Abstract

The structural changes affecting the organization of the international economy and an increasingly close relationship between sustainable development and the new industrial revolution have made, for some years now, the issues of bioeconomy and circular economy part of the analysis on possible growth trends of the South and of the Country as a whole. This is even more true in light of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic which on the one hand is accelerating changes that existed before the arrival of the coronavirus, and on the other is favouring the shaping of new production and consumption models. The aim of this paper – based on the updating of the remarks made in the SVIMEZ 2020 Report – is to present the guidelines drawn by the Association for the Industrial Development of the South over the last year, making use of the contribution of an interdisciplinary working group specially constituted. Thus, an overall picture of the current diffusion of the circular bioeconomy in Southern Italy, the links with European strategies and the definition of new models of sustainable development emerge, with some possible policy indications to think about for a meta-sector that is potentially able not only to support the recovery of the South, but also to encourage the engagement of a significant part of its production chains in new international value chains.