Exploring challenges and opportunities for bio-based business models to strengthen Ecuador’s rural economy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18531/sme.vol.12.no.2.pp.35-57Schlagwörter:
bioeconomy, sustainability, Rural DevelopmentAbstract
The imperative transition from a linear to a circular business model is a critical factor in achieving sustainable development. Bioeconomy offers sustainable long-term economic growth by efficiently utilizing natural resources and integrating bio-based business model innovations alongside circularity principles. As the part of a long-term research searching for bio-based solutions for helping Ecuador’s rural economy, this paper aims to investigate bio-based business models in Ecuador to enhance the understanding of bioeconomy and help rural development within the country. The study employed two methodological approaches: a systematic literature review (SLR) of bio-based business models and graphical visualization. The findings encompass 22 relevant publications from 2020 to 2025. The study identified (1) the nexus between the circular economy and bioeconomy; (2) the framework of bioeconomy in Ecuador for implementing bio-based business models; (3) challenges and opportunities associated with bio-based business models in Ecuador; (4) network visualization of the bio-based models in Ecuador; and (5) top authors in the research field analyzed. This investigation underscores the connection between bioeconomy and bio-based business models for their implementation in rural Ecuador. The results indicate that despite Ecuador's abundant biodiversity, the country faces several challenges, including a lack of collaboration among stakeholders, insufficient public and private funding, limited research and innovation (R&I), inadequate technological resources, and undefined public policies for the implementation of the bioeconomy. The barriers are especially in rural areas, where infrastructural and technological gaps hinder the implementation of bio-based business models. Fostering sustainable models in Ecuador can drive national growth while revitalizing rural economies through employment generation, income diversification, and community resilience. Given that this study was conducted through an online review of diverse scientific articles and reports concerning Ecuador, it is recommended that future research incorporate comprehensive case studies involving interviews and field visits. Such an approach would enable a more nuanced understanding of the specific added value and potential of diverse bio-based enterprises, especially in rural areas. Additionally, a cross-national comparative analysis would be advantageous to explore the coexistence of different bio-based business models and their impact for rural economies. Finally, a life cycle assessment of activities within the bioeconomy framework is crucial, particularly in relation to the agri-food sector in Ecuador given its importance for rural livelihoods and national food security.
Literaturhinweise
Barañano, L. – Garbisu, N. – Alkorta, I. – Araujo, A. – Garbisu, C. (2021): Contextualization of the bioeconomy concept through its links with related concepts and the challenges facing humanity. In Sustainability, 13 (14), 7746. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147746
Bracco, S. – Calicioglu, O. – Gomez San Juan, M. – Flammini, A. (2018): Assessing the Contribution of Bioeconomy to the Total Economy: A Review of National Frameworks. Sustainability, 10 (6), 1698. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10061698
Bröring, S. – Vanacker, A. (2022): Designing Business Models for the Bioeconomy: What are the major challenges? EFB Bioeconomy Journal, 2, 100032. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioeco.2022.100032
Chafla-Martínez, P. – Lascano-Vaca, M. (2021): Entendiendo la economía circular desde una visión ecuatoriana y latinoamericana. CIENCIA UNEMI, 14 (36), 73–86. https://doi.org/10.29076/issn.2528-7737vol14iss36.2021pp73-86p
Chen, C. – Song, M. (2019): Visualizing a field of research: A methodology of systematic scientometric reviews. PLoS ONE, 14 (10), e0223994. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223994
Colmorgen, F. – Khawaja, C. (2019): Business models for regional bioeconomies. Bio-based strategies and roadmaps for enhanced rural and regional development in the EU. https://be-rural.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/BE-Rural_D2.4_Regional_business_models.pdf
Cuestas-Caza, J. – Toledo, L. –Rodríguez, F. (2024): Transcultural bioeconomy governance in a plurinational state: Sumak Kawsay and bio-based production in two Kichwa territories of Ecuador. Forest Policy and Economics, 163. 103227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103227
da Silva, M. A. – Borchardt, M. – Pereira, G. M. – Cardoso, J. – Milan, G. S., – Leite, R. L. (2023): Developing a Sustainable Business Model in the Bioeconomy: A Case Study of an Amazon Rainforest Enterprise. International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning, 18 (9), 2703–2712. https://doi.org/10.18280/ijsdp.180909
D’Amato, D. – Gaio, M. –Semenzin, E. (2020): A review of LCA assessments of forest-based bioeconomy products and processes under an ecosystem services perspective. Science of the Total Environment, 706. 135859. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135859
D’Amato, D. – Veijonaho, S. – Toppinen, A. (2020): Towards sustainability? Forest-based circular bioeconomy business models in Finnish SMEs. Forest Policy and Economics, 110. 101848. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2018.12.004
Donner, M. – de Vries, H. (2021): How to innovate business models for a circular bio-economy? Business Strategy and the Environment, 30 (4), 1932–1947. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2725
Donner, M. – de Vries, H. (2023): Innovative Business Models for a Sustainable Circular Bioeconomy in the French Agrifood Domain. Sustainability, 15 (6), 5499. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065499
Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (2013): Towards the circular economy Vol. 1: an economic and business rationale for an accelerated transition. https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/towards-the-circular-economy-vol-1-an-economic-and-business-rationale-for-an
European Commission. (2018): A sustainable bioeconomy for Europe: strengthening the connection between economy, society and the environment Updated Bioeconomy Strategy. https://doi.org/10.2777/478385
European Commission. (2020): Research and innovation for the European Green Deal. https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/strategy/strategy-research-and-innovation/environment-and-climate/european-green-deal_en
European Parliament. (2023): Circular economy: definition, importance and benefits. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/pdfs/news/expert/2023/5/story/20151201STO05603/20151201STO05603_en.pdf
FAO. (2024): Bioeconomy for sustainable food and agriculture: a global opportunity. In Bioeconomy for sustainable food and agriculture: a global opportunity. Rome: FAO, 76 p. https://doi.org/10.4060/cd1976en
Feng, L. – Chiam, Y. K. – Lo, S. K. (2017): Text-Mining Techniques and Tools for Systematic Literature Reviews: A Systematic Literature Review. Proceedings – Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference. Piscataway: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 41–50. https://doi.org/10.1109/APSEC.2017.10
Galanakis, C. M. – Brunori, G. –Chiaramonti, D. – Matthews, R. – Panoutsou, C., – Fritsche, U. R. (2022): Bioeconomy and green recovery in a post-COVID-19 era. Science of The Total Environment, 808, 152180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152180
García-Samaniego, M. C. – Malagón Avilés, J. M. – Moncada, O. – Coéllar, M. – Idrovo, J. – Puente (2024): Libro Blanco de la Bioeconomia Sustentable de Ecuador. Quito: Ministerio del Ambiente, Agua y Transición Ecológica; Ministerio de Producción, Comercio Exterior, Inversiones y Pesca; Fondo de Asistencia Técnica en Bioeconomía., 2024. 186 p.
Global Bioeconomy Summit. (2024): One Planet - Sustainable Bioeconomy Solutions for Global Challenges. https://www.iacgb.net/lw_resource/datapool/systemfiles/elements/files/0cb0102c-4d6e-11ee-8305-dead53a91d31/current/document/IACGB_Statement_Hannover_August_2023.pdf
Gould, H. – Kelleher, L. – O’Neill, E. (2023): Trends and policy in bioeconomy literature: A bibliometric review. EFB Bioeconomy Journal, 3, 100047. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioeco.2023.100047
Hatvani, N. – van den Oever, M. J. A. – Mateffy, K. – Koos, A. (2022): Bio-based Business Models: specific and general learnings from recent good practice cases in different business sectors. Bio-Based and Applied Economics, 11 (3), 185–205. https://doi.org/10.36253/bae-10820
IACGB. (2024): Bioeconomy globalization: Recent trends and drivers of national programs and policies.
Inter American Development Bank. (2024): BASE Program - Biobusiness Financing for a Sustainable Amazon in Ecuador. International Advisory Council on Global Bioeconomy, 40 p.
Klatt, F. (2023): Business Systematic Literature Review. Technische Universitat Berlin. https://www.static.tu.berlin/fileadmin/www/40000030/DBWM/2023_Praesentation_BusinessSystematicReviews_v5.pdf
Klein, O. – Nier, S. – Tamásy, C. (2022): Circular agri-food economies: business models and practices in the potato industry. Sustainability Science, 17 (6), pp. 2237–2252. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-022-01106-1
Lange, L. (2022): Business Models, Including Higher Value Products for the New Circular, Resource-Efficient Biobased Industry. Frontiers in Sustainability, 3. 789435. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2022.789435
Lesenfants, Y. – Mehl, A. V. – Muggah, R. – Aguirre, K. – Smith, P. (2024): Amazonia Bioeconomy Country Profiles. http://www.iadb.org
Lu, W. – Liu, Z. –Huang, Y. –Bu, Y., – Li, X. –Cheng, Q. (2020): How do authors select keywords? A preliminary study of author keyword selection behavior. Journal of Informetrics, 14 (4), 101066. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2020.101066
Mangas-Vega, A. –Dantas, T. – Sánchez-Jara, J. M. –Gómez-Díaz, R. (2018): Systematic literature reviews in social sciences and humanities a case study. In Journal of Information Technology Research 11 (1), 1–17. IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/JITR.2018010101
McCormick, K. –Kautto, N. (2013): The Bioeconomy in Europe: An Overview. Sustainability, 5 (6), 2589–2608. https://doi.org/10.3390/su5062589
Milagros, I. –Osorio, L. –Pala, C. – Jara, M. (2024): Biomass as Renewable Energy: A Systematic Literature Review 2020-2023. 4th LACCEI International Multiconference on Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Regional Development (LEIRD 2024): “Creating Solutions for a Sustainable Future: Technology-Based Entrepreneurship.” https://doi.org/10.18687/LEIRD2024.1.1.455
Ministry of the Environment, W. and E. T. (2019): The National Government implements Ecuador’s First Center for the Promotion and Development of Sustainable BioBusinesses (BioEmprende).
Mougenot, B. – Doussoulin, J.-P. (2022): Conceptual evolution of the bioeconomy: a bibliometric analysis. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 24 (1), pp. 1031–1047. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-021-01481-2
Newman, M. (2004): Coauthorship networks and patterns of scientific collaboration. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101 (suppl. 1), 5200–5205. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0307545100
Nußholz, J. L. K. (2017): Circular business models: Defining a concept and framing an emerging research field. Sustainability (Switzerland), 9 (10), 1810. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9101810
Ordoñez, M. L. – Lakner, Z. (2023): Shaping the Knowledge Base of Bioeconomy Sectors Development in Latin American and Caribbean Countries: A Bibliometric Analysis. Sustainability, 15 (6), 5158. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065158
Ordoñez, M. L. –Luzon, E. – Ritter, K. (2025): Examining the nexus between productivity growth, circular bioeconomy, and climate change: A bibliometric analysis. Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment, 8 (2), e70085. https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.70085
Ortega-Pacheco D. V. – Silva, A. –López, A. – Espinel, R. – Inclán, D., –Mendoza-Jiménez, M. J. (2018): Tropicalizing sustainable bioeconomy: Initial lessons from Ecuador. In World Sustainability Series. Cham: Springer, pp. 187–203. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73028-8_11
Page, M. J. – McKenzie, J. E. –Bossuyt, P. M. – Boutron, I. –Hoffmann, T. C. –Mulrow, C. D., Shamseer, L. –Tetzlaff, J. M. – Akl, E. A. –Brennan, S. E. –Chou, R. – Glanville, J. – Grimshaw, J. M. – Hróbjartsson, A. –Lalu, M. M. –Li, T., –Loder, E. W., –Mayo-Wilson, E., McDonald, S. – … Moher, D. (2021): The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ, 372. 71. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n71
Papadopoulou, C. I. – Loizou, E. – Chatzitheodoridis, F. (2022): Priorities in Bioeconomy Strategies: A Systematic Literature Review. In Energies, 15 (19), 7258. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15197258
Ponce, S. –Alvarez-Berreto, J. – Almeida, D. (2021): Recent advances in residual biomass conversion into bioenergy and value-added products: A review of the Ecuadorian situation. ACI Advances in Science and Engineering, 13 (1), 21. https://doi.org/10.18272/aci.v13i1.1929
Radhakrishnan, S. –Eribis, S. –Isaacs, J. – Kamarthi, S. (2017): Novel keyword co-occurrence network-based methods to foster systematic reviews of scientific literature. PLOS ONE, 12 (9), E0185771. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0172778
Radics, R. – Dasmohapatra, S. – Kelley, S. (2015): Systematic Review of Bioenergy Perception Studies. BioResources, 10 (4), 8770–8794. https://bioresources.cnr.ncsu.edu/resources/systematic-review-of-bioenergy-perception-studies/
Reim, W. – Parida, V. – Sjödin, D. R. (2019): Circular business models for the bio-economy: A review and new directions for future research. Sustainability, 11 (9), 2558. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11092558
Ritter, K. – Nagy, H. (2017): Analysis of Local Economic Development Capacity in Hungarian Rural Settlements. Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Economics and Business, 5 (1), 57–70. https://doi.org/10.1515/auseb-2017-0004
Rodríguez, A. G. – Mondaini, A. O. – Hitschfeld, M. A. (2017): Bioeconomía en América Latina y el Caribe Contexto global y regional y perspectivas.
Salvador, R. – Barros, M. V. – Donner, M. – Brito, P. – Halog, A. –De Francisco, A. C. (2022): How to advance regional circular bioeconomy systems? Identifying barriers, challenges, drivers, and opportunities. In Sustainable Production and Consumption, 32, 248–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2022.04.025
Salvador, R. – Barros, M. V. – Pieroni, M. – Lopes Silva, D. A. – Freire, F., – De Francisco, A. C. (2023): Overarching Business Models for a Circular Bioeconomy: Systematising archetypes. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 43, 49–362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2023.11.010
Salvador, R. – Puglieri, F. N. – Halog, A. – Andrade, F. G. de – Piekarski, C. M. – De Francisco, A. C. (2020): Key aspects for designing business models for a circular bioeconomy. In Journal of Cleaner Production, 278. 124341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124341
Schmid, O. – Padel, S. – Levidow, L. (2012): The Bio-Economy Concept and Knowledge Base in a Public Goods and Farmer Perspective. Bio-Based and Applied Economics, 1 (1), 47–63. https://doi.org/10.13128/BAE-10770
SENPLADES. (2009): Plan nacional para el buen vivir, 2009-2013: construyendo un estado plurinacional e intercultural. Secretaría Nacional de Planificación y Desarrollo, SENPLADES. https://www.ecuadorencifras.gob.ec/wp-content/descargas/%20Informacion-Legal/Normas-de-Regulacion/Plan-Nacional-para-el-Buen-Vivir/Plan+Nacional+del+Buen+Vivir+2009-2013.pdf
Sinha, N., – Dhillon, J. S. (2024): Bibliometric analysis of management practices in US corn (1990–2020): Agrosystems, Geosciences and Environment, 7 (2), e20536. https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.20536
Sucozhañay, G. – Vidal, I. – Vanegas, P. (2022): Towards a Model for Analyzing the Circular Economy in Ecuadorian Companies: A Conceptual Framework. Sustainability (Switzerland), 14 (7), 4016. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14074016
Tan, E. C. D. – Lamers, P. (2021): Circular Bioeconomy Concepts—A Perspective. Frontiers in Sustainability, 2. 701509. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2021.701509
Ullah, M. – Shahid – A., Din, I. – Roman, M. – Assam, M. – Fayaz, M. – Ghadi, Y., – Aljuaid, H. (2022): Analyzing Interdisciplinary Research Using Co-Authorship Networks. Complexity, 2524491. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/2524491
van Eck, N. J. – Waltman, L. (2014): Visualizing Bibliometric Networks. In: Measuring Scholarly Impact: Methods and Practice. Cham: Springer, pp. 285–320. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10377-8_13
Vargas-Carpintero, R. – Romero-Perdomo, F. – Martínez, J. F. – Lewandowski, I. (2023): A review of the knowledge base for the development of natural ingredients value chains for a sustainable biobased economy in Colombia. Discover Sustainability, 4 (1), 33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-023-00150-w
Wahied, K. – Sachdeep, K. (2021): A Systematic Review of Biofuels: The Cleaner Energy for Cleaner Environment. Indian Journal of Scientific Research. 12 (1), 135–142. https://doi.org/10.32606/IJSR.V12.I1.00025
Wiebke Reim – David Sjodin – Vinit Parida – Ulrika Rova –Paul Christakopoulos. (2017): Bio-economy based business models for the forest sector – A systematic literature review. In: Proceedings of the 8 Th International Scientific Conference Rural Development Lithuania: Aleksandras Stulginskis University, pp.775–780. https://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.109
Downloads
Veröffentlicht
Ausgabe
Rubrik
Lizenz
Copyright (c) 2025 Erika Luzon, Krisztián Ritter
Dieses Werk steht unter der Lizenz Creative Commons Namensnennung - Nicht-kommerziell - Keine Bearbeitungen 4.0 International.
A folyóirat Open Access (Gold). Cikkeire a Creative Commons 4.0 standard licenc alábbi típusa vonatkozik: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0. Ennek értelmében a mű szabadon másolható, terjeszthető, bemutatható és előadható, azonban nem használható fel kereskedelmi célokra (NC), továbbá nem módosítható és nem készíthető belőle átdolgozás, származékos mű (ND). A licenc alapján a szerző vagy a jogosult által meghatározott módon fel kell tüntetni a szerző nevét és a szerzői mű címét (BY).
