Rural development opportunities in the bioeconomy

•This short communication explores the rural economic implications of expanded biomass industries.•In this paper we define the bioeconomy broadly.•However, we focus on bioenergy as the flagship sub-sector of the bioeconomy.

In this paper we discuss the rural development implications of the bioeconomy. We define the bioeconomy broadly but dedicate much of the paper to the implications of bioenergy and how it will transform the economies of rural regions. We then conclude with three different bioenergy related concepts that will provide a broader framework for the development of the rural bioeconomy. These include the costs of bioenergy and especially transportation costs, the regional energy balance and the utilization of waste streams.