PRESS RELEASE: at Ecomondo, launching the Manifesto for the circular bioeconomy from Umbria for Italy

PRESS RELEASE

UMBRIA at ECOMONDO launches the Manifesto for the circular bioeconomy from Umbria for Italy

An interesting event was held on 8 November at the Ecomondo trade fair in Rimini, sponsored by the Umbria Region with the aim of launching an appeal to the government to make the circular bioeconomy a concretely strategic sector for our country.

The meeting, entitled The Manifesto for the Circular Bioeconomy from Umbria to Italy, was attended by regional institutions, leading companies in the bioplastics sector as well as bioeconomy experts who, together with RAI journalist Maria Soave, debated the issues that still negatively affect the development of this sector, and possible solutions.

The Umbria Region, which has always been recognized as the green heart of Italy for its natural heritage, presented itself for the first time with its own stand at Ecomondo, in a completely new guise. A region that has the ambition of becoming an "open-air laboratory," a place where new paradigms of development can be concretely experimented with and in which, taking advantage also of the limited territorial dimension, an innovative ecosystem of circular bioeconomy is consolidated, in which through collaboration between different players the "circle" really closes.

The Circular Bioeconomy Manifesto is also part of this framework. A manifesto arising from the collaboration between the Umbria Region and a leader in the bioplastics sector, such as Novamont. An appeal to the new government based on five main points that, starting from Ecomondo, will be submitted for discussion with various stakeholders, leading to a final version at the end of January, then submitted to the government and discussed at a major convention to be held in Umbria in April.

Autonomous and economic dignity to the circular bioeconomy, measures that incentivize integration between agricultural and industrial supply chains, policies that enhance the sector's high level of innovation, fight against illegality and international dumping, promotion of the Italian model as a European best practice, and strengthening the specialized skills and awareness of the population of the circular bioeconomy. These are just the first points of a manifesto, which aims precisely to make the circular bioeconomy a strategic sector and driver of competitiveness for the national economy.

Participants in the discussion included President Tesei, who in her speech clearly portrayed how ambitious the "green development model" made in Umbria is, and the Councillor for Economic Development, Michele Fioroni. The councillor, one of the main promoters of the public-private partnership on which the region's sustainable transition project is based, stressed that "the time has come for Umbria to clearly show what it is: a region with incredible potential in terms of developing circular bioeconomy supply chains, where administration and private stakeholders are working together and tirelessly to test a model of integration between agricultural and industrial supply chains that can then be replicated elsewhere."

He added that "The Circular Bioeconomy Manifesto is not born from the 'presumption' of those who want to tell the government what it should do and how, but wants to initiate a moment of concrete confrontation on those issues that still prevent a potentially extremely strategic sector, both economically and in terms of its contribution to the ecological transition, from expressing its full potential. Italy has important excellence in this sector; we cannot allow this know-how and the high level of innovation we have achieved to go to waste."

Another protagonist of the Manifesto is Novamont, whose CEO Catia Bastioli, who was present at the event, stressed that "As reported by the Green Italy 2022 Report, the circular bioeconomy has already shown that it is possible to revive European sustainability from an economic, environmental and social point of view, accelerating the ecological transition and strengthening our autonomy and supply chains. Italy is a leader in this sector with an industry first in the world capable of producing bioproducts, bioenergy, and exploiting residues and by-products, and with agriculture among the most sustainable in Europe. A series of inconsistencies in the European legislative framework that fail to recognize the strategic value of this sector, however, threatens to undo the substantial public and private investments that have been made over the years. The challenge is not to waste what we have built so far and turn this unprecedented multi-crisis into an opportunity for regeneration for Umbria and our country."

The event, the first in a series of meetings to be held at the Region's stand called "Umbria: Sustainability Valley," was organized in collaboration with Sviluppumbria. "It is a source of pride for the Economic Development Agency of the Umbria Region, which by mission also supports companies in their trajectories of innovation, technology transfer and ecological transition, to have contributed to the realization of the institutional stand with which the Umbria Region participates for the first time at Ecomondo," said Michela Sciurpa, CEO of Sviluppumbria. "We have worked by involving and coordinating the different protagonists of the projects, academic expertise and strategic companies for the strengthening of the bioplastics supply chain. The exhibition area was designed to enhance the Umbrian bioeconomy supply chain by following a vision in which institutions, companies and scientific expertise can truly be partners in the same ambitious project whose goal is to promote our region not only as a protagonist of the circular economy but of a broader culture of sustainability."

Albano Agabiti, president of Coldiretti Umbria, Fabio Fava, University of Bologna, National Bioeconomy Coordination Group (CNBBSV, Presidency of the Council of Ministers), European Bioeconomy Policy Forum and Spring Green Chemistry Cluster Executive, and Loris Giorgini, Department of Industrial Chemistry - Alma mater et Studiorum - University of Bologna, also participated in the debate, bringing both the experience of the agricultural world and a cross-section of what is being done at the national and international level on the subject of bioeconomy.

(press release issed by the Agenzia Umbria Notizie)