Europe's 'best-kept secret' - its booming bio-economy

Europe's bio-economy is worth €2.2 trillion and employs 18.6 million people across the bloc, but a third of citizens are unaware it exists.

"People are completely unaware that the EU is number one in the world [for bio-based products] and they don't know it is investing [in the bio-economy]," said Susanna Albertini, managing director of FVA, the Italian partner of the Bioways project, at the first stakeholder forum for the bio-based industries (BBI), which took place in Brussels on 7 December.