From Policy to Practice Actionable Recommendations for a Commercial Bioeconomy 2025

Recommendation 12 Government-funded programmes for bioeconomy education and reskilling What if investing in bioeconomy education today gave rise to a workforce that is skilled, agile and primed to deliver a prosperous and resilient future? Increasing government funding for bioeconomy- focused education and training programmes will ensure that workers at all levels – whether in research, manufacturing or regulatory roles – are equipped with the necessary knowledge to thrive in such a rapidly evolving sector (Box 7). This investment will help bridge the skills gap, ensuring talent is available to meet the growing demand for commercial biosolutions and that workforces remain competitive in the global economy. To that end, government-funded biomanufacturing facilities for pilot and commercial scaling will provide an important environment for workforce training and re- skilling. The spillover effects of such investments on employment in the bioeconomy workforce are also significant – each job in industrial biotechnology is estimated to generate 3.4 additional jobs in the bioeconomy.55 Description Government-funded programmes focused on bioeconomy education and reskilling will deliver a resilient, future-oriented workforce. Example CNPq and the Brazilian National Service for Industrial Training (SENAI) in Brazil fund vocational training in biofuels, biomaterials and agribiotech, and have established technical centres to develop the bioeconomy workforce.56Recommendation 12 A prominent example from Brazil is the collaboration between the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and SENAI. Together, they fund vocational training programmes in biofuels, biomaterials and agribiotech and build technical training centres for bioeconomy workforce development. Through these efforts, CNPq and SENAI have been instrumental in developing a skilled workforce and advancing technological innovation within Brazil’s bioeconomy sector. Cross-border collaboration: democratizing access to advanced biofoundry knowledge and educationBOX 7 Nations are collaborating across borders to co-lead a certification programme aimed at bolstering the biofoundry workforce. The Engineering Biology Research Consortium (EBRC) along with nations such as the UK, Finland, Japan and South Korea will build on the Global Center for Biofoundry Applications (GCBA) past experience with online education to develop a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). Aiming to democratize access to advanced biofoundry knowledge and support a global community of skilled synthetic biologists, each partner will participate in the development of course modules such as biofoundry design, laboratory automation, DNA synthesis and assembly, genetic engineering, bioinformatics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), data analysis, governance, regulations, ethics, biosafety and biosecurity. Resulting courses feature guest lectures by prominent global scientists and industry leaders, and corresponding discussion forums will enable participants to form study groups, ask questions and further develop ideas. 27 From Policy to Practice: Actionable Recommendations for a Commercial Bioeconomy