Biotechnology is an essential tool for the sustainable exploitation of marine resources, although the full development of their potential is complicated by a series of cognitive and technological limitations. Thanks to an innovative systematic approach that combines the meta-analysis of 620 articles produced worldwide with 29 high TRL (Technology Readiness Level) European funded projects, the study provides an assessment of the growth prospects of blue biotechnologies, with a focus on pharmaceutical and food applications, and the most promising technologies to overcome the main challenges in the commercialization of marine products. The results show a positive development trend, with publications more than doubled from 2010 (36) to 2019 (70). Biochemical and molecular characterization, with 150 studies, is the most widely used technology. However, the emerging technologies in basic research are omics technologies, pharmacological analysis and bioinformatics, which have doubled the number of publications in the last five years. On the other hand, technologies for optimizing the conditions of cultivation, harvesting and extraction are central to most business models with immediate commercial exploitation (65% of high-TRL selected projects), especially in food and nutraceutical applications. This research offers a starting point for future research to overcome all those obstacles that restrict the marketing of products derived from organisms.

The evaluation of probiotics’ efficacy in treating irritable bowel syndrome is supported by an increasing number of clinical studies based on a heterogeneous approach of products tested and the patient cohort involved. Although the role of gut microbiota dysbiosis in IBS pathogenesis and the beneficial contribution of probiotics were demonstrated, a tool to discriminate symptom-specific strains and a personalised medicine protocol are still lacking. Thus, this study employs, for the first time, a method that combines the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis and multi-criteria decision analysis methods in a structured decision-making tool to analyze the efficacy of probiotic mix, in order to identify the most effective formulation and to discriminate which probiotics are more efficient in treating different symptoms. The PRISMA methodology resulted in a qualitative and quantitative analysis of 104 clinical studies from 2011 to 2021, revealing a prevalence of Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis. MCDA analysis showed that formulations based on Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Lactobacillus acidophilus have the highest efficacy, especially on quality of life, bloating, and abdominal pain. This methodological approach could become more specific by modelling clinical studies according to the age and gender of patients and probiotic strain.

Regional policies play a pivotal role in green transition and pursuing the European Green Deal decarbonization targets. Despite the general recognition of the strategic value of the bioeconomy in realizing this challenge, regional roadmaps for its growth are not yet a widespread tool in local innovation policy. Conversely, driving green investments by measuring the innovation potential of the bioeconomy could shape a low-carbon economy by leveraging the full potential of local resources. In order to validate a replicable decision-making model driving 2021–2027 ERDF funds towards this mission, this paper measures the economic, social and technological impact of the Lombard bioeconomy through five applications and eight criteria. The methodology allows quantification of the local bioeconomy value and, through a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), identifies the bio-based applications with the highest innovation potential. By measuring the current and prospective impact of the bioeconomy, Bio-chemicals, Agri-foods, and Biopolymers emerges as the applications with the highest innovation potential rate for Lombardy. Five recommendations to drive green investments and shape the regional roadmap for the bioeconomy are finally defined, providing a tool for industrial applications with a greater impact on local competitiveness.

Today, the cheosphere’s and biosphere’s compositions of the planet are changing faster than experienced during the past thousand years. CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel combustion are rising dramatically, including those from processing, manufacturing and consuming everyday products; this rate of greenhouse gas emission (36.2 Giga-tons accumulated in 2022) is raising global temperatures and destabilizing the climate, which is one of the most influential forces on our planet. As our world warms up, our climate will enter a period of constant turbulence, affecting more than 85% of our ecosystems, including the delicate web of life on these systems and impacting socioeconomic networks. How do we deal with the green transition to minimize climate change and its impacts while we are facing these new realities? One of the solutions is to use renewable natural resources. Indeed, nature itself, through the working parts of its living systems, the enzymes, can significantly contribute to achieve climate neutrality and good ecological/biodiversity status. Annually they can help decreasing CO₂ emissions by 1 to 2.5 Billion-tons, carbon demand by about 200 Million-tons, and chemical demand by about 90 Million-tons. With current climate change goals, we review the consequences of climate change at multiple scales and how enzymes can counteract or mitigate them. We then focus on how they mobilize sustainable and greener innovations in consumer products that have a high contribution to global carbon emissions. Finally, key innovations and challenges to be solved at the enzyme and product levels are discussed. Accumulated greenhouse gas emissions are expected to increase from 36.2 Giga-tons (Gt) to 60 Gt over the next three decades. The global surface temperature has increased by + 1.09 °C since 2001, and might increase by + 2.2 °C in 2100, +3.6 °C in 2200 and +4.6 °C in 2500. These emissions and temperature rises cannot be reduced in their entirety, but they can be lowered by using enzymes. Enzymes are proteins that catalyze biochemical reactions that make life possible since 3.8 billion years ago. Scientists have been able to "domesticate" them in such a way that enzymes, and their engineered variants, are now key players of the circular economy. With a world production of 117 Kilo-tons and a trade of 14.5 Billion-dollars, they have the potential to annually decrease CO₂ emissions by 1 to 2.5 Billion-tons (Bt), the carbon demand to synthesise chemicals by 200 Million tons (Mt), the amount of chemicals by 90 Mt, and the economic losses derived from global warming by 0.5%, while promoting biodiversity and our planet’s health. Our success to increase these benefits will depend on better integration of enzymatic solutions in different sectors.

Although various methodological biases have been shown, the choice experiment (CE) literature has confirmed the relevance of sustainability in consumers’ purchase choices. Analysing 186 case studies through the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology, this study defines the state-of-the-art and future perspectives of the CE approach, allowing us—for the first time—to evaluate in a single study all variables to be considered for setting up the CE questionnaire, with a focus on the selection of attributes and levels, maximising the reliability of the result, and minimising potential method biases. This paper defines a standardised workflow to expand and refine a sustainability perspective that can potentially drive cross-cutting CEs in every consumer good by investigating the accuracy of characteristics driving the willingness to pay (WTP) a premium price for greener consumer goods. Most of the studies analysed in this article concern food products (92%), and around half (51%) focus on sustainability-related aspects, frequently described in generic terms. The results show how defining an adequate number and type of attributes and levels characterising the target product is crucial for a bias-reduced study. These need to be concrete and familiar, and using labels is essential to enhance informed choice, with sustainability being a far-reaching concept with multifaceted definitions. Moreover, choosing a neutral target product, defining the correct sample size, selecting a balanced and representative group of respondents, and using the right analysis model can also minimise potential bias.

SUMMARY: There is a need for ground‐breaking technologies to boost crop yield, both grains and biomass, and their processing into economically competitive materials. Novel cereals with enhanced photosynthesis and assimilation of greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide and ozone, and tailored straw suitable for industrial manufacturing, open a new perspective for the circular economy. Here we describe the vision, strategies, and objectives of BEST‐CROP, a Horizon‐Europe and United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) funded project that relies on an alliance of academic plant scientists teaming up with plant breeding companies and straw processing companies to use the major advances in photosynthetic knowledge to improve barley biomass and to exploit the variability of barley straw quality and composition. We adopt the most promising strategies to improve the photosynthetic properties and ozone assimilation capacity of barley: (i) tuning leaf chlorophyll content and modifying canopy architecture; (ii) increasing the kinetics of photosynthetic responses to changes in irradiance; (iii) introducing photorespiration bypasses; (iv) modulating stomatal opening, thus increasing the rate of carbon dioxide fixation and ozone assimilation. We expect that by improving our targeted traits we will achieve increases in aboveground total biomass production without modification of the harvest index, with added benefits in sustainability via better resource‐use efficiency of water and nitrogen. In parallel, the resulting barley straw is tailored to: (i) increase straw protein content to make it suitable for the development of alternative biolubricants and feed sources; (ii) control cellulose/lignin contents and lignin properties to develop straw‐based construction panels and polymer composites. Overall, by exploiting natural‐ and induced‐genetic variability as well as gene editing and transgenic engineering, BEST‐CROP will lead to multi‐purpose next generation barley cultivars supporting sustainable agriculture and capable of straw‐based applications.