Globally, the development of the bio-economy seems to be the right answer to the future challenges that humanity will face and which are related to climate change and the depletion of fossil fuel sources. In addition, the anticipated population growth, resulting in increased food demands, and the ever-increasing turn of citizens towards healthier eating habits, necessitate more proper management of arable land, water and food chain, which leads to the need of developing the bioeconomy agro-food sector (BECOTEPS (2011), The European Bioeconomy in 2030: Delivering Sustainable Growth by addressing the Grand Societal Challenges, Brussels).
In Greece, although the word "bioeconomy" is rarely met, its practical application is made by using words that are more familiar to Greek society, such as innovation, sustainable growth, circular economy, etc. At the same time, despite the ranking of Greece and Greek regions at a low level of growth of the bioeconomy (Haarich, S. (2017), Bioeconomy development in EU regions, European Commission, Brussels), the perception of the importance of its implementation and development and the desire to promote it in the real economy, appears strong, both at national and regional level of governance. The agro-food industry, according to the National Development Strategy 2021 "Productive Reconstruction for Fair and Sustainable Development (2017-2021)", is defined as a priority axis and a pillar of the Greek economy's growth. In addition, both in the National and Regional RIS3, for Smart Specialization, Agro-food Sector is defined as an area of expertise and knowledge intensive.
The Greek Smart Specialization Strategies were collected, analyzed with an orientation on the agro-food sector and their data were classified into a 5S model (Surrounding - Structure - Scientific Knowledge - Spread - Society). The material was enriched with data available on the Internet, mainly from the websites of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food and the Hellenic Agricultural Organization DEMETER, as well as from interviews by executives in the areas of agricultural research, agricultural product quality assurance and agricultural education and training. The objective of the study, in addition to gathering and further analyzing regional bio-ecosystems in a single text, is to highlight the functionality and usability of the centralizing agro-food data under a digital Greek Agro-Food Map.
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