<p>In the last two decades, the bioeconomy has gained relevance as an alternative to promote sustainable economic development. In Latin America, the bioeconomy proposes economic development guidelines based on the availability of biological resources and their transformation through biotechnology techniques. However, questions persist about the bioeconomy’s implications for environmental sustainability, territorial development, and diversification of the productive structure of Latin American countries. We analyse the guidelines derived from the definition and scope that the national governments of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Uruguay currently assign to the bioeconomy and their interaction with the neo-Schumpeterian literature on development based on natural resource industries. Their proposals share a common bio-based vision of the term bioeconomy and emphasises the existing technological capabilities and strategic assets that can contribute to new productive trajectories, as the theory proposes. However, the discussions on innovation based on modern biotechnology and environmental sustainability and the institutional design to achieve them need to be strengthened not to remain as distant aspirations.</p>