The conference, carried out by CRIET with the collaboration of ‘IPSOS’, wanted to bring together some of the leading Italian experts from both the business world and the institutions who, with diverse technical and scientific expertise and experience, have provided their contribution to the emerging and extremely important and relevant theme, of circular economies.

The aim of the conference was to understand whether Italian firms had the knowledge of and adopted the concept of a circular economy, as well as being aware of the advantages and disadvantages of this concept.

The results of the conference have shown that:

The concept of sustainability is increasingly present in Italian businesses, and will determine how they will work in the future.
• The circular economy is making strides, but at present knowledge it is still quite generic.
• At present, the circular economy appears more like an example of good practices in the area of environmental sustainability, but its potential is not fully understood; the lack of specific knowledge is reflected in the inability to perceive the tangible benefits this model can have in terms of competitive advantage.
• Only the companies most in favour of the concept see the advantages in the reduction in costs and employment, even if in large part, they view the consumer as non-receptive.
• They are particularly concerned about the need to redesign the production system, the complexity in the management of the process of a circular economy, and bureaucracy.
• Today the pioneers of the concept stand at 8%, but a wedge of between 20 and 30% declare themselves to be ready or very close to implementing this model in the next few years.
• The hesitancy of most companies is due to regulatory factors, and this attitude seems to inhibit investment and resourcefulness of the business, with the risk that, rather than ‘guiding’ the process with good practices, it is ‘subject to’ the policy maker.