BioRegEU. A pilot dataset for regional employment and value added in the EU bioeconomy

The analysis of the regional dimension of the bioeconomy is important due to its policy implications. The EU’s Bioeconomy Strategy recognizes the potential contribution of the bioeconomy for the development of rural and remote areas. More recently, an increasing number of EU regions are launching their own bioeconomy strategies, and a number of EU initiatives seek to promote the deployment of the bioeconomy to boost rural areas and create jobs and growth opportunities (e.g. the Council of the European Union's Conclusions on the opportunities of the bioeconomy, approved on April 25, 2023, or the Regional Innovation Valleys for the Bioeconomy and the Food system). Despite the political momentum, data availability on the socioeconomic contributions of the bioeconomy is still very limited, making it challenging to evaluate the outcomes of the aforementioned policies. This document presents the BioRegEU pilot dataset, which aims to fill this data gap by providing estimates of employment and value added in the bioeconomy sectors at the NUTS2 level. Although the analysis of the data offers insights into the territorial distribution of bio-based activities in the EU, it is still preliminary and requires further refinement. In this sense, the authors of this report invite users and interested parties to provide feedback on the accuracy of the overview drawn by the estimates, identification of significant deviations from reality according to expert knowledge, as well as on additional refinements and data sources.