Building a Bottom-Up Bio economy: Engineering biology could play a critical role in creating a sustainable, resilient, and equitable bioeconomy, but getting there requires reimagining industrialization itself

It's 2032 and biology, applied to some of humanity's biggest problems, has transformed economies and societies around the world. In the decade since the COVID-19 pandemic, global supply chains for chemicals, materials, food, medicines, and energy have become shorter and more resilient--enabled in no small part by the growth of biomanufacturing through thousands of small biorefneries around the world. Applied engineering biology has solved many entrenched problems while also bringing fulfilling jobs home to local communities. Because goods and energy are increasingly derived from biobased and renewable sources, petroleum use is sharply declining. Renewable resources--crops and algae, as well as waste materials and recycled gases--are sustainably managed to preserve biodiversity and minimize carbon emissions and pollution. This bottom-up bioeconomy has also enabled distributed governance systems that empower communities to tailor new approaches to their particular situations, creating a break with the industrial patterns and practices of the past.