On 27 May 2026, the University of Pisa hosted the Italian-French meeting “Sguardi incrociati dei progetti CO-EFFECT/BEYOND per transizioni sociali forti” at the Polo Universitario dei Sistemi Logistici “Villa Letizia” in Livorno. The event brought together academics, institutional representatives, sustainability experts and project partners to explore how European cooperation can support deep, structural transitions in territories, businesses and communities.
The meeting created a space for dialogue between two University of Pisa projects with complementary perspectives: CO-EFFECT, focused on circular economy, cooperation and territorial ecosystems, and BEYOND, scientifically coordinated by Professor Luca Spataro. Rather than presenting sustainability as a purely technical challenge, the event addressed transition as a broader social, economic and institutional process, one that requires new forms of collaboration among universities, public bodies, enterprises and local actors.
A cross-border conversation on strong social transitions
The title of the event captured its ambition: to offer “crossed perspectives” between CO-EFFECT and BEYOND in order to reflect on strong social transitions. These are not limited to incremental improvements or isolated sustainability practices. They involve rethinking production models, consumption patterns, territorial governance and cooperation mechanisms.
The event opened with the presentation of the CO-EFFECT and BEYOND projects, followed by institutional greetings from representatives of the University of Pisa and local stakeholders. Speakers included Professor Riccardo Cambini, Deputy Director of the Department of Economics and Management at the University of Pisa; Professor Nicola Giuseppe Castellano, Director of the Polo Universitario Sistemi Logistici; Professor Luca Spataro, Scientific Coordinator of BEYOND; and Aldo Iacomelli, Sole Director of A.AM.P.S. Livorno.
The central moment of the morning was a bilingual Italian-French round table, moderated by Professor Iacopo Cavallini from the University of Pisa. The discussion brought together different disciplinary and professional perspectives on the future of sustainable transitions, from business models and territorial innovation to legal frameworks, greenwashing risks and industrial policy.
CO-EFFECT: circular economy beyond resource efficiency
CO-EFFECT — Coopération Et Fonctionnalité pour Favoriser une Économie Circulaire Transfrontalière — is a European territorial cooperation project funded under the Interreg VI-A Italy-France Maritime Programme. The programme supports cooperation across the coastal and island regions of France and Italy facing the Tyrrhenian and Ligurian seas, with a focus on sustainable development, innovation, environmental protection and territorial cohesion.
Within this framework, CO-EFFECT contributes to Specific Objective RSO2.6, which promotes the transition towards a circular and resource-efficient economy. The project is built on a partnership of eight organisations, four French and four Italian, led by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Var. Its scientific foundations are developed by Atemis RED SAS, the University of Pisa and the University of Corsica “Pascal Paoli”.
At the heart of CO-EFFECT lies the Economy of Functionality and Cooperation, known as EFC. This approach, developed over more than twenty years of research and fieldwork by Atemis, challenges the traditional economic model based on producing and selling more goods. Instead, it shifts the focus from ownership and material volume to use, performance and shared value.
In this perspective, value is no longer generated primarily by the quantity of products placed on the market, but by the ability to deliver a service, a result or an experience. This makes it possible to decouple economic value creation from the consumption of natural resources, energy and raw materials. Circularity is therefore not treated as an additional corrective measure at the end of a product’s life cycle, but as an intrinsic consequence of a different way of designing economic activity.
Territorial Cooperative Ecosystems as laboratories for change
One of the key operational tools of CO-EFFECT is the development of Territorial Cooperative Ecosystems. These ecosystems bring together local actors — enterprises, public institutions, communities and citizens — to co-design solutions rooted in the specific characteristics of each territory.
This territorial dimension is essential. No transition model can be simply copied and pasted from one context to another. Each ecosystem emerges from local resources, existing supply chains, productive traditions, institutional relationships and social needs. CO-EFFECT aims to experiment with the creation of six Territorial Cooperative Ecosystems across the cross-border cooperation area: two in France and four in Italy.
The project also seeks to build a first cross-border ECT Club, designed as an Italian-French node of the wider European EFC network promoted by the European Institute of the Economy of Functionality and Cooperation. In doing so, CO-EFFECT does not only test new models; it also works to create the conditions for their long-term replication, adaptation and institutional recognition.
A round table between research, policy and practice
The Livorno event offered a rich programme of contributions. Pierre-Antoine Corazzini from the University of Corsica “Pascal Paoli” explored the territorial approach of EFC and its operational application to Corsican enterprises, providing a valuable comparative perspective for the Italian experience.
Gabriella Iermano from the University of Pisa addressed the theme of business transformation beyond traditional Corporate Social Responsibility. Her intervention focused on benefit corporations, mission-driven enterprises and the corporate raison d’être, opening a broader reflection on how companies can redefine their purpose beyond profit maximisation.
Mélanie Pépin from ReD Transitions presented the methodology of territorial trajectory management, a central tool for supporting innovation processes within transition pathways. This approach reflects one of the core principles of CO-EFFECT: sustainable transformation requires not only vision, but also structured methods, facilitation and long-term accompaniment.
The round table also tackled the increasingly urgent issue of greenwashing. Maria Cristina Quirici from the University of Pisa discussed the evolution of the regulatory framework, while sustainability consultant Caroline Vaute examined the risks of greenwashing in terms of compliance and competitiveness. Their contributions highlighted the importance of credibility, transparency and accountability for companies that claim to be sustainable.
The discussion was further enriched by the participation of Andrea Cavani and Daniela Merafina from the Italian Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy — Casa del Made in Italy — together with Romain Demissy from ReD Transitions. Their presence connected the debate to the wider field of industrial policy and to the strategic role of Italian production systems in the ecological and social transition.
BEYOND and CO-EFFECT: connecting complementary transition pathways
For BEYOND, the meeting represented an important opportunity to engage with a project that places territorial cooperation and circular economy at the centre of transition processes. The dialogue with CO-EFFECT highlighted the relevance of shared methodologies, interdisciplinary research and policy-oriented experimentation.
Both projects recognise that sustainability cannot be reduced to environmental performance alone. It also requires new ways of organising value creation, new relationships between actors and new forms of governance capable of supporting long-term change. In this sense, the event demonstrated how European projects can act as platforms for collective learning, connecting academic research with territorial needs and institutional strategies.
In this sense, Sguardi incrociati offered a concrete example of what European cooperation can achieve when research becomes a driver of territorial transformation. It showed that strong social transitions are not abstract objectives, but processes to be designed, tested and strengthened through dialogue, method and collective commitment.