The increasing human population, the expanding energy costs, the use of fossil fuels, and the concerns about the global climate change are mainstreaming the worldwide efforts towards transition to a sustainable, "green" bio-based economy. The transition is a complex process; it will require huge biomass feed-stocks and versatile technologies for their processing, operating in an eco-friendly manner to produce novel bio-based products.

The sustainability principles of economic development are grounded on strategies that outline the main pillars of the global policy towards a climate-neutral society by 2050. The sustainable fuels, energy, and products are in the focus of the international research and industrial development. There are regular policy updates on this development. However, Energy & Environment policies from a research and innovation perspective are among the leaders in the agenda.

The European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) has launched a Joint Programme on Bioenergy (JP) and corresponding Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) (more 3.2.1).

SRIA addresses, among others, the decarbonisation of the energy sector. An essential component of this sector is the sustainable production and processing of biomass, the bioenergy gaining and use, the production of bioproducts, and their public acceptance.

Thus, shaping the strategies for novel bioproducts development, the following important considerations are taken into account.

• The development of sustainable biomass feedstock. Availability of sufficient quantities of biomass feedstock is the bottleneck of both bioenergy and bioproducts production. Here, the potential of biomass resources that are either underused or simply unused must be explored. This is an approach that can be considered to satisfy the constantly increasing biomass demand.
• Assurance of the sustainability of the systems for production of bioenergy and bioproducts. The biomass demand must be considered in the context of biomass value chain, and consequently - the efficiency of the technologies for its conversion in respect to costs, carbon balance, and quality of the feedstock, must be regarded.
• The essential role of innovation. The technologies have to meet the highest levels of efficiency and low carbon use while reducing the costs of bioproducts production. This approach is an essential part of the research area of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda.
• Process and system integration. The approaches for integration of the processes and the systems possess great opportunities to improve efficiency and decrease the costs of bioproducts production. Through these approaches, higher integration level of the activities of the JP will be achieved.
• Increasing the role of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). The research on the synergies of bioenergy with other discontinuous RES to increase the efficiency and quality of the energy provided to make the production of renewable fuels.
• Sustainability and economic competitiveness. These are the two basic issues for achieving social acceptance of bioenergy and bioproducts.
• Alignment and cooperation with research institutions and industries. These are also key aspects for successfully implementing the SRIA.