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Dario Cottafava

Assistant Professor and Cofounder

Reconversion Circular

Barcelona, Spain

Sustainable/circular solution provider

Transdisciplinary researcher, professor and social entrepreneur. Focused on circular, systemic and regenerative design solution between design, art & science

My organisation

Reconversion Circular

Reconversion Circular

Start-up company

Barcelona, Spain

Reconversión Circular – Transforming Waste into Sustainable Innovation Reconversión Circular is a pioneering startup dedicated to the design, production, and scaling of circular biomaterials made from upcycled organic waste, such as coffee grounds, avocado residues, and other local byproducts. Our mission is to decarbonize industries by providing sustainable material solutions that replace virgin resources with innovative, high-quality alternatives. We operate through a B2B and B2G business model, supplying corporations and industries with eco-friendly biomaterials for applications in fashion, packaging, and product design. Additionally, we support entrepreneurs and designers (D2C) by providing them with sustainable materials to integrate into their products. Beyond production, Reconversión Circular offers a franchising model and a production laboratory, allowing businesses, universities, and innovators to replicate our sustainable material manufacturing process using our proprietary technology and expertise. Through education, training, and licensing, we empower others to create localized circular economies, reducing carbon footprints and fostering innovation at a global scale.
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About me

Dario Cottafava (Ph.D. in Circular Economy, M.Sc. in Physics of Complex Systems) is a transdisciplinary researcher, professor and social entrepreneur. He is currently assistant professor (Profesor Lector) at the Department of Economics of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. His work focuses on the energy economy, the circular economy and the social and environmental impacts of the ecological transition. He has taught several subjects between Turin and Barcelona, including Information Systems, Design Thinking, Circular Economy and Sustainability Accounting.

In 2016 he co-founded the environmental NGO greenTO and in 2024 he started working with Reconversion Circular. Dario is the author of several scientific publications in the field of circular economy and environmental assessment and has created a number of digital art installations exploring the intersection of art and science. He is deeply passionate about finding solutions at the intersection of sustainability, innovation and social impact.

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Skills

  • circular economy
  • Regenerative Design
  • Social innovation
  • system thinking
  • design thinking

Interests

  • Regerative design
  • speculative design
  • innovation
  • ecological economics
  • Degrowth
  • circular economy

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