CO-EVOLUTIONARY COUPLING VIA A DIGITAL-BIO ECOSYSTEM – A SUGGESTION FOR A NEW R&D MODEL IN THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

Driven by digital solutions, the bioeconomy has taken major steps forward in recent years toward achievement of the long-lasting goal of transition from a traditional fossil economy to a circular economy. The coupling of digitalization and the bioeconomy is leading toward a digitalized bioeconomy that can satisfy a shift in people’s preferences for eco-consciousness, which in turn induces coupling of up-down stream operation in the value chain. This dual couplings has led to a new R&D model that absorbs external innovation resources from a broad value chain and assimilates them into various entities. In light of the increasing significance of such a new R&D model that may avoid the dilemma between R&D expansion and productivity decline, this paper elucidated dynamism enabling dual couplings. An empirical analysis of global forest-based bioeconomy firms was conducted, thereby providing an insightful suggestion with respect to dynamism emerging from a new R&D model.