**8. Digitalization in the bioeconomy**

Digitalization is essential to the advancement of the bioeconomy. Digitalization is promoting intelligibility throughout the value chains and facilitates to scrutinize the

conformity with afforded standards. Digitalization modifies the route for expanding traditional bioeconomy and is converting the bioeconomy into a progressively multi and interdisciplinary proficient sector.

The digital revolution in the bioeconomy has 3 unique aspects: (1) the utilization of digital tools as a tool for monitoring. For instance, real-time monitoring of farming operations such as crops, and livestock can provide timely and feasibly added value. Likewise, in forestry, monitoring provides added value by processing data, optimizing the conservation and use of forest products, (2) data aid the development of value chains in terms of reusing, recycling, and repairing. Digitalization provides data analysis for biorefineries or bioindustry can assist in identifying new products evolving from what was formerly considered as biowaste, and (3) data-driven at its core, biosciences are growing precipitously owing to the expanding repository of information. Its application can be observed through a wide range of products and services such as the usage of genomes for therapeutics, personalized medicine, and pharmaceuticals. It can be noticed as well in the advancement of biochemicals as alternatives for petrochemicals.

Digital tools offer a variety of prospects within the traditional bioeconomy sectors such as farming, fisheries, and forestry. For farmers, the ability to track and monitor their livestock and crops boosts daily operations and grants for accurate development. There are also prospects for improved precision, as data is pooled promptly throughout the value chain from forage to dairies, slaughterhouses, products manufacturing, marketing, and consumption. Within the forestry industry, digital tools can be used for monitoring, forecasting, and management of forests.

Digitalization is encouraging practices innovation by boosting both supply and value chains in the circular bio-based economy. Thus, digitalization is able to play a role as a facilitator of circular bioeconomy procedures by for instance altering business patterns. Manipulating data to detect gaps for improving manufacture, or even to pinpoint how to help obtain value from both current production lines and bio-based waste streams are components of this development. At this point, streams of the circular bio-based economy, for instance, biowaste streams, are employed in different approaches since the data-driven procedures are strengthening the bioeconomy.

Digitalization is a component of the circular bioeconomy, where the bioindustrial systems are aiming at applying the circular economy standards that broaden the lifecycle of biowaste by recycling them as feedstock for bioenergy generation. Digitalization, smart algorithms, and advanced computer modeling guarantee resource boosting in the bioindustrial systems, raise the value of green production and are a factor in energy trade-off. Applications include open innovation platforms providing data access, which is open for research and development (R&D) as well as business. Digitalization can be used to create higher-value products in the circular bio-based economy. Digital tools can be implemented for making new value-added bioproducts. For instance, the production of novel and high-value bioproducts using existing bioresources.

Big data is cornerstone in developing biosciences. In the health sector, for instance, big data is accelerating encouraging results in biomedical research. At this point, the quick leap of data-driven analysis is anticipated to reach a higher level of personalized medicine and pharmaceuticals. High levels of digitalization such as blockchain and artificial intelligence coupled with its application in, for instance, agriculture, aquaculture, and forestry, brand-new bioproducts, and recycling of by-products are projected to occur. The intersecting role of data for R&D as well as an invention in bioeconomy is applied in contemporary waste management such as the use of bacteria in biowaste degradation.

#### *An Approach to Modify the Current Agricultural and Agro-Industrial Systems into Integrated… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.102360*

Data analysis is crucial for a profitable green transition. Numerous biorefineries implement data in fostering the applications of biosciences in utilizing, for instance, forest by-products. Biomaterials such as lignin were found to be valuable feedstock in the production of food, feed, and adhesives. Technologies such as pyrolysis use biological but inedible feedstock and produce liquid bio-oils. The bio-oil is consistent with the current fossil oil infrastructure, and thus fills one of the gaps arising between the bio-based economy and the petroleum-based economy. The rapid leap of data analysis is able to accelerate finding solutions for global challenges.

A digital transformation is in progress in the circular bio-based economy. Guaranteeing that rural communities realize the profits of this transformation necessitates a re-outlining of the discussion to emphasize not only the digitalization itself but the growth potential it offers. This prospective is comprehensive and involves the formation of innovative bioproducts, services, and bioindustries. While based on rural resources, these opportunities necessitate additional collaboration that reinforces rural–urban relationships. The digital revolution of the circular bio-based economy likewise retains the capability to carry out businesses in conventional circular bio-based economy sectors attracting a wider cross-section of communities. This leads to create new employment opportunities for rural communities.

Generally, the applications of digital tools include prototyping electronic boards, internet of things (IoT) platforms, software, and cellphone applications to control the operation of the bioproducts production systems as well as compute the input materials and energy on the one hand and the output materials and energy on the other hand. Similar applications include livestock farming, for example detecting the activity and health of the animals and informing the animal owner. Further applications include operating the cooling/heating systems based on detected indoor conditions in greenhouses and livestock barns. Another application is in precision farming to control the farming operations conducted by agricultural machinery connected to satellites. Further application is that digital tools can control the interoperability of agricultural systems e.g., control the soil-based sensors to be consistent with the tractor. Additionally, the role of mechatronics is highly foreseen in these applications. Finally, a further application is the use of QR-codes (Quick Response code) to boost comprehensibility across the value chain. For instance, QR-codes are used to track livestock, allowing consumers to trace the food they consume from its source through the route to the retailer. Several applications in this context were developed as cell phone applications [5] and desktop software [6–9].

### **9. Recent advancements**

Nanotechnology and laser radiation have been implemented in the production process of several bioproducts [10–16]. Besides, the implementation of life cycle analysis (LCA) and environmental impact assessment (EIA) methodologies are of high importance to analyze the life cycle of bioproducts and to determine the environmental impact of the production processes [17–21]. A key issue is to conduct a technoeconomic assessment (TEA) of the used technologies in the production process [22].

### **10. Summary and conclusions**

This study provides an approach to convert the present agricultural systems (beef, dairy, and poultry farms as well as cereals and vegetable crops production)

**Figure 11.**

*The fields of science related to bioeconomy.*

and agro-industrial systems (ethanol industry and fish industry) into integrated bioindustrial systems and biorefineries through amending their linear mode of production into a circular mode of production to develop a sustainable bioeconomy. This development includes the bioconversion of biowaste streams from the existing agricultural and agro-industrial systems into value-added bioproducts, such as food, feed, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, biomaterials, biochemicals, biofuels, and bioenergy where these novel bioproducts are considered as economic development. Whereas the core of the planned bioindustries is creating new employment opportunities, which is considered as social development. Furthermore, these integrated bioindustrial systems have zero-waste, zero-emission, and efficient resources and energy use, which are considered as environmental development. An important key issue is that digitalization guarantees resource boosting in the bioindustrial systems, where applications include the development of electronic boards, internet of things (IoT) platforms, software, and cellphone applications for monitoring and controlling the operations, computing input and output materials, and energy, and fostering comprehensibility across the value chain. **Figure 11** summarizes the fields of science related to bioeconomy.
