On 13 February 2012, the European Commission adopted a strategy for «Innovating for Sustainable Growth:
A Bioeconomy for Europe». This strategy proposes a comprehensive approach to address the ecological, environmental, energy, food supply and natural resource challenges that Europe and indeed the world are facing already today.

Under the lead of Commissioner for Research and Innovation, Máire Geoghegan Quinn, the strategy was cosigned by the Commissioners Dacian CioloŞ (Agriculture and Rural Development), Janez Potočnik (Environment) Maria Damanaki (Maritime Affairs), and Vice-President Antonio Tajani (Industry and Entrepreneurship).
The strategy is not a new piece of legislation. Rather it aims to focus Europe’s common efforts in the right direction in this diverse and fast-changing sector of the economy. It was launched in March at the conference «Bioeconomy in Action», under the auspices of the Danish presidency of the European Union, and gave rise to the Copenhagen Declaration for a Bioeconomy in Action (www.bioeconomy.dk).