS administration, or academia, or 
international organisations, or organised by others and include representatives of EU institutions as 
speakers? 

4.  Does the event's purpose appear to be free from commercial or other form of bias? 

5. 

Is the event openly accessible without restrictions (free or paid registration)? 

Publications 

1. 

2. 

3. 

Is the publication available for open access? 

Is the publication relevant for the bioeconomy from a scientific or policy angle?  

Is the source of the publication (author /publisher) clearly identified? 

4.  Does the publication appear to be free from commercial and other form of bias? 

5.  Would you be comfortable citing this source in your research paper? 

6. 

7. 

Is the publication item openly accessible without restrictions (free or paid registration)? 

Is the document published recently? 

Additional criteria applied in the selection process may be specific to the type of publication and subject to expert judgement 
such as impact factor of the scientific journal (for peer-reviewed publications), official and authoritative nature of the publisher 
organisation (for e.g. technical and statistical reports), potential advocacy bias (for policy documents), or the topic relevance and 
correctness -from an ethical point of view- (for all publications). 

Online resources 

1. 

2. 

3. 

Is the resource available for open access? 

Is the resource relevant for the bioeconomy from a scientific or policy angle?  

Is there contact information, such as a publisher or email address? 

4.  Does the resource appear to be free from commercial and other form of bias? 

Datasets 

1. 

Is the dataset available for open access? 

32 

2. 

3. 

Is the dataset relevant for the bioeconomy from a scientific or policy angle?  

Is there contact information, such as a publisher or email address? 

4.  Does the dataset appear to be free from commercial and other form of bias? 

Organisations 

Organisations included are those that produced knowledge (publications, datasets, online resources) 
that has been included. 

Annex 4. Local KCB taxonomy 

Algae 
Bio-based chemicals and materials 
Bio-based textiles 

Biorefinery 
Blue economy 
Charcoal 

Energy conversion 
Food system 
Food system transformation 

Forest-based industry 
Fossil-based 

Fuel wood 
Grassland 
Heating 

Irrigation 
Low-carbon 
Microbiology 

Oilseed crop 
Pellets 

Power plant 
Protein product 
pulp and paper 

Pulp and paper industry 
Smart specialisation 
Sustainable Food system 

Waste disposal 
Waste incineration 

33 

 
 
 
GETTING  IN TOUCH WITH  THE EU 

In person 

All  over the European Union there are hundreds  of Europe Direct centres.  You can find the address  of the centre  nearest you online  
(european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/meet-us_en). 

On the phone or in writing 

Europe Direct  is a service that  answers your questions  about the European  Union. You can  contact  this service: 

— by freephone: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (certain operators  may charge for these calls), 

— at the following standard  number: +32 22999696, 

— via the following  form: european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/write-us_en. 

FINDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE  EU 

Online 

Information  about  the  European  Union  in  all  the  official  languages  of  the  EU  is  available  on  the  Europa  website  (european-
union.europa.eu). 

EU publications 

You  can  view  or  order  EU  publications  at  op.europa.eu/en/publications.  Multiple  copies  of  free  publications  can  be  obtained  by 
contacting  Europe Direct  or your local  documentation  centre (european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/meet-us_en). 

EU law and related documents 

For access to legal information  from the EU, including  all EU law since 1951 in all the official language  versions, go to EUR-Lex (eur-
lex.europa.eu). 

Open data from  the EU 

The portal  data.europa.eu provides access  to open datasets  from the EU institutions,  bodies and agencies. These can be downloaded 
and  reused  for free,  for  both  commercial  and  non-commercial  purposes.  The  portal  also  provides  access  to  a  wealth  of  datasets 
from European countries. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
European Commission's Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy 
https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/bioeconomy 

Contact:  EC-Bioeconomy-KC@ec.europa.eu