Transferring circular economy solutions across differentiated territories: Understanding and overcoming the barriers for knowledge transfer

“Learning from abroad” is a widely recognised means to innovate and improve strategies and policies implemented by regions and cities. Literature on Knowledge Transfer (KT) highlights the limitations of this process, especially when it entails the simple transfer of (best) practices from “place A” to “place B”. Such a transfer may lead to suboptimal solutions particularly when the imported practices concern complex phenomena, involving networks of multiple actors and relying on place-specific dynamics. The article sheds light on the process of KT in the field of circular economy, between two metropolitan regions: Amsterdam and Naples. This process is guided by an innovative methodology based on a network of (peri-urban) living labs generating eco-innovative solutions for using material waste and wastescapes as resources. Using participant observation in KT workshops, stakeholder interviews and surveys, it investigates how the process of co-creation of knowledge in the relational space of the networked living labs takes place thanks to the participation of stakeholders from both regions. This in turn allows for drawing conclusions on what barriers are encountered in such KT, what makes solutions transferable across different contexts, and, finally, how the solutions are adapted as they travel from one place to another.