Toward a European bioeconomic transition: is a soft shift enough to challenge hard socio-ecological issues?

The bioeconomy is under tension regarding its function: a transition lever based on an in-depth transformation of its production modes regarding the use of renewable resources, or a possibly green growth lever in maintained modes of production. This contribution to the debate identifies three leads to develop bioeconomy as means of organizing the sustainable transition to sustainable production modes through a renewed approach to territories, new relations regarding the exploitation of nature, and the development of new knowledge bases under sustainability constraints.