Challenges and opportunities in building circular-economy incubators: Stakeholder perspectives in Trinidad and Tobago

摘要

What are the challenges and opportunities involved in the development of circular-economy incubators in a developing economy? A grounded theory approach is used to explore these challenges and op-portunities in Trinidad and Tobago. Local stakeholders, including entrepreneurs, non-profits, academics and government agencies, are interviewed and the results are analyzed via axial coding to extract trends in attitudes and perceptions. Two principal results emerge from the analysis: First, while government involvement was viewed as part of the process, stakeholders do not trust the government to lead the development. Second, many stakeholders do not fully understand circular-economy strategies and op-portunities, emphasizing traditional waste management approaches such as recycling over value-added conversion of waste. Different stakeholders demonstrate different knowledge gaps, e.g. entrepreneurs tend not to recognize the financial case for circular economy, a prerequisite to their motivation to participate in incubation. These results suggest that circular-economy incubators would help entrepre-neurs find and pursue circular-economy opportunities with a limited role for government. Also, edu-cation about circular-economy approaches is needed to motivate and inform participation in a circular-economy incubator. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.