Sustainable Capital ? The Neoliberalization of Nature and Knowledge in the European “Knowledge-based Bio-economy”

Kean Birch, Les Levidow and Theo Papaioannou
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Kean Birch: School of Applied Social Sciences, University of Strathclyde, 50 Richmond Street, Glasgow G1 1XQ, UK
Les Levidow: Development Policy and Practice, Open University, Chambers Building, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK
Theo Papaioannou: Development Policy and Practice, Open University, Chambers Building, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK

Sustainability, 2010, vol. 2, issue 9, 1-21

Abstract: As an EU policy agenda, the “knowledge-based bio-economy” (KBBE) emphasizes bio-technoscience as the means to reconcile environmental and economic sustainability. This frames the sustainability problem as an inefficiency to be overcome through a techno-knowledge fix. Here ecological sustainability means a benign eco-efficient productivity using resources which are renewable, reproducible and therefore sustainable. The KBBE narrative has been elaborated by European Technology Platforms in the agri-food-forestry-biofuels sectors, whose proposals shape research priorities. These inform policy agendas for the neoliberalization of both nature and knowledge, especially through intellectual property. In these ways, the KBBE can be understood as a new political-economic strategy for sustainable capital . This strategy invests great expectations for unlocking the productive potential of natural resources through a techno-knowledge fix. Although eco-efficiency is sometimes equated with biological productivity, commercial success will be dependent upon new combinations of “living” and “dead” labour.

Keywords: knowledge-based bio-economy; European Technology Platforms; innovation narratives; techno-knowledge fix; neoliberal nature; sustainable capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (56)

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