CIRCONOMY: A new EU-funded project to define smarter indicators for Europe's circular economy transition

Coordinated by UnitelmaSapienza and bringing together 17 partners from across Europe, CIRCONOMY aims to accelerate Europe’s transition towards a more sustainable circular economy by developing a harmonised framework of circular economy indicators at the micro level. While existing monitoring systems provide valuable aggregated information at national or regional scale, they often lack the granularity needed to support decision-making by micro-level actors such as municipalities, companies and households. To bridge this gap, CIRCONOMY will develop a modular monitoring framework and an intuitive digital tool that will enable different users to assess, monitor and improve their circularity performance. By combining scientific methodologies, life cycle thinking, digital innovation and stakeholder engagement, the project aims to support more informed and evidence-based decision making, promote behavioural change and facilitate the implementation of European circular economy policies.

The project’s Kick-off Meeting, held in Rome on 11–12 June 2026, marked the first major milestone, bringing together the consortium to align on the project’s objectives, work plan and expected impacts. During the two-day meeting, partners discussed the technical roadmap, collaboration mechanisms and the first activities to be implemented across the different work packages, setting the stage for the collaborative work that will continue until 2029.

Since then, work has already started across the consortium. One of the first milestones was the Cooperation Launching Event held on 9 July with CIRCULARIS, the Horizon Europe sister project funded under the same CIRCBIO-06 call. The meeting, involving the project coordinators, consortium representatives and the European Research Executive Agency (REA) project officers, marked the beginning of a long-term collaboration between the two initiatives. Together, the projects identified several areas for cooperation, including coordinated stakeholder engagement, joint dissemination and communication activities, exchange of methodologies and best practices, collaboration with relevant European initiatives, and the development of common policy recommendations.

In parallel, technical work has also begun. During these first weeks, project partners have started reviewing existing circular economy indicators, identifying current gaps and analysing the needs of different target groups. As the project progresses, stakeholders from across Europe will be invited to contribute their knowledge, experience and perspectives through interviews, workshops, surveys and co-creation activities.

Stay connected through the CIRCONOMY website and social media channels (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube) to take part in upcoming engagement opportunities and help shape the project’s outcomes!