Digitalisation in Bioeconomy in the Baltic States and Poland

Abstract

The agricultural and food production sectors have a predominant role in the bioeconomy of the European Union (EU), followed by wood production. These sectors make significant contributions not only to national economies but also to local areas, in particular the rural ones. Although the digitalisation of businesses within the bioeconomy sector transforms the enterprises, improving the value chains and creating benefits for the rural communities where these enterprises are situated, there are still many barriers to digitalisation. This study has a dual aim: first, to analyse bioeconomy in the EU and the state of digitalisation in the EU, and second, to assess the barriers of the bioeconomy sector and ways to support digital transformation within this sector, focusing on agriculture as the main contributor to bioeconomy in the EU, taking Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland as the case studies. The cluster analysis was explored for the study of the digitalisation and R&D indicators of the EU. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to determine digitalisation scenarios of the bioeconomy sector in Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. Four stakeholder groups were selected as experts for the study: (i) national government, (ii) advisory and extension, (iii) research, and (iv) entrepreneurship. The findings of the cluster analysis identified 4 clusters in the EU, showing different levels of digitalisation. Strong links between digitalisation and R&D were also found. In this context, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland were assigned to the low-performing cluster. The results of the AHP for the case studies of Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland indicate the overall need for prioritization of support for digital transformation using national and EU funding to achieve better results. Nonetheless, AHP findings also suggested that the opinions of the national government, consulting, and research experts were more aligned throughout all three countries, but the entrepreneurs’ opinions differed from these groups. These findings provide quantitative information regarding digitalisation in the bioeconomy of the EU. They also offer additional qualitative information about scenarios and criteria for increasing the level of digitalisation in the bioeconomy sector in Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, which could be useful for policy-makers. This research could also have practical implications for shaping the future trajectory of the bioeconomy policy.