Enabling Ireland’s Transition to a Sustainable Bioeconomy: A Taxonomy of Circular Bioeconomy Skills Across Primary Bioeconomy Sectors and Traditional Industries

The transition to a circular bioeconomy is increasingly recognised as a critical pathway for achieving climate neutrality and resource use efficiency in Ireland. However, this transition is highly dependent on the availability of a skilled workforce capable of operating across interconnected bio-based sectors. Ireland’s National Bioeconomy Action Plan recognises the critical role that skills and knowledge will play in this transition. This study develops a comprehensive taxonomy of skills required to support the transition to a circular bioeconomy, with a specific focus on key Irish primary bioeconomy sectors (agriculture, forestry, fishery and aquaculture) and traditional industries (food processing, wood, textiles, and construction). A qualitative systematic literature review was conducted following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Peer-reviewed articles were retrieved from the Web of Science and Scopus databases and complemented with relevant Irish and European grey literature. A total of 96 publications were analysed using thematic analysis to identify and synthesise sector-specific and cross-sectoral competencies. The taxonomy organises circular bioeconomy skills into five overarching competence domains (systems-thinking, sustainability, circularity and bioeconomy/biotechnology, and digital skills). Findings reveal that while each sector has unique skills, a set of shared skills is consistently critical across all sectors. The identified competencies were subsequently organised into a structured taxonomy and mapped to Ireland’s National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ), establishing progressive proficiency levels from awareness (NFQ 5–6) through practitioner (NFQ 7–8) to expert (NFQ 9–10). This competency progression framework represents the principal contribution of the study, translating the taxonomy into a practical tool for curriculum development, workforce planning, professional development, and policy implementation.