In 2012, the Communication of the European Commission "Innovating for Sustainable Growth: A Bioeconomy for Europe" (COM(2012)60) has put the development of the Bioeconomy at the forefront, as a way of reconciling economic growth and the green economy. But current official statistics fall short in providing relevant data to document this new concept. The establishment of the bioeconomy observatory (BISO) aims at filling this gap, compiling qualitative and quantitative data of relevance for policy makers. Considering that biomass is the raw material of the bioeconomy, JRC-IPTS together with the Nova- Institute has elaborated in the BISO framework a new database that quantifies the production and residues of biomass: DataM – Biomass estimates. Compared to existing databases like Eurostat-MFA (env_ac_mfa) and SERI Global material flows, this new database presents a higher level of disaggregation at the geographical and commodity level. Moreover, it allows gathering data either into fresh or dry matter. This database is stored in DataM, a JRC data management tool, and is accessible via two applications: the full version in datamintracomm for all European commission staff, and a public light version online datamweb. Apart from offering a quantification of crop biomass and residues at European level, these two applications also allows browsing data at member state and commodity level. A quantification of the European trade and biomass uses in biomass equivalent is foreseen in next versions, together with the integration of woody and aquatic product.JRC.J.4-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Econom
