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The Circular Economy has been pointed out by scholars and policymakers as a promising approach to decouple economic growth from resource consumption and waste generation [1, 2]. Companies fully embracing a Circular Economy can potentially advance sustainability without compromising the competitiveness of value chains. Unfortunately, several challenges arise in this transformation [3]. Nevertheless, the digital age we live in offers companies many opportunities for overcoming such challenges [4] since digital technologies can support the implementation of Circular Economy strategies into businesses by enabling the redesign of products, business models, consumption patterns, and value chains [5].

To advance the discussion on these aspects, the Special Issue ‘Circular Economy in the Digital Age’called for a more critical discussion on the emerging Smart Circular Economy paradigm [6]. In response, eight articles were received and published, with original contributions to both theory and practice. These papers are briefly illustrated in this Editorial in a sequence that starts from the theoretical basis (eg, literature reviews and conceptual development) to practical implementation aspects of the Smart Circular Economy paradigm (practices, drivers, and barriers). The paper by De Felice and Petrillo [7] investigated how digital technologies can support a Circular Economy, identifying the current state of the art as well as defining new future research developments in this field. To pursue such an aim, the authors carried out a systematic literature review by integrating the PRISMA protocol—ie, a systematic tool that guides the process of …