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BüroX – Rethinking Bureaucracy for the Bioeconomy

Research topic/objective: For the first time, BüroX is systematically investigating how the implementation of two particularly controversial EU regulatory frameworks – the REACH chemicals regulation and the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) – influences innovation for a circular bioeconomy in Germany. The aim is to analyse administrative barriers and administrative practices in bioeconomy sectors particularly affected (including chemicals, timber, textiles and agriculture) and, building on this, to develop practical recommendations for policymakers, public authorities, businesses and the scientific community.

Project leaders: Prof. Dr Sabine Kuhlmann (University of Potsdam) and Prof. Dr Sina Leipold (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, UFZ)

Project team: Dr Justine Marienfeldt (University of Potsdam) and Henry Hempel (UFZ)

Duration: 1 August 2026 – 31 July 2029

Funding body: Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR)

Description: Many people – across the political spectrum – regard the reduction of bureaucracy as the magic formula for transformation. However, it is often overlooked that public administration also provides protection and ensures effective governance. BüroX fills a key gap in research by examining how public administration can facilitate a circular bioeconomy whilst safeguarding environmental, health and social standards. The focus is on implementation practices, administrative capacities and patterns of coordination between authorities at different levels and across different sectors.

The project addresses the following key research questions:

  1. Where exactly do bureaucratic barriers to a circular bioeconomy arise?
  2. To what extent do administrative routines, informal practices and interactions between authorities promote or hinder the implementation of REACH and EUDR?
  3. To what extent do political narratives and actors influence these routines, informal practices and interactions, the willingness to change, and the perception of the resulting opportunities and risks?
  4. What approaches to administrative innovation and cross-sectoral learning processes can be derived from the findings?

Methodologically, BüroX combines an innovative blend of narrative analysis and administrative research with a mixed-methods approach: bureaucratic costs and compliance burdens are quantified using the Standard Cost Model; this is supplemented by focus group workshops and guided interviews with enforcement authorities at EU, federal and state level, and document analyses. Through a transdisciplinary process, the project works with public authorities, firms, and NGOs to develop practical recommendations (e.g. on fast-track procedures, one-stop permitting and sector-wide registration approaches), thereby contributing to key objectives of the National Bioeconomy Strategy, the Circular Economy Strategy and the SDGs.