MASTRONCE – Mainstreaming Stronger Versions of Circular Economy

The MASTRONCE project seeks to address a crucial challenge in sustainability: the transition from weak to strong versions of the Circular Economy (CE). While CE strategies are increasingly integrated into corporate strategies, they often remain limited to incremental optimizations or small-scale additions to existing linear models, emphasizing recycling and efficiency rather than sufficiency. The mainstream adoption of sufficiency-driven business models, prioritizing absolute resource reduction and decoupling growth from material consumption, remains underexplored both in academic literature and in business practice​.

This project stands at the intersection of conceptual, policy, and managerial research. It seeks to identify key levers for mainstreaming and accelerating the widespread adoption of sufficiency-driven Circular Business Models (CBMs) based on strong CE. Additionally, it aims to address the scientific, technical, and socio-economic barriers limiting their adoption and diffusion across industries. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and empirical fieldwork, the MASTRONCE project will provide tangible pathways to integrate strong circularity principles into corporate decision-making and regulatory frameworks.

Scientific and Technical Barriers to Be Lifted

• A first barrier is the persistence of economic and institutional lock-ins, which reinforce linear production-consumption cycles.
• A second critical barrier lies in the lack of operational and financial circularity indicators aligned with strong CE principles.
• A third key challenge is the skills and workforce gap.
• Finally, the growing integration of electronics and software in products poses significant obstacles to strong circularity.

At TBS Education, the project is led by Rémi BEULQUE, Lecturer and Researcher at the Entrepreneurship & Strategy Laboratory and scientific co-coordinator of the project.

It is being carried out in partnership with the following institutions:

• AgroParisTech – SADAPT (Sciences for Action and Development – Activities, Products, Territories): Helen MICHEAUX, scientific coordinator,
• TBS Education,
• Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris – CGS (Scientific Management Center),
• ESCP Europe Paris – Consular Higher Education Institution,
• Université Paris Dauphine-PSL,
• HEC Montréal.

The project is scheduled to run for 54 months from January 1, 2026, to June 30, 2030.

This project is funded by ANR (French National Research Agency).