GOPARTBIOECO

Disciplines: Management sciences (main), sociology of science, science and technology
Lead institution: University of Lorraine
Partner: Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (Cnam)
Scientific coordinator: Elise Marcandella, Senior Lecturer, University of Lorraine – CEREFIGE
Project duration: October 1, 2025-2028

Objective: Towards participatory governance of the bioeconomy

Summary:
The transition to a sustainable bioeconomy does not depend solely on scientific advances: it also requires governance that integrates societal expectations. The GoPartBioeco project explores how to directly involve citizens in the direction of bioeconomy research by experimenting with a novel participatory governance model.

Building on the University of Lorraine's B4B (Biomolecules for the Bioeconomy) program, which brings together 23 laboratories and 23 companies in the Grand Est region, GoPartBioeco aims to:

• co-construct a collaborative governance system between researchers, companies, and civil society;
• develop appropriate mediation and participation tools, enabling citizens to contribute to research choices;
• analyze, over the long term, the effects of this governance on scientific practices, public-private collaborations, and the territorial anchoring of the bioeconomy.

The project combines approaches from management science, the sociology of science, and “science-technology-society” studies. It is based on an experimental and reflexive approach, tested directly in B4B, whose governance is already open to companies in the bioeconomy sector and the national B4C cluster.

GoPartBioeco's ambition is to propose a reproducible methodology for including citizens in the governance of research programs, in order to strengthen the legitimacy, accountability, and societal impact of the bioeconomy, both at the regional and national levels.