Chapter 16: A Path Forward: Investment Cooperation between the United States and China in a Bioeconomy

Commercializing biobased products and biofuels provides significant economic and environmental benefits. There has been substantial public and private research investment, which has significantly improved production efficiency. Project finance is the largest barrier to commercialization. We propose a path forward in which the US deploys foreign capital, notably from China. Uniting foreign capital with domestic technical experience could drive commercialization in the US and internationally. Cooperation between the US and China could lead to accelerated commercialization in both countries. By the nature of agricultural feedstock production, the supply chain is distributed and favors local deployment. It is quite possible for the US and China to develop parallel supply chains without directly competing with each other. This begs the author to ask the question: could the bioeconomy foster economic development, environmental sustainability and international cooperation?