Encouraging the development of Industrial Symbiosis Networks in Slovenia – transition to the circular economy

Studies show that if the company's management were to transition to a circular economy, it would be necessary to introduce changes that repr a departure from the business. Based on the case study results, the research project aims to formulate the necessary preconditions for creating complex industrial symbiotic networks. The primary goal of the research project is to study the properties and use a computer tool to build a model that will simulate and enable the development of industrial symbiotic networks for stakeholders in Slovenia operating in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Every industrial company must obtain appropriate instructions for the materials it uses for handling, storage, recycling and end-of-life management. Quantities in Slovenia are docum and monitored. Again, one person's waste can be another person's raw material, which is why we already have examples of industrial symbiosis However, ""industrial waste management"" differs from the introduction of ""industrial circularity"" (not only in its form) in a fundamental way, in th ""waste management"" is required by the EU and the Republic of Slovenia. In contrast, introducing ""circularity"" is the company's own decision (an therefore awareness of networking is all the more important for Slovenian companies). The Industrial Symbiosis (IS) phenomenon describes the coexistence between different organisations where each can benefit from the other. I industrial cooperation between stakeholders based on exploiting and reusing scrap or secondary parts of products. Recently, the challenges of using scarce resources more efficiently and sustainably, especially in the context of limiting climate change, have increasingly been faced by government, business, academia and civil society. The reduction of carbon emissions, while promoting resource efficiency and the development of related business models, has led to the rise of the circular economy and, in this context, in particular, the care of IS networks to achieve circularity. The objectives of this project are: 1) To empirically examine existing social connections. Initially, mapping of the research population will be used to gain insight into the entrepreneurial entities and their most relevant indicators, mainly firm size, ownership, location, sector and core business... The mapping will b based on content analysis and network analysis. The use of mapping techniques has also become more common in recent years, including for the analysis of specific domains (e.g., institutions and stakeholders (Monmonier 1993; Aligica 2006; Derek et al, 2008; Andreasen and Sova 2014). 2) Determining the conditions for creating complex industrial symbiotic networks and researching appropriate stakeholders in the field or/and in such a network. The cooperation with the actors is also an opportunity and a good starting point for the project to evaluate the potential impact on the environment and the thermal treatment of municipal waste based on the available data. 3) To develop a model of characteristics and guidelines for stakeholders operating in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. More specifically, the pr aims to study the implementation of industrial symbiosis and its networks starting in SE Slovenia and later in all Slovenia. For this purpose, we will use an appropriate compute-based tool to simulate industrial symbiotic networks.