**7. Concluding remarks**

The planet is facing a number of challenges that must be addressed in the coming decades, in relation to the use of natural resources to feed, in the medium and long term, all of humanity. Society has become aware of this reality and, at the international level, an agreement is being reached that obliges countries to modify their production and consumption practices in relation to goods and services. The sustainable bioeconomy, as a tool to develop the circular economy, can be an adequate instrument to overcome these challenges.

The bioeconomy groups together all activities related to the use of biological resources, providing a global and integrated view of their use in which the generation of knowledge and its application by companies, taking into consideration the opinion of society, will provide a response to political and social challenges with tools that guarantee the sustainable and efficient use of these resources.

In a country like Spain, in which biological resources represent 6.5% of GDP and provide employment for 9% of the active population, and which will be subject in the medium term to the pressure of changing agro-climatic conditions, the development of the bioeconomy—from the rural to the coastal environment and from the production of food to the commercialization of bioproducts—is a strategic area with a promising future.
