In 2011, Assolombarda (the official association among industries in Region Lombardia) created the “Green Economy Network” to promote alliances among industries offering products, technologies and services for environmental and energy sustainability, with the scope of giving more visibility to such competencies.

In the fall of 2012 some entrepreneurs asked Assolombarda to investigate for specialized industries willing to team up and integrate their know-how in order to promote the phyto-remediation of contaminated sites associated to production of renewable energy.

In December 2012 some industries part of the Assolombarda network began preliminary meetings which, in June 2013, resulted in the creation of “Rete ReFIT” (“ReFIT Network”).