Transitioning towards the bio-economy: Assessing the social dimension through a stakeholder lens

International institutions are calling for a transition towards more sustainable systems of production and consumption. In this transition, sustainable innovations are expected to play an ever-increasing role. In particular, the production of innovative bio-based products—products wholly or partly derived from biological materials or from innovative production processes and/or innovative biomass such as food waste or forest residuals—will be part of this process. However, the sustainability of such products must be assured along their entire life cycle and across the three dimensions mentioned above. Against this background, our study aimed at identifying a social impact framework tailored to bio-based products. It employed a two-step methodological framework encompassing (a) identification of the relevant social impact categories, subcategories, and indicators and (b) validation of these factors, according to participatory stakeholder involvement. The validation exercise enabled us to consider a restricted number of social indicators so as to reduce the amount of data needed for assessing and decreasing related costs.