Circular economy and innovative entrepreneurship, prerequisites for social progress

Abstract

Quality of life and social welfare are objectives of the social policy of any state. The study aims to identify the influence of factors such as the circular economy, digital innovation, sustainable entrepreneurship on social progress and completes the current approach identified in the literature by assessing the dependencies between the phenomena represented by them. The quantification of the influences of the enumerated factors on social progress was achieved by identifying some synthetic indicators, such as composite indices, which would surprise the complexity of the analyzed phenomena. To measure the progress of the transition to the circular economy – using multivariate analysis methods – a composite indicator has been proposed and determined that allows the ranking of EU states according to its orientation, as a premise of social progress, and can substantiate the adjustment national policies. The integration of the proposed indicator in the regression models used, with similar indices, is done to highlight the impact of the circular economy, innovation and sustainable entrepreneurship on social progress. Thus, the adaptation of digital technologies in current business models, the development of sustainable innovative entrepreneurship support the transition from the linear economy to a circular economy and offer new study opportunities.