A month after China publicly revealed its bioeconomy priorities under its 15th Five Year Plan, the European Commission released an updated EU Bioeconomy Strategy — and the contrast could hardly be sharper. While China bets on a bold mix of AI, bioengineering and synthetic biology to replace fossil based industrial products with recombinant and cell free systems, the EU remains anchored in a more traditional vision focused on the valorisation of agricultural output and industrial waste. By contrast, the UK has taken a more modern approach, heavily investing in engineering biology — the use of reprogrammed microorganisms to produce industrial goods — as a key pillar of its biotech and bioeconomy strategy.