Circular economy is an effective strategy to reduce globally the environmental impacts of our consumption society. However, the introduction of circular economy scenarios implies major changes in our consumption mode and in our industrial systems. Because of changes in the value chain, the new circular consumption and production scenarios imply new needs, new requirements and then characteristics for the production and organization of these circular offers. The aim of this paper is to present a characterization of the repurposing and upgrading strategies, in order to facilitate design activities related to new circular industrial scenarios. This paper presents the research approach used to characterise the upgrading and repurposing strategies and then the characteristics that have been established investigating academic and industrial projects using literature review and interviews.