Discourses matter. They help to shape institutions and policies. A new discourse has emerged in recent EU innovation policy centred on the idea of a knowledge-based bio-economy (KBBE). It is officially defined as ‘the sustainable, eco-efficient transformation of renewable biological resources...

Amid a wider debate over the European Union's democratic deficit, ‘science and governance’ has attracted particular attention. Science and technology have become a special problem because they are routinely cited as an objective basis for policy. Through dominant models of science and...

UK biotechnology regulation has developed ‘precautionary controls’ for GMO releases. Stringent legislation was drafted and eventually implemented by the Department of Environment (DoE). In parallel, the DoE established a broadly-based advisory committee, which included ecologists and an...